Learning Goals
Students will be able to analyze ecosystem population graphs and simulation data to explain how biotic and abiotic factors affect carrying capacity and population change.
Students will be able to interpret competition, predation, and resource-use patterns to determine when a population approaches environmental limits or a tragedy of the commons.
Students will be able to justify evidence-based claims about ecosystem balance using graphs, calculations, and revised explanations from lab feedback.
Products
Ecosystem Investigation Notebook
A research notebook that documents the student's simulation questions, data tables, graph interpretations, calculations, and reflections on how ecosystem factors changed population outcomes. It serves as the individual evidence of content mastery and methodological reasoning.
Shared-Resource Population Dynamics Report
A formal team report or presentation that synthesizes each member's evidence into one explanation of carrying capacity, limiting factors, and tragedy of the commons in the investigated ecosystem. It must include methodology, visualized data, conclusions, limitations, and unresolved questions.
Rubric
Generate a rubric to assess student work against your learning goals.
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