Format
1. Program begins with introduction to Rocky Mountain National Park.
2. Ranger introduces the alpine tundra ecosystem and its biodiversity.
3. Students brainstorm threats to the alpine and the ranger expands on specific threats related to vegetation trampling, increasing temperatures, and water and air pollutants.
4. Students understand actions and solutions that can be taken to reduce impacts.
5. 5 to 10 minutes is left at the end for questions and answers.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
1. Recognize the role of the NPS in preserving natural areas and providing areas as outdoor laboratories.
2. Understand the importance of indicator species and their role in the environment.
3. Connect human activities, increased visitation and climate change to impacts on the alpine ecosystem.
5. Create novel solutions and explore existing solutions to address the multiple threats impacting the alpine tundra.
6. 5 to 10 minutes is left at the end for questions and answers.
Standards Alignment
National Standards
National Standards
NGSS-4-ESS3-1: Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.
NGSS-5-ESS2-1: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
NGSS-5-ESS3-1: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
NGSS-MS-LS2-2: Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
NGSS-MS-LS2-3: Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
NGSS-MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
MS-ESS3-4: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.
MS-ESS3-5: Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
HS-LS2-2: Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.
HS-LS2-4: Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.
HS-LS2-6: Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
HS-LS2-7: Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
HS-LS4-6: Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.
HS-ESS3-1: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
HS-ESS3-4: Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
State Standards
Colorado Academic Standards:
Science:
SC.5.3.5: Societal activities have had major effects on land, ocean, atmosphere and even outer space.
SC.MS.2.5: Organisms and populations of organisms are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving
SC. MS. 2.6: Ecosystems are sustained by the continuous flow of energy, originating primarily from the sun, and the recycling of matter and nutrients within the system.
SC.MS.2.7: Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all of its populations.
SC.MS.2.12 Biodiversity is the wide range of existing life forms that have adapted to the variety of conditions on Earth, from terrestrial to marine ecosystems
SC.MS.3.7: Complex interactions determine local weather patterns and influence climate, including the role of the ocean
SC.MS. 3.10: Human activities have altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging it, although changes to environments can have different impacts for different living things
SC.MS.3.11: Human activities affect global warming. Decisions to reduce the impact of global warming depend on understanding climate science, engineering capabilities, and social dynamics.
SC.HS.1.9: Although energy cannot be destroyed, it can be converted to less useful forms as it is captured, stored, and transferred.
SC.HS.2.3: Organisms use matter and energy to live and grow.
SC.HS.2.4: Organisms interact with living and nonliving components of the environment to obtain matter and energy.
SC.HS.2.5: Matter and energy necessary for life are conserved as they move through ecosystems.
SC.HS.2.6: A complex set of interactions determine how ecosystems respond to disturbances.
SC.HS.2.7: Organisms interact in groups to benefit the species.
SC.HS.2.9: Variation between individuals results from genetic and environmental factors.
SC.HS.2.11: Genetic variation among organisms affects survival and reproduction.
SC. HS.2.12: The environment influences survival and reproduction of organisms over multiple generations.
SC. HS. 2.13: Humans have complex interactions with ecosystems and have the ability to influence biodiversity on the planet.
SC. HS. 3.7: The role of radiation from the sun and its interactions with the atmosphere, ocean, and land are the foundation for the global climate system. Global climate models are used to predict future changes, including changes influenced by human behavior and natural factors.
SC. HS. 3.9: Resource availability has guided the development of human society and use of natural resources has associated costs, risks, and benefits.
SC. HS.3.11: Sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources, including the development of technologies.
SC. HS. 3.12: Global climate models used to predict future climate change continue to improve our understanding of the impact of human activities on the global climate system.
Reading, Writing, and Communicating:
RW.5.1.1: Collaborate in discussions that serve various purposes and address various situations
RW.5.1.2: Present to express an opinion, persuade, or explain/provide information
RW.5.2.2: Apply strategies to interpret and analyze various types of informational texts.
RW.5.4.1: Research to locate, summarize, synthesize and document information from print and digital sources, and communicate findings appropriately
RW.H1.1.2: Organize and develop credible presentations tailored to purpose and audience.
RW. H1.4.1: Synthesize multiple, authoritative literacy and/or informational sources, creating cohesive research projects that show an understanding of the subject.
RW. H2.4.1: Synthesize multiple, authoritative literacy and/or informational sources to answer or solve problems, producing well-organized and developed research projects that defend information, conclusions, and solutions.
Social Studies:
SS.4.2.2: Examine the relationship between the physical environment and its effect on human activity
SS.8.2.1: Use geographic tools to research and analyze patterns in human and physical systems in the United States
SS.HS.2.1: Use geographic tools and resources to analyze Earth’s human systems and physical features to investigate and address geographic issues.
SS.HS.2.2: Make connections among geographic variables that influence the interactions of people, places, and environments.
SS.HS.2.3: Investigate patterns of the interconnected nature of the world, its people, and places.
SS.HS.3.1: Analyze how the scarcity of productive resources (land, labor, capital) forces choices to be made about how individuals, households, businesses, and governments allocate these resources.