Biogeography / Ecosystems. Fully differentiated KS3 lesson- introduction to ecosystems

Lesson Aim: To establish the links between geography and biology and to gain a clear understanding as to what makes up an ecosystem.

Lesson Objectives:
1. To find the fib and identify the correct definition for the term ‘ecosystem’
2. To establish what makes up an ecosystem
3. To conduct research into a small scale ecosystem- a hedgerow.

Resources included:
PowerPoint presentation
A3 Worksheet
Lesson plan

Lesson 1 of 10 from my new scheme of work on Biogeography (Ecosystems). Also works as a stand alone introduction to ecosystems lesson.

This lesson requires pupils to make use of Wider World textbook in addition to the green Heinemann 'Understanding GCSE Geography for AQA Specification A' (Bowen and Palmister, 2009) text book.

I have incorporated co-operative learning activities in this initial lesson to enable pupils to work together on differentiated research tasks, with the aim of building a detailed A3 worksheet based on the completion of their component parts. Each pupil will eventually receive an individual A4 copy of their worksheet.

I have incorporated three progress checks throughout this lesson and have also included a small-scale ecosystem research task for homework.

I have written this scheme of work for my Year 8 groups, but it could easily be adapted for Year 7 or 9.

Additional research tasks included to stretch and challenge pupils.