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Special Places: Eco-lessons from the National Parks in Atlantic CanadaGrade 4Creature Features!Table of Contents:
NOTE: This is a common environmental education activity that can be found in a variety of textbooks and education manuals. It has been customized to suit the national park situation in Atlantic Canada. SummaryStudents will work in teams to select an environment within a specific national park and then design an animal or plant that can live only in that particular environment.
Learning OutcomesStudents will be able to:
Activity InformationGrade level: 4 Subject: Science (Atlantic)– Habitats Curriculum linkages: Habitats Unit, 104-1; 204-3; 205-1; 300-1; 300-2; 302-1; 302-2; 302-3. (Students will be familiar with the basic needs of living things and can explore how various organisms satisfy their needs in the habitat in which they are typically found. They will look for ways in which organisms in one habitat differ from those in others, and consider how some of those differences are helpful for survival.) Duration: Approximately 90 minutes Setting: Classroom Materials: Art supplies (large sheets of paper, pencils, paints, markers, etc.), tape recorder, Student Information Sheets on each of the seven national parks in Atlantic Canada.
Teacher BackgroundWhat do you need to survive? A house to live in, with heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer? Perhaps you need steak and potatoes, or a vegetarian lasagna, with a tall glass of water to wash it all down. And where would you get your exercise: in the backyard, on the beach or at a playground? If that’s the case, you have just described your preferred habitat. We all have our preferred habitat. Habitat is the arrangement of food, water, shelter and space suitable for an animal or plant’s needs. In simpler terms, the place where that plant or animal (or person, in our above example) lives and grows – its home address – is its habitat. All living things have specific and individual habitat needs. For example, most peregrine falcons live and nest on cliff ledges overlooking wide-open spaces with an abundant source of prey. Red fox, on the other hand, prefer a habitat of meadows and fields interspersed with woods. An abundance and variety of food is available in this mixed habitat, as well as denning sites. Plants need different amounts of light, soil and water and will grow and thrive depending on that mix. Cedars grow best in moist soils where the underlying rock is limestone, whereas pines are more commonly found in soils that are sandy or gravelly. There are numerous interactions between the plants and animals in an environment. One way to explore and investigate these interactions is by examining the food chains and food webs that exist. The dependence of plants and animals on each other for food makes up a food chain. For example, green plants transform the light energy from the sun to make food, using water and nutrients they receive through their roots. The nutrients they need come from decomposed organic and inorganic materials in the soil. A small rodent, perhaps a mole or mouse, eats the plant. A red-tailed hawk then makes a meal out of the rodent. The food chain is as follows: plant – rodent – red-tailed hawk. However, in most natural situations, the flow of energy and food is more complex than a simple chain. Most animals eat a variety of foods, depending on their abundance and availability. So there are a variety of plants that a little mole could eat, just as there are a variety of rodents who will eat the green plants. The red-tailed hawks can feed on the mole or vole, but also on small birds, snakes, frogs and larger prey such as hares and grouse. Those animals all fall prey to other species. What results is a complex and intricate web of interdependent parts. Nature works to keep a balance within this food web. In this activity, students are asked to study a unique environment in a national park in Atlantic Canada and create a creature that could successfully inhabit this environment. Ideally, your students will have had some prior ecosystem background studies. If they have not, Activity #1 may help them to see the intricate web of relationships that exist in any environment. Their understanding of these relationships will be enhanced as they create and research the habits and roles of their new creatures.
ProcedureActivity #1 Ask your class what plants and animals need to live and grow in any environment. Brainstorm a list of those requirements. Ask these kinds of questions to prompt their thinking:
Have students select one of the ways to demonstrate the chains/webs and do it! Activity #2 Divide students into small groups. Each group will select a national park in Atlantic Canada to study. Students will research their park using the attached Student Information Sheets and begin to understand what makes each park special. They will then be asked to invent a new plant or animal that is able to live somewhere within the park environment. To begin, brainstorm with the entire class and list possible questions they can answer to help describe their creature. The questions can cover such things as:
Challenge the students to create a creature that has all-natural parts and could potentially survive and thrive in the national park. Each group is responsible for creating its own animal or plant. For example, the students who have Cape Breton National Park might create a creature that lives at the top of the Cabot Trail. It is fed entirely by scraps and garbage from the visitors to the park and it serves to ensure that the park is kept clean and cared for. Because the trees are small up there, the creature is also small so that it can hide from potential enemies – bobcat and lynx – who live in the same region. The creature might have a large mouth for gathering garbage and large paws for travelling in the snow. Each group of students now has to introduce the new creature to the rest of the class. They may choose to do a drawing of it within the park, create simulated scientific reports, or use role playing (interview with park naturalist, interview the creature, etc.).
EvaluationAsk the students to predict what will happen to their creature if there is a particular change in the park environment – for example, an oil spill near Fundy, a forest fire in Gros Morne, or another parking lot built at Prince Edward Island National Park.
ExtensionHave students draw a diagram or cartoon strip and write a story that illustrates the interrelationships between their creature and the rest of the park environment. Make connections with the creatures invented by the other groups.
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