LESSON ONE: SYMBIOTIC INTERACTIONS: MUTUALISM, COMMENSALISM, AND PARASITISM
HOOK: An exciting introductory video to symbiosis. Main themes of the topic are addressed with relevant examples from the environment and how these relationships are crucial for humans.
BODY OF LESSON: Smartboard lesson introducing concept
1: Activity: Truth of Myth? Diagnostic assessment of what students know on the subject and any misconceptions they may have.
2: Notes on symbiotic interactions
1: Activity: Truth of Myth? Diagnostic assessment of what students know on the subject and any misconceptions they may have.
2: Notes on symbiotic interactions
symbiosis_lesson.notebook | |
File Size: | 664 kb |
File Type: | notebook |
Consolidation Activity: Exploring Symbiosis
Overview: Students are divided into three groups. One group represents parasitism, one mutualism, and one commensalism. Each group receives a card with a picture of an organism and a description. Students must find their pair from their group i.e dog and tick in the parasitic group. After students find their partner, they ask the teacher if the pairing is correct. If so, they write their pair NOT what group though, on the board and circle the two together. After all students do this, the game continues. Students guess what kind of relationship each circles pair exhibits. If it is mutualistic, the group that guesses correctly gets 1 point and so do the other two groups. If a group guesses a pair as being a parasitic relationship and its correct, they gain a point and the other two teams lose a point. Lastly, if the student guesses a that a pair is exhibiting commensalism and they are correct, their group gains a point while the rest of the groups neither gain or lose a point.
Debrief the activity: Why did some teams lose points, gain points, or remain at zero depending on what relationship they guessed? How did this directly relate to symbiotic relationships?
Taking the activity further: Students can write down definitions of each type of symbiosis and/or give a brief explanation why each pair of organisms from the board should be in the category in which they were placed. They could also be creative and make up an example for each type of symbiosis.
Link to online source with detailed instructions and cutouts (pictures with descriptions) for the exploring symbiosis game: http://pages.uoregon.edu/oimb/Academics/GK12/Lesson%20Plans/4th%20Symbiosis.pdf
Picture from: Spongelab interactive spongelab.com
Overview: Students are divided into three groups. One group represents parasitism, one mutualism, and one commensalism. Each group receives a card with a picture of an organism and a description. Students must find their pair from their group i.e dog and tick in the parasitic group. After students find their partner, they ask the teacher if the pairing is correct. If so, they write their pair NOT what group though, on the board and circle the two together. After all students do this, the game continues. Students guess what kind of relationship each circles pair exhibits. If it is mutualistic, the group that guesses correctly gets 1 point and so do the other two groups. If a group guesses a pair as being a parasitic relationship and its correct, they gain a point and the other two teams lose a point. Lastly, if the student guesses a that a pair is exhibiting commensalism and they are correct, their group gains a point while the rest of the groups neither gain or lose a point.
Debrief the activity: Why did some teams lose points, gain points, or remain at zero depending on what relationship they guessed? How did this directly relate to symbiotic relationships?
Taking the activity further: Students can write down definitions of each type of symbiosis and/or give a brief explanation why each pair of organisms from the board should be in the category in which they were placed. They could also be creative and make up an example for each type of symbiosis.
Link to online source with detailed instructions and cutouts (pictures with descriptions) for the exploring symbiosis game: http://pages.uoregon.edu/oimb/Academics/GK12/Lesson%20Plans/4th%20Symbiosis.pdf
Picture from: Spongelab interactive spongelab.com