Quick links

Sonia's lessons

1. Introduction
2. Lessons
   • Eelgrass Habitat
   • Hydrothermal Vent Communities
   • Antarctic Marine Ecosystem

Introduction

This page contains links to several web lessons that I built as part of a course I took at Rutgers University in the spring of 1999. Each lesson consists of a 'story' page with basic information about the selected topic and reference links to other web resources. Each lesson also contains:

1. a self-test page which is self-scoring for immediate feedback
2. a detailed answer page with links back to the story page to complete the learning cycle

These pages were originally developed for the Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences web site as part of their Project Tomorrow outreach program.

Lesson

Eelgrass Habitat

This webpage familiarizes students with the eelgrass habitat. Students will learn what eelgrass is, why it is important, and how it is related to other organisms.

grade level: 7th thru 9th

The objectives of this lesson are:

1. Students will be able to describe eelgrass in terms of what kind of plant it is, its structure and conditions it needs for life.
2. Students will be able to explain relationships between eelgrass and other biotic and abiotic components in a coastal or estuarine ecosystem.
3. Given a group of organisms and physical environment factors, students will be able to construct a diagram representing relationships among them.
4. Students will be able to explain how functions performed by eelgrass habitats make them important both ecologically and economically.

Lesson

Hydrothermal Vent Communities

This webpage will familiarize students with a hydrothermal vent habitat. Students will learn where vents are likely to form, how they form, and how physical conditions contribute to the development of a living vent community and to its eventual demise.

grade level: 7th thru 10th

The objectives of this lesson are:

1. Students will be able to describe how a vent forms, citing plate tectonics, sea floor spreading, and the roles of magma, water, and minerals.
2. Students will be able to explain relationships between physical, geological, and biological factors in the development of a vent community.
3. Students will be able to describe how vent communities survive without photosynthesis at the base of the food web.

Lesson

Antarctic Marine Ecosystem

This web page will familiarize students with the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Students will learn how physical conditions affect what kinds of plants and animals live here and how they interact with one another.

grade level: 7th thru 9th

The objectives of this lesson are:

1. Students will be able to identify physical factors that affect the interrelationships among living things in an Antarctic ecosystem.
2. Students will be able to identify members of the Antarctic food web and their interrelationships.
3. Students will be able to construct an Antarctic food web and show how the members are related to one another.

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