Courtney-+Ecology

· analyze relationships and interactions among organisms in ecosystems; · predict the effects on other organisms of changes to one or more components of the ecosystem.
 * Stories that Teach **
 * SC-HS-4.7.1**
 * Students will:**
 * Organisms both cooperate and compete in ecosystems. Often changes in one component of an ecosystem will have effects on the entire system that are difficult to predict. The interrelationships and interdependencies of these organisms may generate ecosystems that are stable for hundreds or thousands of years.**


 * What do you want the students to know at the end of the project? The students should understand the concept of predator-prey interaction and the effect of removing a predator from the food chain on carrying capacity of a specific population.**


 * What do the students need to know before they start on the story? The students will have already had lessons on food webs, trophic levels, and carrying capacity.**


 * How will you introduce the story? The previous lessons will be introductory content because the digital story will be used as an assessment. I will tell the students that they are going to view a short movie about predator-prey interaction and respond to the ORQ at the end.**


 * What kind of technology tool(s) did you use? I used Movie Make to create the movie; I pulled (and cited) images from the internet; I recorded audio using a microphone at the computer.**


 * How will you assess the the students' understanding of what you have taught using your story? I will assess the students based on the correct description of what will happen if the predator (mountain lion) is removed from the ecosystem; I will be looking for the key terms listed in the ORQ.

How does your story reflect Mayer's Principles? Multiple Representation Principle: It is better to present an explanation in words and pictures than solely in words. : The movie includes narration, pictures, and a written ORQ. Contiguity Principle: When giving a multimedia explanation, present corresponding words and pictures contiguously rather than separately: The pictures flow with the spoken story. Coherence Principle: When giving a multimedia explanation, use few rather than many extraneous words and pictures: I kept the audio story short and simple and only did not use many pictures. Modality Principle and Redundancy Principle: Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on screen text: There is no written text except for the ORQ and citations at the end; the rest of the movie is pictures with audio. Individual Differences Design effects are stronger for low knowledge learners than high knowledge learners and high spatial learners than low spatial learners: The movie is created for 9th and 10th grade students as a writing prompt; the movie itself could easily be used with younger students, but did not need to be higher level for this purpose. Many of the students in schools are low knowledge learners and may benefit from the simplicity of the video.

Embed/link your story here: [] (click on the link to the movie)**