Yellowstone wolves
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.php?DocID=78
A lesson plan for grade 6 Science
The purpose of this lesson is to use the Internet to explore relationships between habitats and species (specifically the gray wolf and those species with which it must coexist) as well as the effect of physical and human forces on living things and their environment.
Before the 1930s, gray wolves freely roamed the western United States. As ranching began to prosper throughout the region, these predatory wolves became a threat to livestock. Efforts on the part of ranchers and federal agencies to eradicate this threat eventually led to the endangerment of the wolves. The Endangered Species Act, passed in 1973, required federal agencies to develop recovery plans for wolves and other threatened wildlife. However, these programs drew strong opposition from area ranchers, who feared that wolf reintroduction would threaten livestock. This investigation uses the conflict between ranchers and wolves to explore the relationships between living things and their environments, and the effects of physical and human forces on the natural world.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Science (2005)
Grade 6
- Goal 7: The learner will conduct investigations and use technologies and information systems to build an understanding of population dynamics.
- Objective 7.01: Describe ways in which organisms interact with each other and with non-living parts of the environment:
- Coexistence/Cooperation/Competition.
- Symbiosis.
- Mutual dependence.
- Objective 7.03: Explain how changes in habitat may affect organisms.
- Objective 7.04: Evaluate data related to human population growth, along with problems and solutions:
- Waste disposal.
- Food supplies.
- Resource availability.
- Transportation.
- Socio-economic patterns.
- Objective 7.01: Describe ways in which organisms interact with each other and with non-living parts of the environment:
