Independent Site Visits Elementary Grades:

Independent Site Visits Elementary Grades:

Topic: Life in a Pond
Using Central Park as a Resource for Teaching Science

Grade Level: 5th Grade Elementary Science

New York State Learning Standards Addressed:
Standard 1: Using scientific inquiry to pose questions, seek answers and develop solutions
Standard 6: Interconnectedness, Patterns of Change: Identify patterns of changes to make predictions about future behavior and conditions.
Standard 7: Interdisciplinary Problem Solving: Combine the knowledge and skills of math, science and technology to make informed decisions and solve problems, especially those relating to issues of science/technology/society,
consumer decision making, design, and inquiry into phenomena.

National Science Education Standards Addressed:
Standard A. Science as inquiry
Standard C. Life Science

Standard F. Science in personal and social perspective

Background for Teacher
We are continually being urged to use resources at hand to make our lessons more vital and meaningful to our students. Very often subject matter and methods of instruction make things near at hand seem foreign and far away,
because we try to teach without relating them to the children's experiences. A nearby field or park can be useful for instructions in at least three general ways: they inspire observing students to ask more questions; they serve as sources for finding the answers to their questions; and they serve to make the science concepts more real.

Specifically, a park such as Central Park can be used to demonstrate evidences of erosion, how it starts and how it can be prevented; noting various adaptation in plants (or small animals) make to their environment, such as leaf arrangements, root length and arrangement, and leaf texture; observing various kinds of insects to see how they are adapted to the environment, how they are useful or harmful, and how the harmful ones are being destroyed; observing (if it is in the cultivated/ managed part of the park) how plants are cared for to provide for its growth requirements such as moisture and nutrition; noting different amounts of moisture in high and low parts of the park; seeing how the vegetation differs where there is more (or less) moisture. As well, the flower gardens may be instructive for studying how plants get enough sunlight, moisture and other essentials for growth; learning how ground is prepared for planting, how plants are transplanted and how seeds are dispersed; studying how flowers are self and cross pollinated and how seed sprouts and grows; learning what kinds of soil are suitable for the growth of different plants and how soil is tested; observing how plants store food and how plants change with the seasons.

For this lesson, we are going to use the man-made ponds in Central Park to observe kinds of plant life and the adaptations of stems, roots, leaves, flowers and fruit to moist environment; learn how animals are adapted for life in a or near water and contrasting this with land animals; observing how these animals and plants change as seasons change; observing the food-getting and home-building habits of the animal life. Lots of things live in and around ponds. In fact, a pond is s home to more creatures than most student imagine. One drop of pond water is crowded with hundreds of living things too small to see without a hand lens or a microscope. A pond is a complex community of plants and animals interacting with each other. Plants provide animals with food and a place to live or shelter. Animals help to pollinate flowers and disperse plant seeds. Ponds are always changing. During the course of one year plants and animals must adapt to seasonal changes in a pond. Over many years, more plants invade open water. These plants' roots trap more silt and dirt. As the plants take over, the pond changes to something new, a marshy meadow. Signs of this occurrence can be observed in all of the man-made bodies of water in Central Park.

Instructional Objectives
At the end of this trip, the students will be able to:
Identify animals and plants as well as microorganisms that live in the pond
Relate the importance of interdependence, diversity and adaptation of organism found in it
Demonstrate the food web in a pond community

Materials and Methods
Pre-visit and Advanced Preparations:
Do a pre-visit at the Central Park, particularly the Lake near the Upper West Side or the Pond close to the Wollman Skate Rink on the South East Corner of the park to familiarize yourself with the area. A Park personnel may provide
invaluable help and tips to planning the trip.

Useful reading and supplementary materials include:
• Cane, Molly, Squishy, Misty, Damp and Muddy: The In-Between World of Wetlands. Sierra Club for Children, 1996
• Pascoe, Elaine, Nature Close-Up, Tadpoles. Blackbirch Press, Inc. 1997
• Silver , Donald. One Small Square Pond. W.H. Freman and Co., 1994
• Reid, George K. Pond Life. A Golden Guide. Golden Press, 1987 and,

Make Improvised Plankton Net (Student Activity)
On Site:
Build a Bird's Nest
Students see nest-shaped frames, lots of plants to make the nest and a read birds nest (provide for one) Students gather plants form the nest bins and weave them around the frames to create giant nests. When done, students try
to identify the materials they used, then sort the materials by type, and place them back into the bins for the next groups to use. Compare the nest the built with the real bird's nest.
Birds build nests with plant parts. Some birds use twigs and vines to make nests strong; leaves, moss and grass to make nests soft and warm; and mud to glue everything together.
Birds find things in their neighborhood for nest making such as feathers, strings and plastic.

What Lives in Pond?
Discuss briefly the activities for the day and techniques in sampling: seizing, plankton tows and what to look for, with the lens as well as the microscope.
Students will a glass or plastic jar tied to a long string or rope and some weight to collect water samples. Using hand lenses to observe the bigger contents and the microscope for the very small ones. Provide photographs to identify tiny animals such as water fleas and scuds, and tiny plants such as duckweed, as well as comparing the photos of the organism with the living things.
Emphasis on the central role of plants a producers in the pond community food web. However, plants and animals rely on each other for survival.
Make sure that students get to observe water plants and their special adaptive features for living in the pond water. These include air filled pockets to keep plants afloat, tiny hairs to keep leaves dry and flexible and stems that don't break in strong currents.
Students should read the text in their handout and compare the photos with what they observe in the pond. Questions should be answered in their notebooks and will be shared with the rest of the class upon return to classroom.
Observation, collection and assembly of data/results (45 minutes). Also observe plankton catch on the microscope. Get students to identify the plankton using their guidebooks and also draw them in their notebooks. Emphasis that the same little plants are very important in the food chain in the ocean as well as producing most of the oxygen that makes life on earth possible.

Post Visit:
Back in the classroom for presentation; facilitate "show and tell" and discussion using assigned reading as basis of what students relate in the presentation. Allow for another 10 minutes for the students to ask their questions to you,
another 10 minutes relate to their classmates what they have discovered in the pond.
Each student group should present their investigation to the class. This should occur as soon as possible after your return, while the visit is still fresh. Using open-ended questions to promote debate, let the individual presentation give rise to a class discussion with the students sharing their understanding and their observations.
Discuss plant adaptation to live on land versus plant adaptation to live in water.
Phytoplankton biology and ecological roles.
Relate ecological pyramid to the food chain that occurs in the pond.

Assessment
Presentation of results of activities done on pond community, collected activity worksheets and the reports. Class Participation.

MSTEP Webmaster | NYU home page | School of Education | School of Education Webmaster