Caring for the Wilderness

Description

Students will watch this short video followed by a discussion to deepen their understanding in how human beings impact their natural surroundings.

Image_List

Lesson

Discussion

1. What does organic farming mean to you?
2. How are wild animals important to farming?
3. Why not just use pesticides instead of relying on wild animals?
4. How does rotating different plants in a field create healthier plants? (Answer support: Some plants, like peas, draw nitrogen to their roots. Some plants, like corn, provide shade for other plants. Some plants, like squash, have prickly leaves that deter bugs.)
5. Does organic farming make sense to you? Why or why not?
6. Do you and your family buy organic food? Why or why not?

Printable Materials

Careful Farming Lesson Plan (PDF)

Standard

5-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity

Students who demonstrate understanding can: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

Disciplinary Core Ideas ESS3.C:

Human Impacts on Earth Systems Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments.

Science and Engineering Practices Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information 

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information in 3-5 builds on K-2 experiences and progresses to evaluating the merit and accuracy of ideas and methods. Obtain and combine information from books and/or other reliable media to explain phenomena or solutions to a design problem.

Crosscutting Concepts Systems and System Models

A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.