Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune in: How healthy are our surrounds?

15 minutes

Find out: What is a biodiversity index?

25 minutes

Take action: Data Collection and Analysis

Tune in: How healthy are our surrounds?

Step 1.

If you aren't already outside, take the class to your outdoor learning space. Review outdoor learning rules and the benefits of outdoor learning with students, including potential hazards and actions to take in the event of hazards.

Step 2. Discuss:

How many living things can you see in the world around us?
Are there any living things that you personally enjoy or have a connection to? (E.g. birds, trees, etc.) Why? What do you like about them?
How healthy do you think our schoolyard is? Students might seek more clarification on this question. See if they can come up with an answer without any additional prompts. Students might say the schoolyard is pretty healthy - after all, there is grass and trees growing. But encourage them to think about a more microscopic level.
What changes have humans made to the surrounding environment? Talk about things such as the construction of non-natural buildings, as well as the physical changes made to the landscape itself. Once upon a time, this area was undisturbed, native bushland.

Find out: What is a biodiversity index?

Step 1. Explain:

Biodiversity is the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat. Diversity is defined as the measure of the number of different species in a biotic community. In most cases, diversity is high when there are many different species in a habitat or area and low when there are few. A high level of diversity is usually considered desirable for maintaining healthy ecosystems and habitats.

Comparing the diversity of two or more different areas can give an idea of how stable and healthy these areas are. However, comparing and analysing the results can be hard if all you have to work with are lists of organisms from different areas.

When scientists are faced with this problem, they often create an index. An index is a scale on which you can rate your study objects, and compare them to other objects of the same type. A biodiversity index is a scale of the diversity of plant and animal species at your study site and can be used to measure the health of an ecosystem.

You can calculate the Biodiversity Index of your area using the following formula:

Note: As the following data collection activity is a ‘sample’ and not a ‘census’ the biodiversity index will be an estimate. Students are asked to explain this at the end of the activity.

Take action: Data Collection and Analysis

Step 1.

Break students into small groups. Allocate each group an area of the schoolyard to observe and record, and give each group a copy of the Census or Sample - Data Collection to record their data.

Step 2.

Each group will be responsible for recording information on the population of living things in different areas around the school using the Census or Sample - Data Analysis - Your School worksheet.

Before heading outside, you will need to divide the schoolyard into sections for groups to work within: this will avoid the same data being recorded by different groups. You can divide the schoolyard up based upon existing features and areas (e.g. oval, space between particular classrooms, etc) or you can access a map of your school (e.g. from your library or using Google Maps) and divide it up using a map. Alternatively, students could create their own map. Depending on your class you may wish to brainstorm the best way to divide up the schoolyard or you could do this prior to the lesson.

Step 3.

Allow students 5 minutes to find their location and describe it (using Table 1 on Census or Sample - Data Collection). Then give groups 15-20 minutes to quietly record the living things they see. Remind them that they should be looking out for all living things so they can look under rocks and in ponds but should return things exactly as they were.

Encourage students to record at least 10 different species. They do not need the scientific names; general classifications such as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, trees, shrubs, small plants, grasses, fungi, moss and lichen are fine. This task is about collecting and analysing the data so they could simply describe the species they observe.

Tell students they do not need to touch the creatures to record them!

Step 3. Discuss:

How many of the living things that you counted had you noticed for the first time? What might cause a low biodiversity index in this area? Talk about the urbanisation of the surrounding environment. You could also point to human behaviours that might impact biodiversity, such as spraying bug killers into the environment and surrounding atmosphere, or kids in the schoolyard disturbing the habitats of many creatures.
How do you think you could encourage more living things into your schoolyard to increase the biodiversity index? Students may be tempted to say they want to encourage a new species into the schoolyard. However this would only increase the biodiversity index if this species had a low population. A higher biodiversity index relies on increasing the total species but not necessarily increasing the total population dramatically.
Do you see any risks involved with encouraging living things into a school environment?

Reflection

Discuss:

Would taking a census of the entire ecosystem give you an accurate picture of the biodiversity? Why/Why not?

Lead students to the idea that a census would be far more accurate. A census in this situation would involve recording EVERY living thing (as mentioned previously this is what would be required to calculate the exact biodiversity index). This activity has collected data by sampling the area and so may not give an accurate representation of organisms in the schoolyard.

There are two reasons why a sample is preferable:

The students will probably not be able count every living organism in their area.
It is unlikely you will be able to cover the entire school (i.e. building roof, staff car park, out of bounds areas, etc).

Differentiated Learning

Extension: Ask students to develop a plan to increase the biodiversity of the schoolyard, including estimated population numbers and a new biodiversity index.

Provisional learning support: Students requiring support can work in pairs with students who have a more thorough understanding of the concepts and skills.

Outdoor Learning - What is a Biodiversity Index?

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