Topic: Ecosystem and ecology

Target group

8th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

General aim of education

You will learn what dependencies bind the elements of the ecosystem

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• You will point out the living and non‑living elements of the ecosystem;

• identify the relationships between animate and non‑living elements of the ecosystem;

• provide examples of the effects of organisms on the inanimate part of the ecosystem.

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;

• aquarium.

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 of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

• Then he writes the subject of the lesson on the blackboard or interactive whiteboard. Students write it in notebooks..

Realization

• The teacher asks students to read the abstract themselves, paying particular attention to the illustrations.

• Working in pairs or small groups, students search for ecology definition in the lesson „Ecology and ecology” , and then, on the basis of this definition, they execute the task 1. The teacher designates a person who will present the correct solution to the command. The other students can respond to the question, correcting it if they know it is wrong or asking for clarification if they have doubts.

• Using the resources from the lesson „Interdependencies between non‑living and living elements of nature”, the teacher discusses abiotic factors and biotic factors affecting a given ecosystem and populations inhabiting it.

• Students observe the aquarium located in the workshop or they recall observations made eg at home or in a pet shop. Working in groups, they write out living and non‑living elements of the aquarium ecosystem. Then they determine the interrelationships between these elements.

Summary

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

• At the end of the class, the teacher asks the students questions:

  • What did you find important and interesting in class?

  • What was easy and what was difficult?

  • How can you use the knowledge and skills you have gained today?

  Willing/selected students summarize the lesson.

Homework

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

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Ecosystem and ecology

Everything that surrounds us, except for man‑made products, is colloquially referred to as nature. Elements of the non‑living environment and all of its species are referred to as an ecosystem. All ecosystem elements are interdependent and affect each other.

Ecosystems can be divided into land (field, forest or meadow ecosystems) and aquatic (sea, lake or river ecosystems). Other division criteria apply to natural (such as forest or lake) ecosystems and artificial (e.g. field or pond) ecosystems.

The science of ecosystems and dependencies between their elements is ecology. Ecologists are interested in both individual species (populations) and groups of populations of various species inhabiting a specific area and with food dependencies. Ecology allows us to know rules of functioning of nature on a more complex level than the level of functioning of individual organisms.

The number and type of organisms inhabiting a given area depends, among others, on from the climate, that is why specific types of ecosystems exist in specific climate zones. One abiotic factor, which is of great importance especially to plants, is insolation which is mainly affected by cloudiness and the altitude of the Sun above the horizon. In turn, large precipitation facilitates the existence of ecosystems rich in species, while small precipitation is typical of the opposite ecosystems. The type of substrate is also important for organisms of a given ecosystem. Where rocks are permeable, the groundwater table is deep under the surface and plants need long roots to reach it. The substrate sometimes contains not enough mineral salts and sometimes its salt content is too high for most plant species to live.

In water ecosystems, for example, water temperature and waiving, and oxygen content, which depends on them, are of key importance. Oxygen‑rich streams and cold sea waters are inhabited by other species than warm and standing waters. Water salinity determines the diversity of environments of land (freshwater) and marine reservoirs, and thus their species composition.

Organisms also affect the environment. The first plants played a huge role in shaping the nature of Earth. They released oxygen, i.e. a by‑product of photosynthesis which had previously been absent in the air, into the atmosphere. The change in the composition of the atmosphere enabled the emergence and growth of aerobic organisms. Another example of the significant impact of organisms on the environment is the deposition of shells of aquatic microorganisms on the bottom of reservoirs, lasting millions of years. These sediments formed limestone deposits. In turn, remains of large ferns formed coal, while remains of plants and animals - oil deposits.

Plants and lichens are responsible for the biological erosion of rocks and increasing the thickness of the soil layer. Forests and peat bogs, which are capable of collecting water, mitigate temperature fluctuations and increase air humidity. Plants overgrow lakes and make them shallower, strengthen dunes and rock landslides. Microorganisms decomposing organic remains release chemical compounds and elements into the environment.

• Every ecosystem is an abiotic environment together with all its populations of different species, and processes and dependencies between them, and between them and the non‑living environment.

• The environment of every ecosystem affects individuals of specific species which change the environment.