Objective

Materials Required

1. Multimedia support (tv/ projector/ tablets); prints if these are not working

2. 1 print per student of the worksheet

3. Base platforms of different environments

4. Kit with animal-shelter pairs for each group based on the platform

5. Coloured pencils/ crayons/ sketch pens based on your students’ wants

Preparation Required

• Review all the linked resources thoroughly.

• Prepare, partially, a couple of models from different ecosystems to showcase expectations to students.

• Please rehearse some additional details like key teacher actions, in-parts scripts, and examples thus highlighted that are mentioned in the lesson plan.

• Use this rubric to formatively assess your students’ performance during the lesson.

• If data collection structures and processes are set in your school, then the rubric can be used as a CCE for the performance task.

Key Avenues Of Learning

• Some of the tasks thus highlighted in the lesson can be chosen based upon your class’s readiness, rigour levels, and availability of time during the lesson.

• During teacher modelling, place the animal-shelter pair at a suitable location on the base of the model.

• To know this, look at all the environment bases beforehand, especially the ones you are modelling to show examples and non-examples of this.

• During ‘plenary’, use student reflections to surface the importance of all things in nature and the need to conserve it.

Set Up| 05 min

1. Get students excited by sharing that today we are doing a recap of what we have learnt so far by making a model!

2. Write the objective on board and distribute lesson worksheets.

3. State that we have learned how living things depend on other living and non-living things in their environment for food, shelter, water, and other materials.

4. Inform that today we will make small models of an environment to show these connections. There are 2 key tasks:
1. Set up the base environment and place the animals and shelters that belong there.
2. Connect at least 2 animals in your model with other living and non-living things in their environment that they depend on, like we did 3 lessons back.

Teacher Modelling | 05 min

1. Make heterogeneous groups of 3-4 students and model out the activity as follows:
1. Select any 2 environments of your choice to show sample model bases.
2. Select 3 animal shelter pairs, one from the first environment and 2 from the other.
3. Show the animal cut-out to the class and ask about its shelter.
4. Place the animal-shelter pair at a suitable location on the base of the model. Show one example and take student responses for 2 non-examples.
5. Similarly place the other 2 animal-shelter pairs on respective model bases.
6. Now, ask students if any of these animals depend on other animals and non-living things. Example: point to an animal and ask, what does this animal eat? Where does it sleep? What happens if this tree or rock or another animal is gone?
7. If time does not permit, you can only model for one and tend to details while circulating during the model making.

2. Take a quick CFU on instructions and distribute materials among all student groups.

Model Making | 10 min

1. Allow about 10 min for student groups to do the activity.

2. Circulate the classroom to offer support or push to students based on their needs. Probe for deeper connections like, what is this animal depending on in your model? Can you find two animals that depend on the same thing?

3. If any groups finish before time, give them another environment model to make.

Gallery Walk | 01 min

1. Gather the attention of all students using a quick attention grabber.

2. Quickly check if all groups have been able to make at least one model and show at least 3 different connections of dependence.

3. Inform that we are now going to do a gallery walk; i.e., observe models that at least 2 other groups have made.

4. Explain how they will use the worksheet to record their observations. Read each question and take a response from any student to model this out.

5. Set norms explicitly and take a quick CFU on instructions.

6. Circulate the classroom to offer support or push to students based on their needs. Probe students to look closely at the arrows and connections. What do they notice? Do they have any questions? Are there any surprises?

Plenary | 05 min

1. Facilitate a think-pair-share by asking, what was one important connection you showed in your model? What would happen if one thing in your model disappeared?

2. Using student responses, make the point about interdependence and the fragility of ecosystems.