Unit 8: HUMAN IMPACT

I can create a website will showcase the impact of an environmental effect cause by humans, and suggestions on how to correct it.

Students will complete website showcasing how humans have impacted an environment

STUDENTS WILL:

EXPLORE THE FOLLOWING SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PRACTICES:

- Asking Questions and Defining Problems
- Devolving and Using Models
- Engage In Argument From Evidence.
- Obtain, Evaluate, and Communicate Information.


HAVE DISCOURSE ON THE FOLLOWING DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEAS:

LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
Ecosystems have carrying capacities, which are limits to the numbers of organisms and populations they can support. These limits result from such factors as the availability of living and nonliving resources and from such challenges such as predation, competition, and disease. Organisms would have the capacity to produce populations of great size were it not for the fact that environments and resources are finite. This fundamental tension affects the abundance (number of individuals) of species in any given ecosystem.


LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
A complex set of interactions within an ecosystem can keep its numbers and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions. If a modest biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, it may return to its more or less original status (i.e., the ecosystem is resilient), as opposed to becoming a very different ecosystem. Extreme fluctuations in conditions or the size of any population, however, can challenge the functioning of ecosystems in terms of resources and habitat availability.


LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
Moreover, anthropogenic changes (induced by human activity) in the environment—including habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, overexploitation, and climate change—can disrupt an ecosystem and threaten the survival of some species.
LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans
Biodiversity is increased by the formation of new species (speciation) and decreased by the loss of species (extinction).
Humans depend on the living world for the resources and other benefits provided by biodiversity. But human activity is also having adverse impacts on biodiversity through overpopulation, overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, and climate change. Thus sustaining biodiversity so that ecosystem functioning and productivity are maintained is essential to supporting and enhancing life on Earth. Sustaining biodiversity also aids humanity by preserving landscapes of recreational or inspirational value.
ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions
When evaluating solutions it is important to take into account a range of constraints including cost, safety, reliability and aesthetics and to consider social, cultural and environmental impacts.



OBSERVE THE FOLLOWING CROSS CUTTING CONCEPTS:

- PATTERNS
- CAUSE AND EFFECT
- STABILITY AND CHANGE
- ENERGY AND MATTER
- SYSTEMS AND SYSTEM MODELS

GS 5: -EXPLANATION AND ARGUMENTATION - Students can develop, evaluate, and critique scientific claims/explanations, arguments, and solutions based on evidence from the natural and designed world.