The students will use images found on the TIDES website to understand the concepts of organism and population.  The students will go on a scavenger hunt in the classroom, complete a word search, and match populations with organisms in this fun and educational lesson. 

Created by Jenny Willmer, October 2006

Michigan Benchmark 5: Ecosystems SCI.III.5.E.2 (Interdependence)

Goal #1 The student will know that there are many kinds of living things, that they are interdependent and are constantly changing.

Objectives: The student will be able to:

1. State that an organism is any living thing; a thing that can carry on all the activities of life.
2. State that a population is more than one of the same organism in the same place.
3. Use a dictionary, an encyclopedia and a synonym finder to label populations of organisms.
4. Isolate populations and compare the size of the organisms to the size of the populations. Little organisms usually have bigger populations.

Students will use the science process by classifying, sequencing, inferring, predicting and communicating.

Students will develop research and dictionary skills.

• Math skills students will use: plot data on bar graph
• compare quantities from bar graphs
• read bar graphs

What comparisons can we make with organisms and populations?

Ask the children what they know about organisms. Elicit responses from the class. Expand on their definitions and give examples. Explain that an organism is any living thing. It is not limited to just animals. Do the same with populations. Define a population as a group of more than one of the same organism in the same place. At this time, direct them to examples of populations on the TIDES site. As a group, generate a list of organisms and populations. Some populations to consider are as follows: army, colony, gaggle, knot, nest, pod, school, warren, bed, gray, herd, litter, pack, pride, swarm, bevy, flock, hive, muster, parliament, rookery, troop.

Websites:
    www.npwrc.usgs.gov./about/faqs/animals/names.htm
    www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/Animalbabies.shtml

These websites provide extensive lists of animals and their population titles. Ask the children what resources we can use to find the name of a group of organisms (a population of specific organisms), or the name of an organism, when given the population. Encourage responses such as peers, dictionary, parents, teacher, encyclopedia, computer.

Tell the children they are going on a scavenger hunt to collect information. They will work in groups of four or five children per group to “hunt” for information. In various areas of the classroom, set up dictionaries, Zoobooks, Ranger Rick magazines, animal posters and cards, expository books on various animals, and websites that are appropriate for the topic. Assign each group of students three or four organisms for their hunt. Give each group a sheet. Explain guidelines and give examples for small medium and large sizes. There must be group consensus. Discuss the problems that would occur if everyone used a different size scale.

Upon completion of collecting the data, children record their information. All organisms and populations are recorded on the corresponding columns. Bring the class together as a group and fill out the last column on the chart (the size relationship between organism and populations). Synthesize the information for the whole group, recording tally marks for each size relationship. Last, either in groups, independently or as a whole class, create a bar graph and analyze the results. To create a bar graph, use the y axis for the quantity, and the x axis for the size relationships--s-s (small organism -small population), s-m, s-l, m-s, m-m, m-l, l-s, l-m, l-l. To simplify, you could eliminate the medium category. Encourage the class to look for patterns. Is there a correlation to the size of the organism and the size of the population? (Hopefully, an inverse relationship will be evident--the smaller the organism, the larger the population; the larger the organism, the smaller the population--usually.)

Students choose a population to research further. They can look for group dynamics and habits.

Give the children a word search of animal populations. Have them match to organism listed on the same page. If you want to create your own word search, go to: http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/WordSearchSetupForm.html

Work in groups to make corresponding puzzle pieces of organisms and populations. Children match up puzzle pieces and create a class set.

Have children work in pairs to look up populations in the dictionary.

Group-living animals in TIDES:

Breeding herons and egrets Greater Flamingo Cave Swallows Prairie Dogs Toad Tadpoles Fish in a cenote in Yucatan, Mexico