OCELOTS

Resource Type

• Module

Courses

• Ecology
• Introductory Biology
• Science Process Skills

Course Level

• Introductory
• Upper Level

Bloom's Cognitive Level

• Foundational: factual knowledge & comprehension
• Application & Analysis
• Synthesis/Evaluation/Creation

Vision and Change Core Competencies

• Ability to apply the process of science
• Ability to use quantitative reasoning
• Ability to use modeling and simulation
• Ability to tap into the interdisciplinary nature of science
• Ability to communicate and collaborate with other disciplines
• Ability to understand the relationship between science and society

Vision and Change Core Concepts

• Structure and Function
• Pathways and transformations of energy and matter
• Systems

Four Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) Framework

• Core Ecological Concepts
  • Organisms
    • Abiotic and biotic features of the environment
  • Ecosystems
    • Energy flow – productivity
    • Regulators – control from below/above – trophic cascades
  • Biomes
    • Biome types – tundra, boreal forest, deciduous forest, grassland, shrubland, desert, tropical rainforest
  • Biosphere
    • Global climate change
• Ecology Practices
  • Fieldwork
  • Quantitative reasoning and computational thinking
    • Modeling and simulation
  • Designing and critiquing investigations
    • Study design, familiarity with basic modes of ecological inquiry (description, comparison, experimentation, modeling)
  • Communicating and applying ecology
• Human-Environment Interactions
  • Human accelerated environmental change – there is no pristine ecosystem nor total equilibrium
    • Global climate change
  • How humans shape and manage resources/ecosystems/the environment
    • Agricultural ecosystems – agroecology, fisheries, forestry
    • Natural resource management
    • Conservation biology
• Cross-cutting Themes
  • Pathways & Transformations of Matter and energy
  • Systems
  • Spatial & Temporal
    • Scales

Class Type

• Lecture
• Lab
• On-line

Class Size

• 1-50
• 51-100
• 101+

Audience

• Life Sciences Major
• Non-Traditional Student
• 2-year College
• 4-year College
• University

Lesson Length

• Portion of one class period
• One class period
• Multiple class periods

Key Scientific Process Skills

• Reviewing prior research
• Designing/conducting experiments
• Displaying/modeling results/data

Pedagogical Approaches

• Case Study
• Computer Model
• Pre/Post Question

Principles of How People Learn

• Motivates student to learn material
• Focuses student on the material to be learned
• Reveals prior knowledge
• Requires student to do the bulk of the work

Assessment Type

• Assessment of individual student performance
• Assignment
• Homework
• Answer fill in the blank question(s)
• Answer multiple choice question(s)
• Answer true/false question(s)
• Post-test
• Pre-test