Bringing Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" to the ultimate test, we finally examined the real-life validity of Travis's "chaos theory" in its main form - the removal of an organism - through the scientific concept of "keystone species." After first analyzing the social change for which Eckels's butterfly is responsible by illustrating the two settings - the present day before and after Eckels's safari - we sketched the ecosystems of self-selected keystone species with and without them in order to compare the magnitude of the ecological change to the fictional societal transformation and determine if keystone species are real-life catalysts of "chaos theory" and if Eckels's butterfly is a fictional spin-off of a keystone species. Continuing with the paired fiction and nonfiction lesson structure, a case study about bees - a declining keystone species on which humans heavily depend - introduced a Cause/Effect Campfire Metaphor graphic organizer to pull various nonfiction texts together and downsize a fiction excerpt from Bethany Wiggins's YA novel, Stung. In a homework writing extension, you will compare contrast the fiction and nonfiction hypotheses about the Earth without bees to ultimately evaluate the scientific accuracy of Wiggins's fictional dystopia.
Setting Compare/Contrast: "A Sound of Thunder" The Effect of Eckels's Butterfly Since you finished Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" for homework last night, both this science lesson and your English class today will come together to fully address the story's conclusion. To map out the societal change for which the death of Eckels's butterfly is responsible and determine if Travis's "chaos theory" fears were actualized, we revisited the beginning of the short story before Eckels time traveled and flipped to the story's conclusion when Eckels's returned from his safari to sketch the government and office sign in both settings. By comparing and contrasting our illustrations, we discussed the magnitude of the change induced by the butterfly. This visual analysis of the butterfly's role in the story brings up two questions for the remainder of the lesson to explore: Is the societal change that the loss of Eckels's butterfly induces comparable in magnitude to the ecological changes that result from the real-life loss of keystone species in ecosystems? If so, are keystone species real-life catalysts for "chaos theory" and is Eckels's butterfly a fictional, social spin-off of a keystone species? |
Transfer Fictional Effect to Real-Life Species Removal:
Keystone Species in Model "Nesting Cup" Food Chain Going back to the "nesting cup" teacher model from a previous lesson on land biomes - a kelp forest aquatic food chain - to translate the fictional effect of an insect's loss to the real-life consequences of a species removal, the teacher asked a student volunteer to arrange the "nesting cups" in the correct order, according to trophic level. The teacher then removed the third cup in the sequence: the sea otter, a keystone species. Based on the remaining visual, the teacher elicited student predictions on the trickle-down effect (i.e. Without sea otters (predators), what would happen to the sea urchins (prey)?). After gathering student ideas, the teacher described why the sea otter has such a large impact (i.e. sea urchins have few other natural predators, urchins eat kelp holdfasts) and we filled in the definition of keystone species on a Four-Square Vocabulary card to finish for homework. |
More Examples of Keystone Species:
Photograph Slideshow
Photograph Slideshow
Projected on the SmartBoard, a photograph slideshow provided more examples of keystone species to expand (and, thus, ensure that we can apply) the definition beyond Eckels's butterfly and sea otters/the aquatic biome. Student volunteers read aloud each photograph's caption - which described the keystone species's role in its ecosystem - and everyone ultimately chose two to translate into with/without sketches in the same manner as we did - as a class - for Eckels's butterfly. In a whole-class discussion after we illustrated two self-selected keystone species on the same graphic organizer as we sketched the settings in "A Sound of Thunder," we compared and contrasted the magnitude of the two ecological changes to the severity of the butterfly's social change to assess the degree of similarity - and thus whether "keystone species" could be used to define Eckels's butterfly and whether "chaos theory" could describe the effect of keystone species removal.
Chaos Theory: Given a very small difference in initial conditions, the same system will behave – after a very short time – totally differently. Therefore, due to extreme sensitivity in a system, a seemingly insignificant event can spur a chain of events with unpredictable outcomes.
Keystone Species: a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance. Play a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem, and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community.
Interconnectedness: the quality or condition of people or things being meaningfully and/or complexly related or connected.
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Bee Case Study: Fictional Introduction Bethany Wiggins's Stung Excerpt Similar to how we used Eckels's butterfly - a fictional take on the idea of keystone species - to lead into the key scientific term, we looked at a fictional take on bee extinction before examining several nonfiction texts and gaining an understanding of the real-life threat that bee disappearance poses, since honeybees are a keystone species. Before reading, we activated our prior knowledge about bees on a semantic web. As we read-aloud an excerpt from Bethany Wiggins's YA novel, Stung (pp. 8-9, 17-18, 88-90), we circled "interesting words" and recorded the dystopian effects of bee extinction offered by the tale on a Cause/Effect Campfire Metaphor graphic organizer. The teacher began the read-aloud, but then student volunteers switched off. During the read-aloud, we paused to fill in the graphic organizer. Serving two main purposes, the fiction provided the teacher an opportunity to offer guided practice for the new graphic organizer for cause and effect (since prior experience with the text structure included only flow charts) before expecting independent implementation and allowed us to compare and contrast the fiction and nonfiction's hypothesized effects to determine the scientific accuracy of the fictional account. |
Guided Practice with Fiction:
Cause/Effect Campfire Metaphor Graphic Organizer During the read-aloud of Bethany Wiggins's Stung excerpt, we filled in a Cause/Effect Campfire Metaphor graphic organizer to synthesize the seven pages into a concise reference sheet. In a think-aloud after the excerpt's introductory paragraph, the teacher modeled how to fill in the graphic organizer based on its symbolism (i.e. "bee extinction" for the fire and "leafless trees" in a cloud as an "effect" of the fire). The diagram to the left breaks down the metaphor with labels for the symbolism associated with each of the main components of the template: fire, clouds, matches, and logs. The teacher paused at predetermined points in the remainder of the read aloud to allow students to add to the graphic organizer and elicit student responses. Since the excerpt mainly presented dystopian effects of bee extinction, some of the "cloud" possibilities included:
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Bee Case Study: Nonfiction Follow-Up After the fictional read-aloud, the class split into groups of three and were given a second Cause/Effect graphic organizer on which to synthesize three nonfiction texts that address scientists' hypothesized effects of the current disappearance of bees. For a multimodal format, our nonfiction source consisted of three different text types:
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Time (2013). TIME explains: Why bees are going extinct [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykq3q5XDjnY |
HOMEWORK Compare & Contrast: Writing Activity How Accurate is the Fictional Portrait of Bee Extinction? In a well-developed paragraph that integrates text details from the fiction AND nonfiction sources, compare and contrast the novel's effects of bee extinction to what the nonfiction hypotheses in order to argue the extent to which Bethany Wiggins's dystopian, bee-less future is scientifically accurate. The two completed Cause/Effect Campfire Metaphor graphic organizers will help you cross-compare the effects presented by each and identify the specific text details that showcase the overlap or contradictions. To quantitatively assess the scientific accuracy of the fiction, first circle a number on the modified Likert Scale (1: Strongly Inaccuate, 2: Inaccurate; 3: Neutral; 4: Accurate; 5: Inaccurate). Then, in a qualitative assessment to support that numerical classification, write a well-developed paragraph that pulls in text details from BOTH the Stung excerpt and the various nonfiction texts (i.e. infographic, short video documentary, etc.). |