Exercise #1_Production of a Proposed Set of Operations

Exercise #1_Production of a Proposed Set of Operations

This instructional plan is designed for learners in 3^rd to 5^th grade.

Topic: Habitat mapping

Lesson summary: students discover organisms’ habitats in their school environment and note changes as pertaining to the change of environment over time.

Purpose: the learners will go into the field and record organisms’ habitats and the nature of the environment, either individually or in groups.

Materials: pens, recording papers.

Focus question:

1. What are the organisms which are found in your school’s environment?
2. What factors promote the survival of organisms in the school’s environment?
3. What factors negatively affect the survival of organisms in the school’s environment?

Theoretical stage

Teach the learners of the meaning of habitats and ask questions on habitats.  Give the learners a brief verbal test on different habitats to point out if the learners understand the habitats.

Practical stage

1. Divide the students into groups of five.
2. Each student should then draw the outline of the school compound on their paper. The outline includes only the most exterior walls or boundaries. Assess the drawings to find if the learners correctly represent the school’s outlay. In case of corrections, request the learners to make relevant changes.
3. Once satisfied that each learner has a representative outline of the school, name each group. Assign a group leader to each group.
4. Instruct each group to take a walk around the school compound. Request each group to take a distinct direction (no two groups should explore the compound as one.) the students ought to note down any organisms which they saw during their exploration activity on a piece of paper.  The walks should take around twenty to twenty-five minutes when the students are supposed to go back to the classroom.
5. After the students settle back in the classroom, request them to sketch any manmade structures on the school’s compound, which they are aware of and correctly label them. This should take at most ten minutes.
6. Request the learners to relate the organisms which they indicted on their sheets of paper with the sketched outline. For instance, if they saw a grasshopper at the sidewalk to the administration block, they ought to mark the location with an “x” and point a label to it.
7. Give the learners flexibility on naming the habits. If a learner prefers other forms of illustration such as drawing the organisms, permit them.
8. Have the learners interchange their sketches and compare if they observed similar organisms across common areas.
9. Welcome questions from the learners either based on their sketches or other learners’ sketches.
10. Be specific on asking if the students noted organisms on these areas:
    1. Near the garages
    2. Near the buses’ fueling station.
    3. Near the science laboratories and workshops
    4. Near the kitchen (these present the most polluted areas )
11. If the learners noted any organisms, let them describe their appearance.
12. If the learners did not note any organisms, request them to suggest some of the reasons there were no organisms.