ESS.4.3.2
Engage in argument from evidence to explain how humans can adapt their behavior to live in changing environments (e.g. recycling wastes, establishing rain gardens, planting native species to prevent flooding and erosion).
Embedded Files
District Recommended Resources for 4th Grade Science
Animal Studies
Kit rental options are available. See your administrator.
Science Phenomena Resources
Next Generation Science Standards YouTube Channel
Step 1: Lesson Standards & Learning Goals
Dimension 1:
SEP: Engage in Argument from Evidence: Respectfully provide and receive critiques from peers about a proposed procedure, explanation or model by citing relevant evidence and posing specific questions. (NSTA SEP Matrix).
Dimension 2:
CCC: Cause and Effect
Dimension 3:
Disciplinary Core Ideas:
ESS3.C Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments. For example, they are treating sewage, reducing the amounts of materials they use, and regulating sources of pollution such as emissions from factories and power plants or the runoff from agricultural activities (A Framework for K-12 Science Education).
Sample Essential Questions
Sample Essential Questions
How is the environment changing?
How can humans change their behavior as the environment changes?
Why is it important to reuse, reduce, and recycle?
How can humans adapt their behaviors in order to conserve materials?
How can humans adapt their behaviors to preserve ecological systems?
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
adapt
behavior
conserve,
environments
erosion
flooding
native species
preserve
rain gardens
recycling
Students will be able to...
Students will be able to...
Students explain how humans impact (positive or negative) the environment (e.g., littering; recycling).
Engage in Argument- Construct and/or support an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model on how humans can adapt their behavior in changing environments (e.g., recycling helps with waste -plastic bags, bottles, etc.- entering landfills and impacting animals and plants).
Students will know...
Students will know...
Students know humans can adapt their behavior in order to conserve materials and natural resources.
Students know humans need to preserve the ecological systems they depend on for survival (e.g., water, land resources).
Know what a natural resource is.
Step 2: Assessment
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessments
Writing Prompts
Prompt: Write a letter to your school principal explaining why it is important to start a recycling program at your school. Include reasons why recycling helps the environment and how it can benefit the school.
Mini Projects and Investigations
Soil and Water Ecology Contest
PDF of Poster Contest Information
Campus Clean-Up:
Activity Description: Take students on a walk around the school or a nearby park. Along the way, have them collect litter and observe the types of trash found. Discuss how littering affects wildlife and ecosystems and the importance of keeping natural spaces clean.
Materials Needed: Trash bags, gloves, clipboards, paper, and pencils for note-taking.
Culminating Activity
Construct and/or support an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model on how humans can adapt their behavior in changing environments.
Using information gathered from a nature walk around the school campus and class discussions, create a plan to recycle waste, establish a rain garden, or plant trees to prevent flooding and erosion on the school campus.
Divide students into groups. Assign one of the following topics to each group:
How can we recycle waste at school? Where will the waste be collected? How will this help the environment?
Where is a good place to establish a rain garden on campus and why? How will this help the environment?
Where is a good spot to plant trees or shrubs in order to prevent flooding and erosion? Why? How will this help the environment?
Each group will create a drawing/model of the school and outside area showing the "best" spot for the challenge they have been given.
Groups will present their designs to the class. Tell students to pay attention to the similarities and differences in the projects.
(Adapted from Stem Scopes)
Step 3: Lesson Instructions
Possible Activating Strategies
Possible Activating Strategies
Brainstorming Web:
(Revisit and add new information)
Create a brainstorming web on an anchor chart with the central topic: "Environmental Problems."
Ask students to brainstorm different problems affecting plants and animals and write them around the central topic.
Add additional problems throughout the unit.
Nature Walk:
Explain to students that humans depend on the environment around them to survive and that we can adapt our behavior to help conserve that environment so it is around for a long time.
Take the class outside for a nature walk around the school. Students will be responsible for writing down all of the human impact they see on the environment, whether it is positive or negative.
After the nature walk, students will complete the following sentence stems in their journals to check for understanding and for future reference.
One positive impact by humans on the environment is __. One negative impact by humans on the environment is __.
(Adapted from Stem Scopes)
Additional Literacy Connections
Reduce the Impact of flooding (ReadWorks)
Rain Gardens and Native Plants (Read aloud article)
"The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest" by Lynne Cherry
Earth Hour: A Lights-Out Event for Our Planet" by Nanette Heffernan
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