Plant and Animal Diversity Teaching
Assignment to Young Minds, 2017
Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems. The biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species, which is the product of nearly 3.5 billion years of evolution. Two major kingdoms that contribute to the diversity of life on Earth are Plants and Animals.
Information/Requirements:
· Research plant and animal diversity from one of five pre-assigned (tba) major biomes including: Aquatic, Desert, Forest, Grassland, and Tundra.
One particular and informative website about biomes would be at: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/
How you wish to deliberate the research is up to you and your partner(s); grading will be separate however.
· Use a 3-D display board:
o Plan your board. Take time to mock up or
"storyboard" your Project Display board on a sheet of paper before
you start printing or gluing anything in place.
o Know the size limitations. You don't want your board too tall, too crowded,
or with information too low to the ground to read.
o Choose the right title. Your title should be accurate for your
project but should be catchy enough, or interesting enough, to make a viewer
curious.
o Tell the whole story. Your board should contain all of the
information required for a viewer to understand your project from start to
finish.
o Make effective use of headlines and
subheads. After
a minute of looking at the board, the viewer should know what question you were
researching, what you expected to happen, and how things turned out.
o Know your font sizes. A project display board headline needs to be
read almost across the room.
o Remember the power of pictures. Photos and diagrams can quickly and
efficiently convey information to a viewer—plus, they'll liven up your board!
Just be sure to use relevant captions or subheads to further explain a photo's
contents.
o Print your materials. Unless there is no alternative, don't
hand-write elements for your display board. Use a word processing program to
type up your information and headlines, and then print them out.
o Show some creativity. What can you do to make your project
more inviting or more interesting than anyone else’s?
o Don't wait until the last minute. Creating a good project display board takes
time. Not only do you need to map out how you want your information to appear,
but you'll need to create your diagrams, charts, images, and text blocks and
print them out (in the right sizes) to assemble on your board.
· Teach (not just present) the topic by focusing on the following key requirements to 7th and/or 8th grade students for about 10-15 mins ; then the young students will rotate to the next station:
- Know and understand your topic
- Develop a “hook” to begin
- Use a suitable manipulative(s)
- Show enthusiasm for the topic
- Discuss rather than just reading
- Engage with the participants
- Ask questions and check for understanding
- Address styles of learning (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
- Target audience will be announced
