Topic: Temperature

Author: Leokadia Stalewicz

Target group

8th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

General requirements

I. Knowledge of biological diversity and basic biological phenomena and processes. Student:

2. explains biological phenomena and processes occurring in selected organisms and in the environment.

Specific requirements

VII. Ecology and environmental protection. Student:

1. indicates living and non‑living elements of the ecosystem; shows that they are related to various dependencies.

General aim of education

The student will learn how too low or too high temperature affects the organisms

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to describe how temperature influences organisms.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• exposing

  • exposition.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim and planned course of the lesson. They explain the success criteria to be achieved by the students.

• The teacher reminds the participants of the classes what subject area the lesson will concern.

Realization

• The teacher explains the concept of hibernation and aestivation. He discusses examples of animals occurring in our climate and falling asleep in winter and warns against plucking them out of this state. The instructor also explains that at the wrong temperature some pets (eg Syrian hamsters) can fall into a n aestivation or hibernation, therefore before buying an animal, you should get detailed information about his lifestyle and the requirements related to the optimal temperature, the amount of light, food and water.

• The participants will familiarize themselves with the content presented in the interactive illustration. Then the teacher discusses the issues with the students with the aim of expanding and remembering the acquired knowledge.

• On the basis of the same illustration, the teacher discusses some of the adaptations of plants to unfavorable temperatures.

• Students working in pairs or small groups (3‑4 people) follow Tast 1, 2, 3. The teacher indicates people who will give correct answers and then initiates a discussion on the class forum about the adaptation of various organisms to unfavorable temperatures.

• Students, working individually or in pairs, carry out interactive exercises to check and consolidate knowledge learned during the lesson. Selected people discuss the correct solutions for interactive exercises. The teacher completes or corrects the statements of the proteges.

Summary

• The teacher asks a willing student to summarize the lesson from his point of view. He asks other students if they would like to add anything to their colleague's statements.

• The teacher briefly presents the most important issues discussed in class. He answers the additional questions of the proteges and explains all their doubts. Students complete notes.

Homework

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

• Look for articles about climate change and the predicted temperature rise on Earth..

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Temperature

Temperature has a major impact on the activity of organisms. Enzymes and neurotransmitters that are responsible for biochemical reactions in cells work best in a precisely defined temperature range. Therefore, for organisms to engage in all life activities they need the right temperatures. A perfect example of this are cold‑blooded animals such as reptiles and amphibians which are quick and active on warm days and lethargic and apathetic when it's colder. That is why so few animals belonging to these animal classes can be found in higher latitudes.

In the water environment changes in temperature are not significant. On land, however, this is quite the opposite: extremely low and extremely high temperatures can cause dehydration and overheating of organisms, and water freezing in their tissues, creating ice crystals, can damage cell membranes. Such effects of extremely low or high temperatures can be deadly to organisms. In order to survive in the unfavourable conditions, many animals take advantage of hibernation or aestivation. These states are similar physiologically and are characterised by much slower vital function rates of the organism. The animal's heart rate, metabolism and respiration rate decrease. While dormant, they don't move much so they use little of oxygen and their energy reserves. This is a strategy aiming at survival when there is no food or water (which is indirectly related to too low or too high temperatures).

Plants have also adapted in numerous ways in order to survive periods of time with unfavourably high or low temperatures.

Plants protect themselves against frost by means of thermal insulation (thick bark of trees, leaves wrapped around young buds in the spring, underground wintering of perennial plants) and by developing mechanisms to prevent water from freezing in cells (higher concentration of glucose in the cellular juice). Protection from too high temperatures can be provided by the insulation layer (such as tree bark), light reflection mechanisms (such as a layer of wax on the leaves of tropical plants), higher transpiration rates or other reactions such as turning or curling of the leaves. Particularly resistant to temperature changes are forms designed to assure the survival of the plant, namely the seeds.

In too low or too high temperatures the organisms' food and water supply is scarce. Therefore, some animals engage in animal migration twice a year which involves simply travelling to warmer or cooler parts of the globe. The factor that triggers animal migration (and also hibernation and aestivation) is not only temperature itself, but also the length of the day. The best known and most spectacular migrations are those of birds which move in flocks of even tens of thousands of birds. In our climate, the birds that migrate for winter are mainly small insect‑eating birds with huge energy expenditure in comparison to their body mass. On the other hand, the birds that come here for winter are plant‑eating birds, such as bullfinches, Bohemian waxwings, bramblings and rough‑legged buzzards which are birds of prey. A truly remarkable example of a migrating bird is the bar‑tailed godwit which can fly for more than 11 thousands kilometres without a single landing.

• Temperature in the habitat has an impact on the activity of organisms.