Learning Goals & Products

Learning Goals

1

Students will be able to identify local Oregon Cascades animals and habitats and describe how living things depend on one another in a habitat.

2

Students will be able to define a keystone species and explain why it is especially important in a food web.

3

Students will be able to investigate how the removal of a keystone species changes a habitat using evidence from reading, research, and observations.

4

Students will be able to collect and organize research notes from texts, pictures, and a wildlife biologist to support an investigation.

5

Students will be able to analyze a healthy habitat and a habitat missing its keystone species to compare patterns of change.

6

Students will be able to justify a claim about why protecting a keystone species matters using labeled visuals and evidence-based captions.

Products

individual

Keystone Species Investigation Notebook

Students maintain a research notebook that records questions, source notes, habitat sketches, data tables, and personal analysis about an Oregon Cascades keystone species. The notebook shows how each student used evidence to explain the habitat with and without the species.

team

Oregon Cascades Habitat Comparison Exhibition

Teams create a two-part poster set, diorama pair, or Google Slides presentation that shows a healthy habitat and the same habitat without its keystone species. The exhibition must synthesize each member’s evidence, explain the food web changes, and include limitations and new questions.

Rubric
Competency Progression Rubric Competency-first rubric
Category
Learning Goal
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Content knowledge
Students will be able to identify local Oregon Cascades animals and habitats and describe how living things depend on one another in a habitat. - identify
  • I can point to and name several Oregon Cascades animals and describe the habitat where they live using clear details from pictures, reading, or class observations.
  • I can identify Oregon Cascades animals and habitats and explain how at least two living things depend on each other in a habitat (for example: food, shelter, or water) using evidence from my notes or sources.
  • I can identify multiple Oregon Cascades animals and habitats and accurately describe how living things depend on one another in a simple food web, connecting how changes to one living thing affect others using labeled examples.
  • I can independently identify Oregon Cascades animals and habitats and thoroughly explain how living things depend on one another across the habitat (including multiple connections in a food web) using vocabulary, labeled visuals, and evidence from research.
Content knowledge
Students will be able to define a keystone species and explain why it is especially important in a food web. - define
  • I can define a keystone species as a living thing that strongly affects other living things in a habitat and the food web
  • I can identify a keystone species from the biologist/video and label its role in a simple food web picture.
  • I can explain that a keystone species is especially important because many other plants and animals depend on it for food or habitat
  • I can connect the keystone species to at least two other organisms in a food web sketch using simple cause-and-effect words.
  • I can describe how a keystone species helps keep a food web balanced by supporting multiple animals and plants in interconnected ways
  • I can use evidence from notes/reading/biologist information to explain why losing the keystone could change several relationships at once in my habitat comparison product.
  • I can clearly explain, using accurate vocabulary, why a keystone species is “especially important” in a food web even if it is not the most common species
  • I can use cause-and-effect reasoning to predict specific changes to multiple food web links when the keystone is missing and justify my prediction with evidence from research.
Skill
Students will be able to investigate how the removal of a keystone species changes a habitat using evidence from reading, research, and observations. - investigate
  • I can use my observations and reading notes to sort plants and animals into “doing well” or “struggling” when a keystone species is removed from a habitat picture or model.
  • I can investigate a keystone species using reading or a biologist’s message and connect evidence to show how at least a few animals/plants change after the keystone is gone.
  • I can investigate using multiple sources (reading, research notes, and observations) and explain how the keystone species affects a food web with evidence in labeled captions or sketches for both scenes.
  • I can investigate independently and use strong evidence to predict and justify food-web changes in a habitat without its keystone species, clearly showing cause-and-effect in my final comparison product (labels, captions, and/or notes).
Skill
Students will be able to collect and organize research notes from texts, pictures, and a wildlife biologist to support an investigation. - collect
  • I can collect simple research facts from a text, picture cards, and a wildlife biologist message, and record them on my notes page with a label (animal/plant and habitat).
  • I can organize my collected notes into categories (habitat, animals/plants, evidence) and include a source for each fact (text title, picture set, or biologist).
  • I can sort and summarize my research notes into key ideas about a keystone species and its habitat, using accurate details and matching notes to the correct scene or claim.
  • I can create a well-organized, inquiry-ready set of research notes by selecting the most relevant evidence from multiple sources, summarizing it, and clearly linking notes to how the keystone species affects the food web.
Skill
Students will be able to analyze a healthy habitat and a habitat missing its keystone species to compare patterns of change. - analyze
  • I can look at two pictures/models of the same Oregon Cascades habitat and tell what I notice is different between the healthy habitat and the habitat missing its keystone species.
  • I can sort and match animals and plants to “doing well” or “struggling” in each scene by using my observations from the healthy habitat and the habitat without the keystone species.
  • I can explain the patterns of change I see between the two scenes by describing how the keystone species affects other living things in the habitat’s food web.
  • I can analyze the two-scene habitat comparison to predict specific changes across the food web when the keystone species is missing and support my predictions with evidence from my visuals, notes, or captions.
Skill
Students will be able to justify a claim about why protecting a keystone species matters using labeled visuals and evidence-based captions. - justify
  • I can create labeled visuals for two habitat scenes (with and without the keystone species) and write evidence-based captions that name at least one way the keystone species affects other living things.
  • I can justify my claim using labeled visuals and clear evidence-based captions that explain how multiple animals/plants in the food web respond when the keystone species is missing.
  • I can strengthen my justification by connecting cause-and-effect in my visuals to the evidence in my captions, using key terms (like keystone species and food web) to teach others why protecting it matters.
  • I can present a well-organized justification across both scenes, using accurate labeled visuals and concise evidence-based captions to support a claim, predict food web changes, and explain why protecting the keystone species is important.