Lesson 4: Ecosystem Services
Duration of Days: 3
Lesson Objective
Students identify, value, and incorporate these natural benefits—such as clean air, water, and pollination—into decision-making to balance ecological health with human needs
How do ecosystems and their biodiversity provide essential, measurable, and economic benefits to human well-being, and how can these services be sustained under changing environmental and developmental conditions?
HS-LS2-2 (Factors affecting biodiversity).
Comparative analysis of texts.
An evaluation of the free services ecosystems provide to humans, such as water filtration, pollination, and carbon sequestration.
(DOK 4)
See "Materials / Resources / Text / Speakers" field
Students choose one ecosystem service (e.g., pollination by bees) and research the economic cost to replace it with human technology, presenting their findings as an argument for conservation.