During this unit students will gain experience in constructing explanations of how the geosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere interact and how human impacts change how organisms interact with the environment.
Quick Links:
Lessons and Standards
5th Grade Summary:
Students will study why the wetland habitat is important and how we can protect it. Content will focus on how the biosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere interact within this environment.
During the Community Building Day in the classroom, students will be introduced to the wetland ecosystem and participate in a search-and-find activity to learn about the plants and animals that make up the biosphere. Students build belief that they are unique individuals who belong to a community of scientists by creating a Discovery bracelet through answering questions about their passions and interests.
During the Exploration Day at Sweetwater Marsh, students build on the belief that they can recognize and do science, as they investigate a real wetland, and use scientific tools to analyze how plants, animals, and humans (the biosphere) interact with the geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.
During the Make a Difference Day at the Living Lab, students continue to analyze how the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere interact while investigating a wetland located within their own community. Students make a difference today by planting seedlings to zipline into the canyon for future restoration projects and learn how to make a difference tomorrow by becoming engineers and designing machines to clean up future wetlands. Students meet and talk with science leaders who share their career pathways and challenges they have faced along their journey. Collectively, these experiences build students’ belief that science is important and relevant, that a career in science is a possibility for them, that challenges can be opportunities to learn and grow, rather than permanent obstacles, and that they can make a difference in the world.
Students love becoming engineers, exploring the wetlands, using scientific tools, getting to know science leaders, and making a difference in the world!
NGSS Alignment:
Performance Expectation 5-ESS2-1: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
DCI ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems
Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes.
Crosscutting Concepts
Systems and System Models
Lesson Media:
Schedules
Additional Resources
- Wetland Information
- What is a wetland? (NOAA National Ocean Service)
- Coastal Wetlands (Monterey Bay Aquarium)
- San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
- Info on field trip location (Sweetwater Marsh unit)
- Science Careers
