To bring invasive species from the ocean to land biomes and to link their consequences to the interdisciplinary unit theme of individual worth, this lesson integrates the first popular science article in the science classroom to continue the English classroom's reading strategy precedent - CHoMP for research note-taking and paraphrasing to avoid plagiarism - and offer a writing assignment to obtain baseline data about students' persuasive writing abilities, a skill that will be focused on in future lessons. Offering a contemporary conservation effort to control owl populations, the popular science article - accompanied by a map and video for visual learners - discusses how bard owls' infiltration of spotted owl territories have pushed out the native birds to the extent of endangerment. The response - shooting the invasive owls - calls into question the humaneness of the conservation effort, which we were tasked to confront in the writing extension.
Visual Literacy: Mapping the Invasive Migration of Barred Owls Migrating further and further northwest in recent years, barred owls are naturally invading spotted owl territories in Oregon, northern California, and Washington. Due to the fact that they are larger and more veracious predators, barred owls are out-competing spotted owls for prey and resources and taking over their niche in the northeast. The consequence has been alarming: they now outnumber spotted owls in areas that were exclusively spotted owl habitats. To understand the natural invasion - meaning that human action played no role in the introduction of the invasive barred owl to the nonnative habitat it now overpopulates - and to ground the events we will watch in a video and read about later, we examined the map to the right. Although being native to the eastern United States and parts of Mexico, the barred owls have slowly expanded their range since the 1900s. Once existing on polar opposite sides of the United States, the barred owls and spotted owls now coexist. |
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Case Study: Spotted Owls v. Barred Owls As an introduction to the plight of the spotted owl and the invasion of the barred owl, we watched a short video clip in which biologist Lowell Diller overviews the problem and solution currently underway. To follow-up this general background, we read a National Geographic popular science article for a more detailed understanding of the issue. Using your prior exposure to the CHoMP strategy from English class and your knowledge of text features learned in a previous science mini-lesson, we broke up the reading by heading and tackled the reading collaboratively. Sharing our "P: Put in Your Own Words" summaries with one another, we were able to piece together the article by superimposing our video-based shared background knowledge onto the CHoMP summaries. "I was shaking. I had to steady myself...there was just something in me that seemed like this was so wrong. Here's two birds: they're closely related, they look similar, they're both beautiful birds. And then to go out and decide I'm gonna kill one of these birds...is a really difficult thing to do." - Lowell Diller, Biologist
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READING STRATEGY MINI-LESSON: Research Notetaking: CHoMP You were introduced to CHoMP several days ago in your English class with the T-rex article. Today, we will practice the during-reading strategy, CHoMP (cross, out, highlight, make notes, put into own words) on an article about barred and spotted owls, one of which is an invasive species out-competing the native bird for resources (and thus taking over its niche!). The CHoMP process involves four steps, as outlined in the anchor chart to the right. Because it scaffolds you to paraphrasing, the strategy will also better enable you to integrate the information into your own writing. Since this is your first experience with the strategy in science class - but you've received exposure to it in English class, we approached today's reading through a whole-class "We do" approach on the article's first section and then broke up into groups based around the remaining three headings (text features!) for a collaborative "You do" portion. From the introductory video, you've already gained a sense of the complete story so breaking up the reading and orally sharing to teach your peers will not be hard to follow. |
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Whole-Class "We Do" Example from First Section of Article:
Article Headings for "You Do" Groupwork:
OF OWLS AND MEN |
BETTER ADAPTED TO OUR WORLD |
ETHICAL DILEMMA |
Niche: the full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which it uses those conditions. An organism's unique role in its habitat.
Invasive Species: a species (plant or animal) introduced to a nonnative region that negatively affects the ecosystems they invade economically, environmentally, and/or ecologically.
Accountability: to be held responsible for something; to accept the consequences and/or responsibilities of an action or decision.
Conservation: the wise management of natural resources, including the preservation of habitats and wildlife.
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Homework Writing Extension w/ Paired Article:
Individual Worth: Weighing the Quality of the Conservation Effort After reading the National Geographic article and sharing our CHoMP "Put in You Own Words" summaries with one another to gain an understanding of the entire article, we discussed the homework assignment and if time remained, were given time in-class to start it.
To better gain a more well-rounded sense of the necessity of the proposed barred owl solution, you will read an article, "Consider the Cane Toad," from Ensia Magazine for homework. Then, in a short writing assignment, using the key vocabulary terms, "invasive species" and "niche," first explain the clash between the spotted owls and barred owls (i.e how the barred owl became an invasive species and how the barred owl is effecting spotted owls). Then, look at the solution, and use text details from BOTH articles to develop an opinion on the four-year management plan. The conservation effort underway is relatively simple: kill one bird species to save another. Hurt to heal. And that brings two questions: Is it necessary? Is it moral? At its essence, the second component of this writing assignment asks you to consider one fundamental question: Does the overpopulation of a bird species diminish the value of each individual bird? |
"It seemed like the only feasible thing probably was gonna be LETHAL REMOVAL of barred owls because they're difficult to capture. But even if you can capture them, the issue is what will you do with them?" - Lowell Diller, Biologist
Homework Article:
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Homework Writing Assignment:
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