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Science: Competency Goal 1: The learner will conduct investigations to build an understanding of the interdependence of plants and animals.

1.01 Describe and compare several common ecosystems (communities of organisms and their interaction with the environment).

1.02 Identify and analyze the functions of organisms within the population of the ecosystem:

1.04 Discuss and determine the role of light, temperature, and soil composition in an ecosystem's capacity to support life.

Great news! You and your partners have a new summer job working for a travel agency. You have been hired to create a brochure and other materials for a presentation that will persuade travelers to visit a specific geographical biome. The boss has told you that it is important to be informative and creative to help draw potential customers into the office.

Working in groups you will choose one of the following major biomes on the North American continent: Aquatic, Desert, Forest, Grassland and Tundra. Below is a table illustrating some of the specific ecosystems and habitats within each of the main biomes.

You and your partners will organize the information into a brochure that highlights your chosen biome to present to the travel agency board of directors. You will also create a ‘Biome in a Box’ model that can be shown to potential customers that are interested in that biome as part of their travel plans.

Your task is to sell your biome to the travel agency and then to the consumer.

Your task will consist of several parts. You and your design partners are assigned the following responsibilities:

Make sure to collect quality information on the following topics concerning your biome:

***REMEMBER*** If you were planning a vacation to an area within this biome what would you want to know.

As each group members are introduced to biome vocabulary, your group will create a 4x6 card for each word. This card will have the word, pronunciation, definition in your own words, a sentence using the word correctly, and a picture/image of the word. All cards will be kept on a ring file for quick reference.

Must Words: biome, flora, fauna, habitat, niche, aquatic, desert, grassland, tundra, forest, food web, elevation, precipitation, natural resources, climate, producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore , and decomposer.

You are going to create a tri-fold brochure that highlights the best of what your biome has to offer to a tourist.

You will need to include the Travel Agencies business name, address and other contact information. See example below:

Build a three-dimensional model of your biome in a box (larger than a shoebox) using everyday materials. Included in the model should be representative examples of flora and fauna, and it should show the terrain (mountainous, flat, shoreline, etc.). The inside walls of the box should be decorated (painted, collaged with photos, etc.). Taped onto one side of the box should be a written description of all of the characteristics of the biome (elevation, precipitation levels, temperature , flora, fauna, etc). Taped onto the other side of the box is a world map indicating (by color, outline, etc.) the locations of this biome.

Select an animal that lives in your biome. Create a poster displaying the food web and explain where add how your animal fits into the food web. Be sure to label who the consumers, producers, and decomposers are.

Phase 6: Presentation of Biome Proposal Materials (Brochure & ‘Biome in a Box’ Model)

You will present your promotional materials to the CCS Travel Agency Board of Directors for evaluation. During this presentation the board of directors will be using several tools to evaluate you on presentation, teamwork, and material design.

Rubric #1 - This rubric will be used to evaluate your presentation to the travel agency board of directors.

Group Members __________________________________________________________________________

Category

Excellent

(12-10 pts)

Good

(9-7 pts)

Satisfactory

6-4 pts)

Needs Improvement

(3-0 pts)

Writing-

Organization

Each section in

the brochure

has a clear

beginning,

middle, and

end.

Almost all

sections of

the brochure

have a clear

beginning,

middle and

end.

Most sections of

the brochure

have a clear

beginning, middle

and end.

Less than half

of the sections

of the brochure

have a clear

beginning,

middle and end.

Content-

Accuracy

All facts in

the brochure

are accurate.

99-90% of the

facts in the

brochure are

accurate.

89-90% of the

facts in the

brochure are

accurate.

Fewer than 80& of

the facts in the

brochure are

accurate.

Spelling &

Proofreading

No spelling

errors remain

after one

person other

than they

typist reads

and corrects

the brochure.

No more than 1

spelling error

remains after

one person

other than the

typist reads

and corrects

the brochure.

No more than 3

spelling errors

remain after one

person other

than the typist

reads and

corrects the

brochure.

Several spelling

errors in the

brochure.

Attractiveness &

Organization

The brochure

has

exceptionally

attractive

formatting

and well-

organized

information.

The brochure

has attractive

formatting and

well-organized

Information.

The brochure

has well-

organized

information.

The brochure's

formatting and

organization of

material are

confusing to

the reader.

Graphics/

Pictures

Graphics go

well with the

text and there

is a good mix

of text and

graphics.

Graphics go

well with the

text, but there

are so many

that they

distract from

the text.

Graphics go well

with the text,

but there are

too few and the

brochure seems

"text-heavy".

Graphics do not

go with the

accompanying

text or appear

to be randomly

chosen.

Extension Activities: (Choose one of the selected activities and address the following :

1. Take your each biome listed and develop a power point presentation with a minimum of 10 slides. The power point presentation must include information about each of the following biomes: aquatic, desert, forest, grassland and tundra.

2. Create a book of facts about each of the following biomes: aquatic, desert, forest, grassland and tundra. Make sure that you include the same information as per the power point information criteria above. The book must contain a minimum 10 pages in addition to the title page and table of contents. Be sure to include several plants and animals native to the selected biome.

3. Create a ‘Deck of Facts’ for each of the following biomes: aquatic, desert, forest, grassland and tundra. The deck must contain a minimum of 10 cards- 2 for each type of biome.

This worksheet is just to help you get started with your data collection. Don't limit yourself to just this one page for information.

Print out; or select all, copy, and paste into a word processing program. Save it and use this sheet to record information.

GUIDE TO PREPARING BIBLIOGRAPHY / WORKS CITED

When doing research and writing a report, it is always necessary to name the source(s) of your information. This list of sources is called a bibliography / works cited. A bibliography should be listed alphabetically. The second line of an entry should be indented. Skip a line after each entry.

Some of the changes I would make next time I complete an assignment such as this would be: