Name
___________________________ Period _______________
Score /200
Unit 3:
Human Influence on Ecosystems
Lauren Ard
Santa Clara High School
Tucson, Arizona
Instructions: Below are the
activities you can choose from to earn points for this unit. Start with
the C activities. These will help you learn the basics of the unit.
Activities in bold are required for every student. After you have
enough points in the C section, move on to section B and then A for
more challenging activities. Here's how to get the grade you want:
F: 0 - 120 C points
D: 121 - 140 C points
C: 141 - 160 C points
B: 160 C points and 5-20 B points
A: 160 C points, 20 B
points, and 5-20 A points
When you are finished with
an activity, you must sit down and discuss what you've learned with
Mrs. Ard. You may not turn in more than two activities on the last
day of the unit.
C Activities
| Description | # of Periods | Points | Score |
| Take Cornell notes on the entire unit. | - | 20 | |
| Do the Introduced Species Project with the entire class. | 5 | 60 | |
| Watch the 15 minute video called “Ozone and Pollution” and write at least five sentences about what you learned. | 0.5 | 5 | |
| Watch the 15 minute video called “The River of Life” and describe at least three ways water can become polluted. | 0.5 | 5 | |
| Watch the 15 minute video called “Inventions and Invasions: The Great Lakes Ballast Technology Project.” Write down 5 things you learned while watching. | 0.5 | 5 | |
| Watch the 20 minute video called “Bill Nye: Pollution” video and take notes while watching. Your detailed notes should fill at least one side of a page. | 0.5 | 10 | |
| Do the activity called “Junk Mail” and answer the questions. (You will need junk mail from home to do this activity.) | 0.5 | 10 | |
| Do the “Lunch” activity and answer the questions (you will need the trash from your lunch to do this activity). | 0.5 | 10 | |
| Read about “French Fries” and write a 4-6 sentence paragraph about how fast food fries harm the environment. Be sure to include a lead, body, and conclusion, and use the 6 traits when you write your paragraph. | 0.5 | 15 | |
| Borrow one of the library books on Mrs. Ard’s desk (Do NOT take it out of the classroom!). Make sure it is at your AR level. Read it and take the AR test. Get at least a score of 80% on the test. Show your test score to Mrs. Ard for points. You can do this activity more than once for extra points! | 0.5 | 15 | |
| Do the “Paper From Paper” activity and answer the questions. (You will learn how paper is recycled.) | 0.5 | 15 | |
| Read pages E95 to E100 in the hardcover Ecology book and answer questions 1-4 on page E100. Then, read pages E102-E110 and answer questions 1-5 on page E110. | 1 | 20 | |
| Read pages E112 to E115 in the hardcover Ecology book and answer question 1-5 on page E115. Then, read pages E126-E136 and answer questions 1-5 on page E136. | 1 | 20 | |
| Read “Hamburger” and write a 5-10 sentence paragraph about how fast food hamburgers harm the environment. Be sure to include a lead, body, and conclusion, and use the 6 traits when you write your paragraph. | 1 | 20 | |
| Read “Cola” and write a 5-10 sentence paragraph about how fast food hamburgers harm the environment. Be sure to include a lead, body, and conclusion, and use the 6 traits when you write your paragraph. | 1 | 20 | |
| Read “T-Shirt” and write a 5-10 sentence paragraph about t-shirt production harms the environment. Be sure to include a lead, body, and conclusion, and use the 6 traits when you write your paragraph. | 1 | 20 | |
| Read “Shoes” and write a 5-10 sentence paragraph about how shoe production harms the environment. Be sure to include a lead, body, and conclusion, and use the 6 traits when you write your paragraph. | 1 | 20 | |
| Do the activity called “How Much Water is Used at School?” (You will use simple math to figure out how much water we use at school every day.) | 1 | 20 | |
| Do the “Miracle Fish” activity using Activity #72 in the Ecology book AND the worksheet I have made to help you. (You will learn about a foreign fish that was introduced into lake Victoria.) | 1 | 20 | |
| Do the “Too Many Mussels” activity using Activity #87 in the Ecology book AND the worksheet I have made to help you. (You will learn about the efforts of scientists to control the mussel population in a certain area.) | 1 | 20 | |
| Read “Computer” and write a 5-10 sentence paragraph about how computer production harms the environment. Be sure to include a lead, body, and conclusion, and use the 6 traits when you write your paragraph. | 1 | 25 | |
| Read “Bike (And Car)” and write a 5-10 sentence paragraph about how bike and car production harms the environment. Be sure to include a lead, body, and conclusion, and use the 6 traits when you write your paragraph. | 1 | 30 |
B Activities
| Description | # of Periods | Points | Score |
| Use the class phone to call a local plant nursery (you can use the internet to look one up). Tell them you are learning about foreign species in science class. Ask them if they know how planting foreign species can be damaging to the environment. Ask them what advantages there are in planting native desert species instead. Take notes on the person’s responses. Make sure to thank them for their time! | 0.5 | 10 | |
| Make a colorful flier discouraging students from littering. Hang it up on the outside of one of the school doors after Mrs. Ard has seen it. | 0.5 | 10 | |
| Figure out how many pages of paper you use on an average day of school. Then calculate how much paper you use in an entire school year (180 days). Next, figure out how many sheets of paper are used by the entire E team, assuming the E team has 145 students and 5 teachers and they all use the same amount of paper as you. Finally, if one tree can produce 80,000 sheets of paper, figure out how many trees the E team uses up every year. | 1 | 15 | |
| Pretend you are a reporter. Write an article about the pollution of the wash. Some things you might write about are how the wash is being polluted, how the pollution might affect the ecosystem, and what should be done to clean it up. Use your “6 traits” to write 10 sentences. | 1 | 20 |
A Activities
| Description | # of Periods | Points | Score |
| Find out what happens to Tucson’s recycled stuff after it’s collected. (Use tucsonrecycles.org and click on “Where Does it Go?”) Write it down! | 0.5 | 10 | |
| Ask a janitor after school to find out who cleans up the trash in the fields, how often they do it, and how long it takes them. Figure out how many hours it takes to keep the outside of the school clean every year. Figure out how many of these hours could be prevented if students were cleaner. | 0.5 | 10 | |
| Write a letter to Principal Menchaca about the importance of recycling, and list some ideas you have that you think would improve recycling at Sierra. Use your “six traits” and write at least 10 sentences. | 1 | 20 | |
| Make a poster about one of these things: Recycling, Energy Conservation, or Pollution. Include at least 3 ways that Sierra students can help with the problem at school or at home. | 3 | 40 |