In this resource, students will watch a video about the threats to Yellowstone National Park due to climate change and complete a worksheet about the video.
In the worksheet, students answer questions from the video, create a food web of Yellowstone National Park, and analyze data collected by researchers in the park.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The video includes real footage of wildlife in the park.
The student worksheet is a fillable PDF that can be used digitally or printed.
Additional Prerequisites
Video is downloadable if streaming is not an option.
The video and materials are also available in Spanish.
The activity is designed to fill one class period (about 50 minutes).
Differentiation
The food web on the worksheet is very simplified. In a biology class, students could further research the ecosystem in Yellowstone to create a more detailed web.
Teachers could challenge students to research how other national parks are being affected by climate change. Students could create food webs and discuss how climate change is altering the ecosystem.
After students complete the worksheet independently or with a partner, teachers could have a class discussion around some of the questions. Questions 6 and 7 lend themselves especially well to discussion.
This resource is recommended for teaching climate change impact on biodiversity, population growth, and species conservation.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-6 Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
LS4: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
HS-LS4-5 Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7 Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.
World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (ACTFL)
Connections: Connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations.
3.1 Making Connections: Learners build, reinforce, and expand their knowledge of other disciplines while using the language to develop critical thinking and to solve problems creatively.
