(5-8) M4

Science Curriculum Preview Committee Clarification of Learning Results

Revised 07/01/04

5-8

M4: Describe an individual's biological and other impacts on an environmental system.

Curriculum Organizing Questions

What impacts do people have on this ecosystem?

How could the negative impacts on this ecosystem be reduced? Positive impacts maximized?

How has this ecosystem changed?

Has resource depletion affected this ecosystem?

Do people in other parts of the world impact similar ecosystems very differently?

Elaboration
This involves taking a systems view of the world and analyzing the influence that small actions can make over time. The focus is on the individual's impact.

Specific Ideas

The human species has a major impact on other species in many ways: reducing the amount of the earth's surface available to those other species, interfering with their food sources, changing the temperature and chemical composition of their habitats, introducing foreign species into their ecosystems, and altering organisms directly through selective breeding and genetic engineering.Benchmarks 3C4 (9-12).

Human beings live within the world's ecosystems. Increasingly, humans modify ecosystems as a result of population growth, technology, and consumption. Human destruction of habitats through direct harvesting, pollution, atmospheric changes, and other factors is threatening current global stability, and if not addressed, ecosystems will be irreversibly affected. NSES C4e.

The amount of life any ecosystem 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.Benchmarks 5E2 (9-12).

Discarded products contribute to the problem of waste disposal. Sometimes it is possible to use the materials in them to make new products, but materials differ widely in the ease with which they can be recycled.Benchmarks 8B3 (3-5).

Decisions to slow the depletion of energy sources through efficient technology can be made at many levels, from personal to national, and they always involve tradeoffs of economic costs and social values. Benchmarks 8C5 (9-12).

Human activities can induce hazards through resource acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, and waste disposal. Such activities can accelerate many natural changes. NSES F3b.

Developmental & Instructional Implications
By this age students can study environmental issues of a large and abstract nature, for example, acid rain or global ozone depletion. However, teachers should challenge several important misconceptions, such as anything natural is not a pollutant, oceans are limitless resources, and humans are indestructible as a species. NSES p. 167.

Examples

Back to Big Ideas Grid M Back to Standard M Back to Index

Curriculum Organizing Questions	What impacts do people have on this ecosystem? How could the negative impacts on this ecosystem be reduced? Positive impacts maximized? How has this ecosystem changed? Has resource depletion affected this ecosystem? Do people in other parts of the world impact similar ecosystems very differently?
Elaboration	This involves taking a systems view of the world and analyzing the influence that small actions can make over time. The focus is on the individual's impact.
Specific Ideas	The human species has a major impact on other species in many ways: reducing the amount of the earth's surface available to those other species, interfering with their food sources, changing the temperature and chemical composition of their habitats, introducing foreign species into their ecosystems, and altering organisms directly through selective breeding and genetic engineering.Benchmarks 3C4 (9-12). Human beings live within the world's ecosystems. Increasingly, humans modify ecosystems as a result of population growth, technology, and consumption. Human destruction of habitats through direct harvesting, pollution, atmospheric changes, and other factors is threatening current global stability, and if not addressed, ecosystems will be irreversibly affected. NSES C4e. The amount of life any ecosystem 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.Benchmarks 5E2 (9-12). Discarded products contribute to the problem of waste disposal. Sometimes it is possible to use the materials in them to make new products, but materials differ widely in the ease with which they can be recycled.Benchmarks 8B3 (3-5). Decisions to slow the depletion of energy sources through efficient technology can be made at many levels, from personal to national, and they always involve tradeoffs of economic costs and social values. Benchmarks 8C5 (9-12). Human activities can induce hazards through resource acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, and waste disposal. Such activities can accelerate many natural changes. NSES F3b.
Developmental & Instructional Implications	By this age students can study environmental issues of a large and abstract nature, for example, acid rain or global ozone depletion. However, teachers should challenge several important misconceptions, such as anything natural is not a pollutant, oceans are limitless resources, and humans are indestructible as a species. NSES p. 167.
Examples