SC15.ES.4

Science (2015) Grade(s): 09-12 - Environmental Science

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Cause and Effect

Students know:

The components of a scientific argument including the claim, alternative claim, evidence, justification, and the challenge to the alternative claim.
Factors that affect biodiversity.
The relationships between species and the physical environment in an ecosystem.
Examples of biological changes (e.g., ecological succession, disease) and physical changes (e.g., volcanic activity, desertification) that affect the number and types of organisms, and that may result in a new or altered ecosystem.

Students are able to:

Use additional relevant evidence to assess the validity and reliability of the given evidence and its ability to support the proposed argument.
Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the given claim in accurately explaining a particular response of the ecosystem to a changing condition, based on an understanding of factors that affect biodiversity and the relationships between species and the physical environment.
Assess the logic of the reasoning, including the relationship between degree of change and stability in ecosystems, and the utility of the reasoning in supporting the explanation.

Students understand that:

A complex set of interactions within an ecosystem can keep its numbers and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions.
When modest biological or physical disturbances occur in an ecosystem, it returns more or less to its original status (i.e., it is resilient).
Extreme fluctuations in conditions or the size of any population, however, can challenge the functioning of an ecosystem in terms of resources and habitat availability, and can even result in a new ecosystem.