Ecosystems and Human Impact (K-4)

Ecosystems and Human Impact examines the complex interactions of living and nonliving things that comprise an ecosystem and provides a context for understanding the nature of human impact on ecosystems.

Course Objectives

• Identify the components of an ecosystem and their relative importance
• Explore the variety of ways in which organisms can interact
• Examine aspects of the natural environment that are critical to the survival of all species
• Evaluate whether human-caused environmental changes can be beneficial or detrimental
• Explore a range of effective questioning and discussion strategies for the classroom

Course Syllabus

Session 1: Interactions of Organisms
Examine how populations of animals and plants that live in the same area, together with nonliving things in the environment, interact to comprise ecosystems. Teaching and learning strategies focus on effective questioning techniques.

Session 2: Human Impact on the Environment
Building on Session 1, recognize that humans depend on natural and constructed environments. Teaching and learning strategies focus on group discussion.

Additional Course Information

• 15 contact hours
• Fourth in a series of four courses for teachers of elementary life science
• Other courses in the series:
  • 1st course: Science and the Living World ^‡
  • 2nd course: Plants and Animals ^‡
  • 3rd course: Heredity and Adaptation ^‡
  • ^‡recommended before taking this course
• A full survey course (45 contact hours), Teaching Elementary Life Science, is also available.

We recommend course modules be taken in order. If this is not possible, it's important to have a basic knowledge of the content and methodology described in the preceding courses.

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