Folktales and ecology: Animals and humans in cooperation and conflict
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=380
A lesson plan for Grades 4–5 Science
About this resource
- Appropriate grades
- 4–5
- Subjects
- English language arts (literature), science (environmental science)
- Provider
- National Endowment for the Humanities
Legal
This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.
In this lesson plan, found on the EDSITEment website, students study relationships between humans and animals in folktales in order to highlight issues concerning ecology and the environment. This lesson incorporates primary source material from EDSITEment-reviewed websites. From this page, teachers can access all the materials needed to complete this lesson.
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to:
- identify elements of helpful animal stories such as problem/conflict, roles of specific animals, conflict resolution, and moral/lesson
- discuss what kinds of problems would arise in folktales when an important animal such as a lion or bird is harmed or hindered
- define the term "keystone species" and give an example of a case study
- compare the problems faced by the animals in the tales with problems faced by the animals in a ldquo;keystone species” cycle
- discuss what happens if the human is grateful for the animal's aid and the consequences for being ungrateful within folktales
- compare the type of aid humans give to animals with current attempts to protect endangered species
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Science (2005)
Grade 4
- Goal 1: The learner will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of animal behavior and adaptation.
- Objective 1.05: Recognize that humans can understand themselves better by learning about other animals.
Grade 5
- Goal 1: The learner will conduct investigations to build an understanding of the interdependence of plants and animals.
- Objective 1.05: Determine the interaction of organisms within an ecosystem.
- Objective 1.06: Explain and evaluate some ways that humans affect ecosystems.
- Habitat reduction due to development.
- Pollutants.
- Increased nutrients.
