Experiment 1: Objective
- Students will understand that habitats can change over time.
Background
Habitats rarely stay the same. When it rains, plants are green and colorful flowers appear. When the rain stops, plants turn brown and lose their leaves. Over longer periods of time, some species disappear and new species take their place. Sometimes the actions of people can also change habitats. Grassy areas can become bare spots, shady areas near rivers can become sunny and hot.
Materials
- Flagging tape
- Meter stick
Vocabulary
- Habitat: the place where an animal or plant normally lives
Preparation
Find a 5 meter by 5 meter (16 ft by 16 ft) area that can be marked off and observed for several weeks.
Procedure
1. Mark off an area 5 meter by 5 meter (16 ft by 16 ft) with flagging tape in one or more habitats.
2. Discuss with the students what it looks like. Have them draw a picture of it in their notebooks.
3. Revisit the plot every two to four weeks and describe what it looks like. Compare the current description with past descriptions. Draw a picture of the plot each time they visit. Students should also record the weather (appearance of sun, clouds, or rain) at least once per week between visits to the plots.
Questions For Discussion
- What kinds of changes did you notice?
- What do you think caused these changes?
- What kinds of animals do you think may have been there? Based on your observations, what do you think they were doing?
Experiment 2: Objective
- Students will understand how people and animals affect a habitat by comparing habitats that people and animals use with those that people and animals don’t use.
Materials
- Meter stick
- Acacia branches
Preparation
Find a suitable location to build the boma. Find community members willing to help build a boma. Finally, collect acacia branches to build the boma.
Procedure
- With assistance from adults in the community, build a boma of thorn scrub around a 5 meter by 5 meter (16 ft by 16 ft) area to keep people and their animals out.
- Revisit the exclusion boma every two to four weeks and draw pictures of what it looks like.
Questions For Discussion
- How did the abundance and height of the vegetation change?
- What types of plants and animals are inside the exclosure? Outside?
- Are there other changes?
- What do you think caused these changes?
- Why does the boma in the second experiment look different from the area that was set aside in the first experiment?
- Do you think scientists should do these kinds of experiments? Why or why not?
Extended Activities
1. Indigenous Knowledge
Objective:
Students will gain understanding of how their environment has changed. More generally, we will discuss factors that produce such changes and the consequences, bringing in indigenous knowledge.
Materials:
- Booklet of paper
- Pencil
Preparation:
Before class, discuss with elder(s) some places to visit that have shown noticeable change over the past __ years. Invite the elder(s) to come to class. (The elder can be a grandparent, other relative, or a community member.)
Procedure:
- Read The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss, to students and discuss.
- During class, go on a walk with the students and an elder to a place that the elder discussed. Have the elder talk about what the landscape looked like then. Students should draw “Then” pictures of these same places based on what the elder discussed. They can draw and write about animals, plants, the atmosphere, people—any elements they want.
- Then have students draw “Now” pictures.
Questions to discuss with the elder during the activity
- What did the place look like before? What does it look like now?
- What changed? Why did these places change?
- How were animals affected: were there fewer/more, the same/different ones, do they act differently now?
- How were plants affected: were there fewer/more, the same/different ones, do theylook different now?
- Where else are there changes?
- Have people of this area been affected by the changes? If so, how?
- Do you think there are more good or bad changes?
- Do you think the bad ones could have been stopped, or did we need them to have good changes?
Discussion:
- The Lorax talks about how the nature around his home changes. So did our elders. What is similar and what is different between these two sets of stories?
- End on a positive note by reading and discussing Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai, by Claire A. Nivola.
2. Humans and Habitat Loss
Mark off an area outside approximately 5 meter by 5 meter (16 ft by 16 ft). Divide the students into ¼ humans and ¾ wildlife. Feel free to use specific animals including Grevy’s zebras. Have the wildlife enter the area and sit in a space that will be their home. Have the humans enter the space and choose a place to stand that is their home. Tell the students that the humans and wildlife cannot live too close to each other, so that any animals that can be touched by a human (without moving their feet) must leave the area. Play the game several times, decreasing and increasing the area available. Have humans live in different situations where they gather together, as in a village.
Additional activity for Conservancies – Use markers to set aside habitat for wildlife where humans cannot live.
Additional activity for Diseases – Introduce a disease into the population (a blindfolded student). Once the student touches a wild animal, any other wild animal that is proximal (can be touched with the outstretched arms of the infected animal) is also infected.