Download Final Product Assignment

Name____________________________________________________
Partner Name_____________________________________________________
Final Product for Exhibition Night
What is the final product? A book about the ripple effect filled with pages created by the 7th grade class.
What do I have to do? You will work with a partner to create several pages for a picture book about the
ripple effect. The first page will represent what you & your partner have learned about Ecological
Systems. You will select a specific topic that your ecological systems page will focus on. The second page
will be a personal reflection on what you have learned during our expedition and how the ripple effect
impacts your life. Each partner will complete the reflection page individually.
How am I going to get the ecological systems page done?
Day 1 – Classroom
 Sign up for a topic with your partner.
 Complete initial graphic organizer and hand in to Ms. Peters.
Day 2 – First day in the computer lab
 Choose a layout for your comic life.
 Save your file to your or your partners ID drive.
 Copy and paste pictures into your document.
 Start to write a rough draft of your paragraph.
Day 3 – Second day in the computer lab
 Complete your rough draft.
 Print out and hand in by the end of class
Day 4 – Third day in the computer lab
 Revise and improve your page, based on feedback
Day 5 – Fourth day in the computer lab
 Finalize your ecological system page.
 Hand in a second draft to Ms. Peters.
Day 6 – Fifth Day in computer lab
 Make final changes based on feedback
 Print final draft
 Give digital copy to Ms. Peters
Days 7 – 12 – Continue to work on reflection and final drafts during science/English classes.
What are the ecological systems topic choices?

Food Chain – What happens if one species is removed from a food chain? Identify a food chain,
identify a species to be removed, identify the ripple effect of this small change.
o Suggested Vocabulary to include: producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, flow
of energy, photosynthesis, sun, ecosystem.

Flow of Energy – What would happen if the suns energy could not reach the Earth? What natural
or human event might cause the sun to be blocked? Identify how the suns energy is transferred
to organisms, identify how humans cannot exist without the sun.
o Suggested Vocabulary to include: transfer of energy, radiation, photosynthesis, producers,
consumers, human survival.

Loss of Bio Diversity – When species go extinct how is an ecosystem impacted? Identify a species
that may have gone extinct in the past and identify the impact that the extinction had on the
ecosystem equilibrium. Research the endangered species act. What would happen if we didn’t
have the endangered species act?
o Suggested vocabulary: biodiversity, endangered, extinct, species, ecosystem, equilibrium,
food chain, health, human impact, deforestation, pollution.

Pollution – Choose one type of pollution. Identify the cause of the pollution, identify the ripple
effect of the pollution on an organism or an ecosystem.
o Types of pollution
 Litter
 Plastic put in the garbage instead of being recycled
 CO2 emissions from driving cars
 Oil in water
 Chemicals in water
 Acid rain
o Suggested vocabulary: pollution, human impact, original source, ecosystem, organism,
homeostasis, equilibrium, negative.

Depletion of Natural Resources – Choose one natural resource that humans rely on. Describe
the changes that may occur in our society if we ran out of that natural resource.
o Natural Resources
 Oil
 Coal
 Natural Gas
 Trees
 Metal – Lead, Aluminum, Gold, Silver, Copper
 Water
o Suggested vocabulary: human impact, depletion of natural resources, pollution, technology,
changes, social system, ecological system.

Blood minerals – What is the ripple effect of buying a cell phone? How is your life connected to
other humans lives in Africa? Why are the minerals so valuable? How do our small decisions
have a big impact on other parts of the world?
o Suggested vocabulary: natural resources, blood mineral, genocide, militia, human choices,
human rights.

Love Canal – What is the story of the love canal? How did one persons actions have a significant
impact on a social community? How did it impact th ecological community? Choose one example
of the ripple effect of the Love Canal pollution.
o Love Canal Ripples:
 People getting cancer, babies being born with birth defects
 Toxic sludge contaminated water, and leaked into peoples houses
 The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) classified the site as the first superfund
site in America
o Suggested vocabulary: Pollution, chemical waste, hazardous waste, toxic, hydroelectric
power plant, cancer, dioxin, birth defects, superfund site, EPA, health effects,
contamination.

Adaptations – Why is it necessary for animals to have adaptations? What happens to animals that
cannot adapt to their environments? Identify a change in an environment and the effect it would
have on an organism.
o Suggested vocabulary: adaptation, endangered, extinct, variety, evolve, ecosystem, habitat,
environmental change.

Experimental Design – Why is it important to only change one variable in an experiment? What
happens if you start to change many variables at one time? How do variables effect the outcome
of an experiment?
o Suggested vocabulary to include: experiment design, question / problem, hypothesis,
independent variable, dependent variable, control variable, data, data analysis, conclusions,
accuracy.

Characteristics of life / HOMEOSTASIS – Why is it necessary for organisms to maintain
homeostasis? What happens when an organism cannot maintain homeostasis? Identify an
example of homeostasis and then identify the ripple effect that an organism would experience if
they were unable to control that example.
o Examples of homeostasis:
 Water content in the body
 Body temperature (too high or too low)
 Salt content in the body
 Sugar levels in the body (diabetes)
 Cholesterol levels in the body
o Suggested vocabulary: homeostasis, balance, organism, increase or decrease, change, organ
system, body system, humans, animals.
Brainstorm Organizer
My topic is…
My topic is an example of a system because…
The parts of the system are…
The small action is…
The big effect is…
The ripple effect for my topic is…
A good picture for my page might be…
Questions I have that I need to research are…
When we go to the lab I will…..
When we go to the lab my partner will…..