3-4

B3: Compare and contrast physical and living components of different biomes - i.e. regions characterized by their climate and plant life - (e.g., tundra, rain forest, ocean, desert).

Curriculum Organizing Questions	What type of biome do we live in? What other types of biomes are there nearby? What other types of biomes do people live in? What would it be like to live in another biome?
Elaboration	Studies of interactions among organisms within an environment should start with relationships they can directly observe. By viewing nature films, students should see a great diversity of life in different habitats. Making sense of the way organisms live in their environments will develop some understanding of the diversity of life and how all living things depend on the living and nonliving environment for survival. Benchmarks p.116
Specific Ideas	Physical conditions (rainfall, soil, temperature, light, etc.) determine the types of things that can live there. Benchmarks 5D1 (gr 6-8) Biomes are characterized by their climate and by the types of plants that live there. Some biomes, such as the rain forest, contain a great diversity of living things. Different biomes are inhabited by different organisms.
Developmental & Instructional Implications	Because the child's world at grades K-4 is closely associated with the home, school, and immediate environment, the study of organisms should include observations and interactions within the natural world of the child. The focus should be on establishing the primary associations of organisms with their environments and the secondary ideas dependence on various aspects of the environment. NSES p. 128 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, pgs. 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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