Climate and Biomes

A WebQuest for 7th Grade World Geography

Designed by

Patricia Rodriguez
prodriguezdegil@yahoo.com

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in another place? What the weather be like? What kinds of animals would you see? The Earth has many different environments, varying in temperature, moisture, light, and many other factors. Each of these habitats has distinct life forms living in it, forming complex communities of interdependent organisms. These complex communities of plants and animals in a region and a climate are called a biome. 

As a seventh grader, you will research about them and will prepare a display of your findings.

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The Task

You will design a museum display of a country of your choice. The display should contain a minimum of four panels containing your investigations about location and characteristics of the place, plant life, animal life and one more about how humans have adapted to the climate. The display will be presented to the class using an oral presentation.

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The Process

You must complete the following activities in order to prepare your display and successfully present it to the class.

	Team up into a group of three students.
	Organized as a group, read together the whole WebQuest so that you all will have a better understanding of the tasks to be performed. Then come back and go to the following step.
	Click here to learn the basis of biomes and to see a world map that shows the following biomes: Rain Forest, Tundra, Savannah, Grasslands, and Taiga.
	As a group, choose a particular country that is located in one of these biomes.  The following links can help you to locate the country of your choice and provide you with additional information: Map Machine Wild World
	Get together to agree upon the roles you should take on to accomplish the task.

         Geographer or an expert in geography. You should locate the country of  

           study. Draw a map and include title, compass rose, map key, and  coordinates.

           Make sure of positioning the country in the biome the country is located.

         Botanist or an expert with scientific knowledge of, or a strong interest in, plants.

            You should study the type of plants that can be found in the country of study. You

           need to find ten examples. Make sure these examples belong to the biome and

           the country that are being studied.

         Zoologist. You should study the type of animals that can found in the country of

           study. You need to find ten examples. Make sure these examples belong to the

           biome and the country that are being studied.

Start your research and make sure you record all your information in your notebook so you can use it later to produce you display.

       Links: 

           Climate and Biomes

               http://www.cyber.vt.edu/geog1014/TOPICS/102Climate/cli.html

               http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/lectures/climates_toc.html

               http://alpha.furman.edu/~worthen/biomes/map.htm

               http://rmhs.dist214.k12.il.us/classes/lepbilscience/biome.html

               http://www.allaboutnature.com/biomes/pond/pondlife.shtml

           Maps 

               http://www.graphicmaps.com/clipart.htm

               http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/

               http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/topgeog.html

           Images and printables

               http://miragemall.com/desertjpegs/imagesf.htm

           Glossary and Dictionary

               http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/ams/glossary.html

Meet with your group. Share your findings and discuss how you will elaborate your display. Each of you is responsible for elaborating the panel corresponding to the role accomplished. As a group you all are are responsible for creating the four panel. Check the criteria for evaluation.

 

Present your display to the group. Each group member should participate

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Evaluation

Each group will create a museum display. All displays must include the following: Name of the Display, labeled map illustrating location within a biome, Animal Life and Plant life in the country studied.

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Conclusion

Because we share the world with many other species of plants and animals, we must consider the consequences of our actions. Over the past several decades, increasing human activity has rapidly destroyed or polluted many ecological habitats throughout the world. It is important to preserve all types of biomes as each houses many unique forms of life.  

After the class has finished with this unit, the students will have an understanding of  latitude and its relationship with climate, what are the major Koeppen climate categories and where they are located. Students will be familiar with biomes, where are they located and their characteristics as well.  In addition, students will have a better understanding of how to preserve the earthís natural biomes as each houses many unique forms of life, and  how  the continued heavy exploitation of certain biomes, such as the forest and aquatic, may have more severe implications.

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Credits & References

I want to thank my friend Danielle de Gregory for her time and effort in reviewing this WebQuest. Her observations were very valuable in making this webquest a better instructional tool. 

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Last updated on March 14, 2003. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page