PowerPoint to support Designing, Teaching and Learning, and

Assessment Cycle for Year 9 Science unit about Algal Blooms

May be adapted for a ‘flipped’ classroom - that is for providing students access to information input prior to the ‘lesson’ in an electronic form.

For the full unit of work, refer to www.decd.sa.gov.au/literacy/pages/esl > EALD Teaching and Learning> Designing, Teaching and Learning, and Assessment Cycle

What do plants need?

Worksheet 1.

• W• L• O• N

What do plants need?

Worksheet 1.

• W• L• O• N

Water LightOxygenNutrients (food)Nitrogen

• What's at stake - extensive eutrophication (algal growth fueled by nutrients running off agricultural fields and from urban areas) spreading into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. Intact ecosystems, including mangrove swamps, help prevent eutrophication and the problems it caused.

http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/mangroves.htm

Words and Questions

• Organism• Algae• Poison• Dying fish• Slime• Smelly water

Words and Questions

•When does this happen?

•Why does this happen?

•What are the causes?

•What are the consequences?

Eutrophication or Algal Blooms

Text Knowledge

Ordering the text :

• put the cut up pieces of text in order by discussing the initial words in each paragraph

• Decide where to put the diagram

Word Knowledge

Examining some of the language • Worksheet 1

– The number of algae reaches a critical point and as the ‘bloom’ causes the light and oxygen to decrease, they die.

– They reach a critical point and as the ‘bloom’ causes the light and oxygen to decrease, they die.

Word Knowledge

Examining some of the language • Worksheet 1

– The number of algae reaches a critical point and as the ‘bloom’ causes the light and oxygen to decrease, they die.

– They reach a critical point and as the ‘bloom’ causes the light and oxygen to decrease, they die.

Word Knowledge

Writing in our own words• Worksheet 1 page 2

• Have a go at writing some sentences

Word Knowledge

Writing in our own words• Worksheet 1 page 2

– There is less light in the water because the large numbers of dead and decaying algae have blocked out the light.

– There is less oxygen in the water because the bacteria have used it up to decompose the dead algae.

Word Knowledge

Finding technical language in the text for spoken-like language

• Worksheet 2

Grammar Knowledge Unpacking the meaning in long sentences

However in recent years the reduced flow of the River Murray, due to man made barriers such as weirs and the removal of water from the river for irrigation, and the addition of nutrients from agribusiness has meant that sections of the river have succumbed to algal blooms.

However in recent years the reduced flow of the River Murray, due to man made barriers such as weirs and the removal of water from the river for irrigation, and the addition of nutrients from agribusiness has meant // that sections of the river have succumbed to algal blooms.

Grammar Knowledge

Hierarchy of meanings

Grammar KnowledgeHowever, • in recent years

– the reduced flow of the River Murray, • due to man made barriers

– such as weirs

• and (due to) the removal of water from the river – for irrigation,

• and (due to )the addition of nutrients – from agribusiness

– has meant – that sections of the river have succumbed to algal

blooms.

Grammar Knowledge• However, (Text connective)

• in recent years (time circumstance)– the reduced flow of the River Murray, (long noun

group)• due to man made barriers

– such as weirs (example)• and (due to) the removal of water from the river

– for irrigation, (example)• and (due to )the addition of nutrients

– from agribusiness (example)

– has meant – that sections of the river have succumbed to algal

blooms.

Text deconstruction Word Knowledge

Moving lexically dense language to more spoken-like language

• Worksheet 3

Text KnowledgeCheck understanding of Algal Blooms

• Put the short sentences in order to create a

sequential explanation

Check understanding of Algal Blooms with sequential explanation

Text and Grammar knowledge• Excess nutrients enter waterways.• Nutrients promote plant growth, especially algae.• Algal bloom occurs.• Algae die and are decomposed by bacteria.• Decomposition of algae increases biological oxygen

demand.• There is a drop in the oxygen levels.• Fish macro invertebrates and other aquatic life forms die.

Check understanding of Algal Blooms with causal explanation

• Fish, macro invertebrates and other aquatic life forms die• because• there is a drop in the oxygen levels.• This drop in oxygen levels is caused by• the bacteria that need the oxygen to grow and decompose

the dead algae.• Algae die when there are too many of them and this is called

an algal bloom.• This happens when excess nutrients such as nitrates and

phosphates, which promote plant growth especially algae, enter waterways.

Check understanding of Algal Blooms with causal explanation

Text Knowledge

Fish macro invertebrates and other aquatic life forms die because there is a drop in the oxygen levels.This drop in oxygen levels is caused by the bacteria that need the oxygen to grow and decompose the dead algae.Algae die when there are too many of them and this is called an algal bloom.This happens when excess nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates, which promote plant growth especially algae, enter waterways

Check understanding of Algal Blooms with causal explanation

Grammar Knowledge

• Using conjunction ‘because’ to join two simple sentences - pkt labelled ‘Because’ has four sentences

• Using conjunction ‘if’ to join two simple sentences - pkt labelled ‘If’ has six sentences

Linking two clauses in a ‘causal’ relationship to make a complex sentence

• Fast moving rivers do not have a decomposition build up because the current washes away decomposing organic matter.

• Because the current washes away decomposing organic matter, fast moving rivers do not have a decomposition build up.

• Because the decomposing algae use up the oxygen// other organisms such as fish die.

Linking two clauses in a ‘conditional’ relationship to make a complex sentence

• If these bodies of water are nutrient rich, they have abundant plant and animal life.

• If there is enough light and warmth and the water is not moving organisms such as algae grow and ‘bloom’

• If there is a drop in oxygen levels fish, macro invertebrates and other aquatic life forms die

Word Knowledge - Cloze Procedure

What Technical Vocab has been learnt?Worksheets A and B

You must sit opposite each other and talk to each other in order to fill in the blank spaces.

Tenants of our Pedagogy

• Assessment – Assessment as: involves students creating their own checklists

and rubrics; giving feedback to their peers, particularly in oral tasks

– Assessment for: the marking system the teacher uses on draft and formative work and how the teacher conferences the students to edit their work

– Assessment of: reproduction of the task (oral or written) that the teacher has modelled and scaffolded