Big Idea: Biologists use different techniques to monitor the environment and species distribution

What you intend the students to learn about this idea. Electro-fishing to determine fish distribution and abundance	Students will be able to identify some reasons that make monitoring environmental change and species distribution logistically complex. For example, the large range of biotic and abiotic factors to measure and record, and the large spatial areas involved for some habitats. Students will be able to use field equipment to make and record quantitative measurements in an environment/habitat/ecosystem. Measurements may include: wind velocity, real and relative humidity, temperature, water velocity, clarity, pH, Salinity (EC), light intensity and soil description. Students will also be able to construct a simple site map that shows basic features such as aspect and slope. Students will observe that technology has become vital in monitoring environmental change. Students will be familiar with, and able to give examples of, some the modern technologies used. Examples may include, satellite imagery, data loggers, Geographic Information Systems, and remote sensors LIDAR and Thematic Mapper. Students will be able to analyse collated environmental change and species distribution data and hypothesize upon results. This may involve gaining an understanding of the methods and assumptions used to collect the data. Students will be able to investigate species distribution using transects and will be able to identify other methods of gaining species distribution data, such as, trapping, tagging, tracking and electro-fishing.
Why it is important for students to know this.	Knowledge of techniques used for environmental monitoring will enable students to draw evidence based conclusions and critically analyse relevant issues in the media. This will also enable understanding of Government policy and decision making, for example, in relation to climate change or natural resource management. Thus it promotes scientific literacy or ‘science for all’ (Tytler, 2007). Quantitative measurement and familiarity with measurement devices is part of a base knowledge for the biological field. This ‘big idea’ will add to student’s working knowledge of scientific experimentation and has links to other biological concepts and other subjects such as chemistry. Knowledge of existing technologies will give students an understanding of what technology related jobs there are in the biological field. As more and more data is produced by widespread environmental monitoring, students will need to develop good data interpretation skills. Knowledge of this ‘big idea’ will improve students’ communication of biological information. Studying field work links students to the real and complex world and will give them insight into the challenges biologists face when monitoring the environment and species distribution.
Other important factors about this idea (students may not need to know these yet).	In depth details of some of the logistics involved in monitoring environmental change and other measurements of a system that can be recorded, eg disturbance. Also human effort factors when monitoring species distribution. Technical details of monitoring technologies, in particular GIS. Knowledge of complex databases and models involved in climate change and resource management. No techniques or methods will be perfect – there are always assumptions and always exceptions to the rules. Complexity of soil and water chemistry. I plan to address pH and Salinity only, will not go into the different salts, ions and compounds. Sophisticated data manipulation techniques. The importance of describing the regional ecosystem classification and vegetation structure onsite when undertaking field research, Eg. Open Sclerophyll woodland with Acacia understorey. Funding structure and governance for State Government monitoring projects. Detailed understanding of surface water and groundwater monitoring projects across Victoria and Queensland.
Knowledge about students’ thinking /difficulties connected with teaching this idea.	In previous topics and other ‘big ideas’, students will be able to identify abiotic and biotic factors in the environment and will have an understanding of habitat, tolerance ranges and niches. This will help when presenting the ‘big idea’. No common alternative conceptions were readily available from the literature. However, this ‘big idea’ requires the ability to imagine an entire system by logically piecing together component concepts which can be described as ‘postulatory-deductive reasoning’ and this requires ‘formal-operational’ thought (Lawson & Renner, 1975). ‘Concrete-operational’ students may not be able to fully conceptualise the ‘big idea’. For these students, the ‘big idea’ will be broken down to manageable pieces. The practical aspect of field work will suit different students and will challenge their problem solving ability.
Learning Activities Practice with quadrats and transects Rock pool at Barwon Heads Marine Sanctuary	Outside activity at local creek or nature reserve to practice transects and taking quantitative environmental measurements.This activity would enable students to get the most out of their Barwon Heads field trip by giving them experience and practice with the relevant equipment. Field trip to Barwon Heads (rocky shores) to record first hand data, and use transects to determine species distribution with a practical report write up. Online or in the media, research and describe a modern technology used to either monitor environmental change or assist in determining species distribution. Present to class. Learning activities that are interactive and student-centred enables shared responsibility, power and ownership of the classroom. Find and download environmental change data from a Government website (BOM, DPI or DSE). Present summarised data in a graph or table or mapping interface. Analyse and interpret results. There are lots of free, real data and software that students can use. Actually using fairly sophisticated (but very intuitive) software will give students confidence and sense of achievement by using real data. Find a report (print media or online) that describes environmental change and outline what techniques they used to get their results. Try to think of a limitation or assumption of those techniques. This is to apply knowledge that they may have gained from the ‘big idea’ to interpret real issues. I have primarily used out-of-class and ICT learning activities to achieve the learning goals. This is because using interesting, practical, and real-life examples will promote student participation and increase student motivation and engagement, which has been lacking in the science field (Pressley & McCormick, 2007; Tytler, 2007). The Personalising Education report by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (2007) describes ICT as a ‘key enabler’ that: • allows each pupil greater diversity for learning • enhances interactivity between individual students and individual teachers • provides a space for personalised, flexible learning beyond the classroom walls • allows students to live locally whilst learning globally - through the use of external resources accessed via the world wide web (pp. 2). In support, Marsh (2008) identifies computer-based instruction as an activity to promote self-directed study.
Specific ways of ascertaining students’ understanding or confusion around this idea.	Informal observation of aptitudes in the field – should be able to get a good sense of who is lost and who is not when the students are using instrumentation in the field. Field results – students will present results, which will show if they are similar to the other results. From my limited experience, it seems that often there seems to be no consensus and a great diversity of results. Those students that don’t have any results are likely to be those confused with the equipment. Practical reports write up – these can be formal school assessed coursework and the range of responses will most likely vary depending how much time and effort students put into it. Presentation to class - some students may struggle with this due to confidence and public speaking fears. Revision sheet and revision questions – from a variety of sources. Class discussion to determine the correct responses. Scores and participation will indicate which students are confident with the topic and which are not. Concept map – used to review all the key components and assess how students see them relating to one another.
ReferencesDepartment of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2007). Personalising Education: From research to policy and practice, Education Policy and Research Division, Melbourne: DEECD. Lawson, A. E., & Renner, J. W. (1975). Relationships of science subject matter and developmental levels of learners. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 12(4), 347-358. Marsh, C. (2008). Providing for individual differences and learning. In Becoming a teacher: Knowledge, Skills and Issues. (pp. 209-228). Frenchs Forest: Pearson. Pressley, M. & McCormick, C. (2007). The development of academic motivation. In Child and Adolescent Development for Educators (pp. 261-292). New York: Guildford Press. Tytler, R. (2007). Re-imagining Science Education: Engaging students in science for Australia’s future. Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2010). VCE Unit 2 Biology Study Design. Retrieved from http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/biology/biologyindex.html