Standard: Science

28 Feb 2021

Stream Exploration and Pond Exploration

April-October

Choose an aquatic focus area: Life at the Pond or Life at the Stream. Ponds and streams are essential resources to many Ohio plants and animals, including humans.  Take time to discover our local waterways at Greenacres and make observations as we look for plants and animals that call them home.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • LS Grade K: Living things have physical traits and behaviors, which influence their survival.
  • LS Grade 1: Living things have basic needs, which are met by obtaining materials from the physical environment.  
  • LS Grade 1: Living things survive only in environments that meet their needs.
  • LS Grade 2: Living things cause changes on Earth.
  • LS Grade 3: Offspring resemble their parents and each other.
  • LS Grade 4: Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to survival and sometimes harmful.
  • LS Grade 5: Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem.
  • LS Grade 5: All of the processes that take place within an organism require energy.

NGSS Standards:

  • K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
  • K-ESS3-3. Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.
  • 1-LS3-1. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
  • LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
  • 2-ESS2-3. Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.
  • 3-LS1-1: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
  • 5-LS2-1: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
  • MS-LS2-3: Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Vocabulary: Observation, Fossil, Limestone, Shale, Erosion, Deposition, Clay, Invertebrate, Habitat, Adaptations, Life Cycles

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for a pond video with a Greenacres educator

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for stream video with a Greenacres educator

28 Feb 2021

All about Birds

August-June

Birds are perhaps the easiest wildlife to observe. Birds have many unique adaptations, which allows them to be found in many different habitats. We’ll use our observation skills to find birds of all shapes, sizes, and colors as we hike around Greenacres.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • LS Grade K: Living things have physical traits and behaviors, which influence their survival.
  • LS Grade 1: Living things have basic needs, which are met by obtaining materials from the physical environment. 
  • LS Grade 1: Living things survive only in environments that meet their needs.
  • LS Grade 2: Living things cause changes on Earth.
  • LS Grade 3: Offspring resemble their parents and each other.
  • LS Grade 4: Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to survival and sometimes harmful.
  • LS Grade 5: Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem.
  • LS Grade 5: All of the processes that take place within an organism require energy.
  • LS Grade 7: In any particular biome, the number, growth and survival of organisms and populations depend on biotic and abiotic factors.
  • LS Grade 8: The characteristics of an organism are a result of inherited traits received from parent(s).

NGSS Standards:

  • K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
  • 1-LS3-1: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents
  • 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
  • 3-LS3-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms
  • 3-LS2-1. Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
  • 3-LS3-2. Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment
  • 4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
  • MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
  • MS-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals’ probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.
  • HS-LS2-8: Evaluate evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species’ chances to survive and reproduce.

Vocabulary: Observation, Habitat, Evidence, Adaptation, Trait, Behavior

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for a bird video with a Greenacres educator

28 Feb 2021

Native Species Management

August-June

Students will experience green career opportunities that involve data, research and wildlife management. During this program, students will have the opportunity to survey the local habitat to look for native and invasive species. Take time to learn more about the beneficial qualities of our Ohio native flora and fauna. End the day with an invasive species removal service project. 

Ohio Science Standards:

  • B.DI.1: Biodiversity – Species diversity
  • B.DI.2: Ecosystems – Equilibrium and disequilibrium
  • B.DI.3: Loss of Diversity – Invasive species
  • ENV.ES.1: Biosphere – Ecosystems (equilibrium, species interactions, stability), population dynamics
  • ENV.ER.5: Wildlife and wilderness, wildlife and wilderness management, invasive species, introduced species
  • ENV.GP.5: Species depletion and extinction
  • ENV.GP.8: Deforestation and loss of biodiversity

NGSS Standards:

  • HS-LS2-6: Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem
  • HS-LS2-7: Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity
  • HS-LS4-4: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.
  • HS-LS4-6:Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.

Vocabulary:

 Native species, invasive species, non-native species, biodiversity

28 Feb 2021

Stream Geology

August-June

This program focuses on the power and force of running water as it shapes our dynamic Earth. Students will investigate the physical features of a stream, collect and analyze stream flow data, and discover how human activities have impacted stream ecosystems.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • ESS Grade 8: A combination of constructive and destructive geologic processes formed Earth’s surface.
  • ESS Grade 8: Evidence of the dynamic changes of Earth’s surface through time is found in the geologic record.

NGSS Standards:

  • MS-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales
  • MS-ESS2-4. Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
  • MS-ESS3-1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes
  • MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment

Ohio Social Studies Standards:

  • SS Grade 8: Geography – Modern and historical maps and other geographic tools are used to analyze how historic events are shaped by geography.

Vocabulary:

erosion, deposition, rate of flow, water cycle, ordovician fossils

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for a video with a Greenacres educator

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