Essential Question: Should we remove all ticks from upstate New York ecosystems?
Unit Storyline Synopsis: Scholars engage with the Essential Question by recalling their experiences on Grade 5 camping trips. They use this as a jump-off point to examine what it means to be an ecological system. Each lesson builds on their understanding that interactions between biotic and abiotic factors create a stable, healthy ecosystem.
They then consider how feeding relationships help maintain the balance between trophic levels and flow of energy and matter. From the producers that harness the energy from the Sun, to the consumers that rely on resources from other organisms, to the decomposers that help to cycle the energy and matter back to the soil, an ecosystem is truly a system functioning through the work of many essential parts.
Scholars continue to learn about different types of ecological relationships that significantly impact the ecosystem. While predator–prey relationships help organisms meet basic energy needs, the addition of competition can seriously impact the resource availability. They expand their thinking of what it means to be interdependent by studying new symbiotic relationships that allow for survival in unique ways. Scholars revisit the idea of microbes by learning the different symbiotic relationships that ticks partake in: They question the ethics behind the Essential Question as they determine how to equate the life of a tick to that of other organisms, even bacteria!
Scholars are asked to consider how human activity impacts ecosystems. Scholars consider whether it is ethical or necessary for humans to interfere with natural ecosystems. It pushes them to think beyond the human as an organism and to consider the broader impact of disruptions on the world. They consider whether natural disruptions will eventually rid the campsite of its tick problem or if human interference is needed.
They end the unit by engaging in a debate about how to manage the tick population at the campsite. They combine their knowledge of competition, feeding relationships, and human impact to advocate for their solution.
Why This Unit? We continue the yearlong journey from micro to macro by examining individual and population interactions. Scholars build on their understanding of how matter and energy flow within individual organisms to examine how these interactions occur between both living and nonliving things in ecosystems.
This unit reveals the connections and reliance of different living and nonliving factors throughout the ecosystem to provide resources and stability to sustain life. The Essential Question allows scholars to think deeply about the interdependence of an ecosystem while considering the ethics of a real-world problem.