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Curriculum Connections
| Unit A | Description: The student will... | GLO Activity Number | | 1 | Investigate and describe relationships between humans and their environments, and identify related issues and scientific questions | A1, A2, A4, A5, C5, D3 | | 1.a | Illustrate how life-supporting environments meet the needs of living things for nutrients, energy sources, moisture, suitable habitat, and exchange of gases | A1, A2, A5 | | 1.b | Describe examples of interaction and interdependency within an ecosystem (e.g., identify examples of dependency between species, and describe adaptations involved; identify changing relationships between humans and their environments, over time and in different cultures-as, for example, in aboriginal cultures) | A4, C5 | | 1.c | Identify examples of human impacts on ecosystems, and investigate and analyze the link between these impacts and the human wants and needs that give rise to them (e.g., identify impacts of the use of plants and animals as sources of food, fibre, and other materials; identify potential impacts of waste products on environments) | D3 | | 1.d | Analyze personal and public decisions that involve consideration of environmental impacts, and identify needs for scientific knowledge that can inform those decisions | A3, D4 | | 2 | Trace and interpret the flow of energy and materials within an ecosystem | A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, B3, B4, C1, C5 | | 2.a | Analyze an ecosystem to identify biotic and abiotic components, and describe interactions among these components | A2, B4 | | 2.b | Analyze ecosystems to identify producers, consumers, and decomposers; and describe how energy is supplied to and flows through a food web, by: | A3, B1, B2, B3, B4, C1 | | 2.b.i | Describing and giving examples of energy and nutrient storage in plants and animals | B1, B3, C1 | | 2.b.ii | Describing how matter is recycled in an ecosystem through interactions among plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and other microorganisms | B2, B3, C1 | | 2.b.iii | Interpreting food webs, and predicting the effects of changes to any part of a web | A3, B1, C1 | | 2.c | Describe the process of cycling carbon and water through an ecosystem | B2 | | 2.d | Identify mechanisms by which pollutants enter and move through the environment, and can become concentrated in some organisms (e.g., acid rain, mercury, PCBs, DDT) | C5 | | 3 | Monitor a local environment, and assess the impacts of environmental factors on the growth, health, and reproduction of organisms in that environment | A2, A3, C2 | | 3.a | Investigate a variety of habitats, and describe and interpret distribution patterns of living things found in those habitats (e.g., describe and compare two areas within the school grounds-a relatively undisturbed site, and a site that has been affected by heavy use; describe and compare a wetland and a dryland area in a local parkland) | A2, A3, C2, C4 | | 3.b | Investigate and interpret evidence of interaction and change (e.g., population fluctuations, changes in weather, availability of food or introduction of new species into an ecosystem) | A3, C2 | | 3.c | Identify signs of ecological succession in local ecosystems (e.g., emergence of fireweed in recently cut forest areas, replacement of poplar by spruce in maturing forests, reestablishment of native plants on unused farmland) | C4 | | 4 | Describe the relationships among knowledge, decisions, and actions in maintaining life-supporting environments | A3, C1, C2, D1, D2 | | 4.a | Identify intended and unintended consequences of human activities within local and global environments (e.g., changes resulting from habitat loss, pest control, or from introduction of new species; changes leading to species extinction) | C1, C2 | | 4.b | Describe and interpret examples of scientific investigations that serve to inform environmental decision making | A3, D1, D2 | | 4.c | Illustrate, through examples, the limits of scientific and technological knowledge in making decisions about life-supporting environments (e.g., identify limits in scientific knowledge of the impact of changing land use on individual species; describe examples in which aboriginal knowledge-based on long-term observation-provides an alternative source of understanding) | A3, D1 | | 4.d | Analyze a local environmental issue or problem based on evidence from a variety of sources, and identify possible actions and consequences (e.g., analyze a local issue on the control of beaver population in a nearby wetland, and identify possible consequences) | C4, D4 |
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