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Organizing Questions
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- What would happen if Earth's sea level rose?
- What would happen if the Earth's atmosphere got
warmer?
- What would happen if the ozone hole got bigger?
- What would happen if the acidity of the precipitation
icreased all over the world?
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Elaboration
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Note that this indicator focuses on effects rather than
causes of changes. This is a good time to make connections
to MLR "K".
Questions of environmental policy should be pursued when
students become interested in them, usually in the middle
grades or later, but care should be taken not to bypass
science for advocacy. Critical thinking based on scientific
concepts and understanding is the primary goal for science
education. Benchmarks p. 71
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Specific Ideas
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- Like many complex systems, ecosystems tend to have
cyclic fluctuations around a state of rough equilibrium.
In the long run, however, ecosystems always change when
climate changes or when one or more new species appear as
a result of migration or local evolution. Benchmarks
5D2
- Human beings are part of the earth's ecosystems.
Human activities can, deliberately or inadvertently,
alter the equilibrium in ecosystems. Benchmark 5D3
- At times, environmental conditions are such that
plants and marine organisms grow faster than decomposers
can recycle them back to the environment. Layers of
energy-rich organic material have been gradually turned
into great coal beds and oil pools by the pressure of the
overlying earth. By burning these fossil fuels, people
are passing most of the stored energy back into the
environment as heat and releasing large amounts of carbon
dioxide. Benchmarks 5E1
- The amount of life any environment can support is
limited by the available energy, water, oxygen, and
minerals, and by the ability of ecosystems to recycle the
residue of dead organic materials. Human activities and
technology can change the flow and reduce the fertility
of the land. Benchmark 5E2
- Wonder how likely it is that some event of interest
might have occurred just by chance. Benchmark 12E3
- Insist that the critical assumptions behind any line
of reasoning be made explicit so that the validity of the
position being taken--whether one's own or that of
others--can be judged. Benchmark 12E4
- Be aware, when considering claims, that when people
try to prove a point, they may select only the data that
support it and ignore any that would contradict it.
Benchmark 12E5
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Developmental & Instructional
Implications
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Normal adjustments of earth may be hazardous to humans.
Humans live at the interface between the atmopshere driven
by solar energy and the upper mantle where convection
creates changes in the earth's solid crust. As scocieties
have grown, become stable, and come to value aspects of the
environment. vulnerability to natural processes of change
has increased. NSES p. 199 5a
Now students have a sufficient grasp of atoms and
molecules to link the conservation of matter with the flow
of energy in living systems. … Discussions of
ecosystems can both contribute to and be reinforced by
students' understanding of the systems concept in general.
The difficulty of predicting the consequences of human
tinkering with ecosystems can be illustrated with examples
such as the ill-considered fire-prevention efforts in
national forests. Benchmark p. 121
Understanding basic concepts and principles of science
and technology should precede active debate about the
economics, politics and ethics of various science- and
technology-related challenges. NSES p. 199 6b
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Examples
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