Relationships between organisms are important in determining change in population numbers and their survival
What you intend the students to learn about this idea.
It is intended that students learn about the relationships between organisms such as feeding, including:
parasite/host,
predator/prey,
of mutual benefit including:
mutualism and symbiosis
Students will learn about the balance of relationships between organisms and the use of resources in a particular habitat in order to survive.
Organisms live and work in a network in order to better their chances of survival.
Why it is important for students to know this.
Students need to understand the importance of relationships and interactions that organisms have with each other to ensure their survival.
Organisms require energy for survival. It is important for students to understand that organisms obtain energy from other sources (which are other organisms).
It is important to understand how and why some species have become endangered or extinct, and how this impact the ecosystem.
How does the increase or decrease in the population size of a particular species impact on other species that are reliant on it?
How does the introduction of humans interfere with/change the relationship between organisms?
How do human activities such as habitat destruction, resources use and disposal of wastes affect the ecosystem? How do these activities affect the relationships between other organisms?
What else you know about this idea (that you do not intend students to know yet).
The relationship occurring between organisms may not only occur between two species. There may be a larger group of organisms in the relationship. Introducing this concept is complex and students may be more confused; therefore, just speaking about the simpler two organism relationships will give students the basic idea about the concept, and will not be too detailed as to confuse them.
Difficulties/ limitations connected with teaching this idea.
There is a lot of new terminology throughout this Big Idea. As a result, some students may have difficulties in remembering all the terminology and therefore the interactions between organisms.
Students may not find the interaction between animals and plants particularly interesting because it is not as exciting as the predator/prey relationship.
Knowledge about students’ thinking which influences your teaching about this idea.
Students may focus their interest on the predator/prey relationship as it seems to be the most interesting and not enjoy the other types of relationships.
Other factors that influence your teaching of this idea.
Students will most likely have prior knowledge of some of the relationships between organisms; such and predator/prey (the lion and antelope scenario) and parasitism (diseases such as ringworm or fleas).
Teaching procedures (and particular reasons for using these to engage with this idea).
As there is a lot of new terminology in this Big Idea methods to try and get students’ to comprehend new vocabulary is important.
Get students to work in groups and use flash cards and show how organisms interact with each other.
Another activity that would be useful is to use the same flash card to write definitions for each of the terms.
Showing videos/clips of each type of relationship so that students have a visual representation of what the interaction/relationship looks like. The information will them be more likely to stay in their minds.
Another teaching strategy that may help students remember each type of relationships is to go on an excursion to a zoo, botanical garden or park, so that students can see the relationships between organisms firsthand. This will also link the biological concepts learnt in the classroom to the ‘real’ world and may therefore further engage and interest students.
Discussions with students the types of relationships and where they may have seen them before (zoo, TV shows, movies), this will encourage discussion and allow other students to have a specific example in their minds of the relationships.
Specific ways of ascertaining students’ understanding or confusion around this idea (include likely range of responses).
Getting students to discuss the way human beings impacts on the relationships between organisms. How does the introduction of humans interfere with/change the relationship between organisms?
Putting up a slideshow of various photos depicting different relationships between organisms and getting students to identify them.
Getting students to participate in a role play about the different types of interaction between organisms.
Relationships between organisms are important in determining change in population numbers and their survival
What you intend the students to learn about this idea.
Why it is important for students to know this.
What else you know about this idea (that you do not intend students to know yet).
Difficulties/ limitations connected with teaching this idea.
Knowledge about students’ thinking which influences your teaching about this idea.
Other factors that influence your teaching of this idea.
Teaching procedures (and particular reasons for using these to engage with this idea).
Specific ways of ascertaining students’ understanding or confusion around this idea (include likely range of responses).