Description
Students are introduced to amphibians and the concept of limiting factors in a fun and an active baseball simulation game. Using frogs as the amphibian example, students investigate the life cycle of amphibians and limiting population factors, such as habitat loss and pollution.
Students become “frogs” and attempt to make it around the life cycle “bases” (egg, tadpole, sub-adult, and adult) without being caught by students representing limiting factors.
Ontario Curriculum Connections
Science and Technology
Understanding Life Systems, Grade 4 (Habitats and Communities)
- analyze the positive and negative impacts of human interactions with natural habitats and communities, taking different perspectives into account, and evaluate ways of minimizing the negative impacts
- identify reasons for the depletion or extinction of a plant or animal species (e.g. changes in or destruction of its habitat), evaluate the impacts on the rest of the natural community, and propose possible actions for preventing such depletions or extinctions from happening
- identify factors that affect the ability of plants and animals to survive in a specific habitat
- demonstrate an understanding of habitats as areas that provide plants and animals with the necessities of life
- demonstrate an understanding of a community as a group of interacting species sharing a common habitat
Understanding Life Systems, Grade 6 (Biodiversity)
- identify and describe the distinguishing characteristics of different groups of plants and animals and use these characteristics to further classify various kinds of plants and animals
- describe interrelationships within species, between species and between species and their environment, and explain how these interrelationships sustain biodiversity
- demonstrate an understanding of biodiversity as the variety of life on earth, including variety within each species of plant and animal, among species of plants and animals in communities, and among communities and the physical landscapes that support them
Social Studies
People and Environments, Grade 4 (Political and Physical Regions in Canada)
- assess aspects of the environmental impact of different industries in two or more physical and/or political regions of Canada
- identify some of the main human activities, including industrial development and recreational activities, in various physical regions of Canada
People and Environments, Grade 5 (The Role of Government and Responsible Citizenship)
- assess the effectiveness of actions taken by one or more levels of government to address an issue of national, provincial/territorial, and/or local significance (e.g. the effectiveness of policies related to the management of the Great Lakes)
- create a plan of action to address an environmental issue of local, provincial/ territorial, and/or national, specifying the actions to be taken by the appropriate level (or levels) of government as well as by citizens, including themselves
- describe some different ways in which citizens can take action to address social and environmental
