Lesson Plan

Day: Wednesday
Year: 11

Date: 16-Feb-15 Time: 1330-1430

Learning Area: Integrated Science Topic: Quadrat

sampling
Title of Lesson: Using quadrats to sample different
habitats
Curriculum content description: (from ACARA)
No direct curriculum content description from ACARA for integrated science.
Instead, this lesson falls within the framework of integrated science outcome 1:
investigating and communicating in science.

Students prior knowledge and experience:

(Outline what the students already know about this topic)

Students have prior experience in describing biological communities and how

elements of these systems interact with one another.
Students have been exposed to laboratory experimentation and have an
understanding of the general concepts of the scientific method and how it
applies to investigations.
The students have elementary knowledge of the importance of good
experimental design.

Learning purpose:

(May refer to the Elaborations of the curriculum content

description here)

To provide students with the knowledge to effectively plan and undertake

simple field sampling activities using a plot-based sampling method.

Learning objectives:

Evaluation:

On completion of this lesson,

students will be able to:

(Explain how you will know that the lesson

objectives have been achieved / monitor
student learning)

(What will students know and be able to do

at the completion of the lesson specific,
concise and attainable objectives)
Understand the importance of

considering different habitat-types

when designing field sample plans
Recognise that the size of the
sampling unit is relative to the
size of the organism under
investigation
Calculate basic sample metrics
(average number of species and
diversity) derived from quadrat
sampling
Formulate a hypothesis prior to
conducting a sampling activity
that is:
o Ecologically-informed and,
o Concise/correctly stated

(a) Could students formulate a

reasonable hypothesis about the
sampling activity based on the
different habitat-types?
o To be assessed by
questioning students at the
commencement of the
activity following the
handout of the habitat
sheets
(b) Did students understand that
small organisms can be studied
with small quadrats/larger
organisms need larger quadrats?
o The introduction to the
lesson will cover different
sampling situations and
students will be engaged in

Examine the validity of a

hypothesis based on collected
data

a brief activity to guess

what quadrat size fits with
what organism
(c) Were students able to
calculate the sample metrics?
o Assessed via the handout
sheets in which the
students are asked to
calculate.
(d) Did students use the
calculated data to examine their
hypothesis and draw a reasonable
conclusion?
o Examined at the end of the
lesson by student
questioning and discussion

Preparation and Resources:

(Detail what resources will be used and what other preparation of the learning environment
will be required)
No specific preparation of the learning area required.
Resources required include:
o Habitat A (forest) with spider community and sampling quadrat layers
o Habitat B (desert) with spider community and sampling quadrat
o
o

layers
Using quadrats to sample different habitats worksheets
Multicoloured whiteboard markers for the introductory activity

Catering for diversity

(detail any adjustments considerations for

educational/resource adjustments)

Timi
ng:

Previous observations of the class indicate that a small number of students

may be difficult to engage with the activity. To counter this, these students
will be actively involved in the introduction of the lesson, where they will be
tasked to draw sample ecosystems and quadrats on the board.
As a number of students are indigenous, the context for the study will be
based on local Karratha ecosystems. Particularly the rocky hillsides vs. the
vegetated plains.

Learning Experiences:
1. Introduction:

(How will I engage the learners?)

1330 1335 (5 mins).

Engage the students briefly introduce myself again and
engage students with a story about the importance of
knowing how to sample as it appears in many aspects of
scientific work. Tell anecdote about does forest tree
sampling in Panama and how about the shortage of sampling
experts the world over.
1335 1345 (10 mins).
Begin to introduce how ecosystems are sampled by plotless
and plot-based sampling and that the focus of our exercise
will be plot-based sampling. At this point, we will need to
focus working on a few key definitions. GET STUDENTS TO

WRITE THESE DOWN

While these definitions are being worked on, ask potential
behavior management student to draw a number of trees on
the board to create a notional ecosystem space for us to
sample.
Ask open-ended question. E.g. if you were tasked to sample
these trees, what approach would you take/how big should
our plots be?

2. Sequence of learning experiences: (What will you do to help the

students achieve the learning objectives? What tasks and activities will
the students be involved in to help achieve the learning objectives?)

1345-1415 (30 mins).

Introduce to the students to the habitat sampling learning
activity hand out the sheets and run through the exercise.
Be clear that while students are working in pairs/small
groups, that EACH person is to record their own data on their
own sheet.
Ask students to look at the pictures of habitat A and B and
ask them to devise a hypothesis about spider diversity and
abundance between the two sites. Students to record this
on the worksheet. Go around the room and ask to hear
about the hypotheses that have been generated.
Students to work through the worksheet carefully, looking at
identifying the species and the number of different spiders in
each quadrat and doing the calculations as required.
QUESTION- Ask the students why spiders should only be
included if 5 legs are in, why not 3, or 1? Also provide a plant
context if they were trees, would you include leaves that
are overhanging?

3. Lesson conclusion: (How will you summarise the learning and relate it
to the lesson objectives?)

1415 1430 (15 mins)

Go through the worksheet with the students to see what
data was calculated
Ask each group if the number of spiders estimated was
similar to the actual amount recorded? If not similar, why
not?
Ask each group if they thought that their hypothesis was
supported.
Question the students to examine what could be improved
with the experiment. More plots? Reiterate that we have to
balance our sampling effort (key term)
Link to future lessons on mark/recapture. We have looked at
sampling non-motile or organisms that restrict themselves to
a small area. Cant put quadrats on fish, so how do we do
that? Mark/recapture.

Lesson Evaluation:
(Reflect on the lesson. What worked? What did not work? What would you change? Why?)

What went well:

Some of the students were reasonably well-engaged with the material and
actively participated in answering questions at the commencement of the
lesson while the background material was being discussed.
A number of students that have not been engaged in previous lessons
followed the instructions provided, asked a number of questions to clarify the
work being done and showed a genuine interest in completing the
worksheet.
Despite some students becoming distracted during the course of the lesson
(though not disruptive to the class as a whole), they were able to answer
some questions with a reasonable degree of ecological insight as to why
aspects of their initial hypotheses were supported.
The task ran on time according to the planned schedule. There was ample
time for the providing of background material to the lesson, the conduct of
the lesson, and for lesson closure.
What could be improved:
Some students did not want to participate in the task and only completed a
portion of the worksheet. Although they could answer questions about the
task, I need to improve my classroom management strategies so that I can
minimise the distractions that the students present.
Some students completed the task very quickly, and I did not consider
providing additional work to extend the learning of these students. In future,
for each class I teach, I will ensure that I can provide some additional
extension work if required for those students.

There was some minor confusion about which questions on the provided
worksheet needed to be done at any given time. To provide further
clarification in future lessons, I will write the questions on the board so that
the students can follow along clearly.

In terms of improving my classroom management strategies, when students

are becoming increasingly talkative, I will briefly stop the lesson, gain
student attention, and then re-direct them to the task.