GRADE: ESAM: 3-5

CONTENT STANDARD: Environmental Science

CONTENT TOPIC: Environmental Education

CONCEPT: Living things are affected by changes in the environment.

CONTENT OBJECTIVE: H1.00 To understand the effect of environmental change on inhabitants

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES: The learner will:

1.01 discuss some of the normal changes in environment.
1.02 illustrate how changing the environment changes the life forms present in the environment.

I. Causes of environmental changes
A. Temperature
B. Rainfall
C. Wind
D. Migrations
E. Seasonal changes
F. Erosion
G. Weathering
H. Earthquakes
II. Effects of the changes in the environment
A. Causes animals to die or move away - emigration, and others may move in - immigration
B. People change the environment when they remove plants by bulldozing to pave an area to build a parking lot, house or building.

TN COMPONENT OF SCIENCE: Unifying Concepts of Science

TN GOAL:

To enable students to acquire scientific knowledge by applying concepts, theories, principles and laws from life/environmental, physical, and earth/space science.

2.2 FORM AND FUNCTION - Form may determine the function of a material or a system, and function may alter form.

2.2a How an object functions is related to its form.

BENCHMARK: The form of a structure implies its function. The function of a structure tends to dictate its form.

2.2b Form tends to dictate function, thus an alteration of form may lead to a change in function.

BENCHMARK: Physical and biological systems are interactive. Changes of component forms may alter the function(s) of those systems.

TIME REQUIRED:

Five classroom connectors of 45 to 60 minutes per classroom connector

Two one-gallon containers, black paper, aluminum foil, cardboard, 2 thermometers, water, small container, large container, rock, sand paper, glass bottle, freezer

Look around our classroom. We have it set up in a way that is best for us. Let's pretend that a stranger comes in and turns up the heat, takes our desk out, moves things around, changes all our pictures and charts, and then leaves. We can't put things back the way they were. How would you feel about that? (Lead discussion to point out that we would either have to adjust to our new environment or move out completely.) Today we will discuss how change in the environment affects animals and plants.

The environment changes in many ways. Some of the changes are natural. An EARTHQUAKE is a way that nature changes the environment, but there are less traumatic ways of change too. How HOT or COLD it is affects our environment and what we do. Temperature change is caused by changing weather patterns. You can understand how TEMPERATURE causes environmental change if you think about the way you act in cold weather and the way you act in hot weather. Some things stay the same no matter what the temperature. But some things change. What are some things that would change? (our clothing, our foods) What are some things that would not change? (your family, your feelings)

In Tennessee, we have four seasons. What are they? (Spring, summer, winter, fall) Is our outside environment the same in all seasons? (No) Often we watch the animals and see them preparing for this SEASONAL CHANGE. In spring, animals make their homes. In summer, the animals, like people, seem to enjoy the summer environment. In the fall you can see squirrels and other animals gathering food. They are preparing for the cold, winter months. The animals and plants adapt to each seasonal change. Some animals and plants will die at first frost. The plants and animals that survive either become dormant (Sleep) or change their activities. They might eat less or move from one area to another area that is warmer. When animals die or move away, an area experiences EMIGRATION of animals. When animals move into an area, this is called IMMIGRATION.

Other natural processes like rain and wind can cause environmental change by wearing the soil away. This is called EROSION. WEATHERING, breaking big rocks into smaller ones, also causes the environment to change. Rocks can be broken down by the pressure of roots or freezing water. In winter, water between rocks freezes and pushes the rocks out until they break.

The changes we've talked about so far are changes made by nature. Man can also make a lot of changes in the environment. When people decide to cut down trees, grade off the land and build a road or a shopping center, the environment is changed forever. Animals and plants will have to adapt. If they can't they will die or leave the area. We must be very careful in making "improvements." They could be very harmful for wildlife.

Pretend that you just learned that your city is considering turning an area of your park into a shopping center. How would you feel about that? What would be the pros? The cons? (discuss)

1. (Take the class on a field trip to look for signs of environmental change.) Record your findings. Make a chart classifying plants and animals changes, and human changes.

2. The temperature has an effect on the type of clothing we wear. To show how the color of our clothing affects us, do the following experiment. You will need two one-gallon containers. Wrap one jar with a cylinder of black paper. The paper should reach to the top of the jar. Wrap the other jar with aluminum foil. Cut two discs from cardboard. The discs should be the same diameter as the cylinders. In each disc punch a hole large enough to insert a thermometer. Fill the two jars with water. Take the temperature of each jar. Then place the two jars in the sunlight. Take the temperature of the water in each jar at one-minute intervals.) Which jar of water heated the fastest? (response) Which jar of water heated the slowest? (response) The jar of water wrapped in black paper was heated the fastest. Black objects are the best heat absorbers. What does that tell you about how colors absorb heat? This is the reason why black or dark colored clothes make you feel warm on a hot day. The jar of water wrapped in aluminum foil was heated the slowest. Light-colored, shiny objects reflect more of the sun's light and heat. So what colors should you choose to wear in the hot summer? (Light or white) Yes, that is why wearing white clothes in the summer makes you feel cooler.

3. Rain can cause environmental change, but how is it formed? (response) What causes rain to fall? (response) To understand the water cycle, do the following experiment. Fill a small container half full of water. Put it inside a large container. Seal the large container. Put the large container in a place where only one end will be warm. For a heat source, you could use a light, a heater, or sunlight shining through a window. Allow this to stand until you see water droplets. This process is called condensation. Water evaporates from the oceans, land, lakes, and cities into the air. As the moist air is cooled, clouds may form or water may condense in the form of rain or dew.

4. Erosion is the wearing and carrying away of rock and soil by wind and water. (To show how erosion takes place, have children to divide up in small groups. Give each group a large rock and some sand paper. Have the children sand the rock and see what happens. This illustrates the constant wearing away on the earth. It also shows that erosion is a long process.)

5. (To explain weathering, we will take a glass bottle and fill it with water. Put the bottle in a freezer and allow the water to freeze. Now, show the class the bottle and take notice of how the bottle cracked. When the water froze, it pushed out. The same thing happens in rocks. Water in rocks pushes out when it freezes. This causes the rocks to break.)

Today we have discussed some of the normal changes in environment. Changing the environment changes the life form present in the environment. Please list on your paper one way our environment changes and how it effects its inhabitants. (Give different children different situations to write about - temperature change, earthquake, bulldozer, seasonal changes.)

This is the time this file has been accessed since 04/15/2004.

The University of Tennessee at Martin is not responsible for the information or views expressed here.

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