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A3: Describe the different living things within a given habitat

Curriculum Organizing Questions	What is an organism's habitat? What are some examples of habitats? What are the similarities and differences between different habitats? What do organisms need in their habitat? How many different habitats can an organism live in? What are some features that help plants and animals live in their habitat?
Elaboration	Students build understanding of biological concepts through direct experience with living things, their life cycles, and their habitats. Their studies of interactions among organisms should start with relationships they can directly observe. Students should become acquainted with many different kinds of ecosystems, starting with those close at hand, and an important focus should be on establishing the primary associations of organisms with their environments. NSES pgs. 127-128. Nature films give an opportunity for students to see a wide diversity of habitats.Benchmarks p.116.
Specific Ideas	A habitat is an organism's particular "home" within an ecosystem. There are many different types of habitats. Different living things are found in different habitats. Organisms can survive only in habitats where their needs can be met. Plants and animals have features that help them live in their habitat. This language is similar, but more age appropriate to what is in NSES C3, p.129.
Developmental & Instructional Implications	Elementary students typically use movement, breath, reproduction, and death to decide whether things are alive. Many children do not consider plants to be alive, but do consider inanimate objects that move to be alive. (There is an extensive discussion of the development of this concept in Making Sense of Secondary Science by Driver, pages 17-21.) Many pupils seem unable to think of organisms and their environments without human involvement and many younger children think that all organisms are fed by people. Generally pupils are unaware of the role that microbes play in environments.
Examples

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