Animals in Action
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
Communicable Diseases
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Program Overview
The Scholastic Science Place series is a K-6 program with 42 units, 6 for each grade level. The 6 units for grade 6 are organized under topics in the life, earth, and physical sciences. Three key themes--(1) scale and structure, (2) systems and interactions, and (3) patterns of change--are incorporated into the program. For each unit, teaching materials, student materials, and some optional components are available.
Student Edition
Recommended grade level:
6-8.
Through the activities in Biodiversity: Understanding the Variety of Life, students learn that people make choices that affect the survival of their own and other species. The lessons are grouped under 3 subconcepts of biodiversity: (1) Scientists use various methods to measure earth's biodiversity. (2) The variety of species and habitats changes with time. (3) Knowledge of biodiversity helps people make decisions about the environment.
In this unit, students use a transect to take a sample of species in the schoolyard and discover the variety of species present. They observe soil-dwelling organisms as they explore how conditions in habitats affect diversity. Students classify unknown organisms to discover some difficulties involved in measuring biodiversity. They examine fossils to learn about extinct species. In other activities, students make a model of competition and explore how competition affects biodiversity. They investigate the effects of catastrophes, overpopulation, and pollution on a habitat.
Biodiversity is a 17-lesson unit consisting of approximately 20 class sessions, typically 60 to 95 minutes in duration.
Teacher's Edition
The conceptual goals of the unit are presented in the lesson-by-lesson story line in the teacher's guide. Each lesson also includes background information; a complete lesson plan, including suggestions for assessing performance and integrating the curriculum; and a list of the materials required. For each lesson there is also a list of the relevant National Science Education Standards (developed by the National Research Council) and Project 2061 Benchmarks (developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science).
Key to Content Standards: 5-8 (see app. C)
UNIFYING CONCEPTS AND PROCESSES: Systems, order, and organization; change, constancy, and measurement.
SCIENCE AS INQUIRY: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry; understandings about scientific inquiry.
LIFE SCIENCE: Regulation and behavior; populations and ecosystems; diversity and adaptations of organisms.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Abilities of technological design.
SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES: Populations, resources, and environments; natural hazards; risks and benefits.
HISTORY AND NATURE OF SCIENCE: History of science.
Prices:
Student edition (ISBN 0-590-95536-5), $7.95. Teacher's edition (ISBN 0-590-95463-6), $27.00. Unit, $275.00. Consumable kit, $48.00.
Publisher/supplier:
Scholastic.
Materials:
Available locally, from commercial suppliers, or in kit.
