OpenSciEd Unit 7.5 · Lesson 15 · 15.A
Look for: descriptions of why people grow foods or save…
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
Building towards
15.A Critically read and listen to text to obtain information about how farmers receive ecosystem services from farming practices that also maintain and promote stability in natural systems.
What to look / listen for
descriptions of why people grow foods or save forests in ways that benefit their families and communities
descriptions of why people benefit more from these strategies than those who large-scale monocrop
What to do
If members of a group struggle to synthesize how people benefit from their approach to growing food, pair them with another group who viewed the same StoryMap and have them compare notes. Prompt them to identify evidence from the StoryMap to support their summaries.
Supporting Universal Design for Learning
There are three StoryMaps, and each group of 2-3 students will explore one. Students first used StoryMaps in Lesson 7 to figure out how many orangutans typically live in intact tropical rainforests. The StoryMaps in this lesson combine several representations (maps, text, audio, and videos) to help students further explore the same approaches to growing food that they read about in Lesson 14.
Some of the videos in the StoryMaps are subtitled. We have embedded one strategy to help students follow the text: we remind them that they can pause the video at any moment to read. As they view these videos, consider walking around and reminding them that they can pause and that there is also an option to slow the video: click on the gear icon in the lower right side of the screen, then click on “playback speed” and choose a speed that is 0.75 or less. To return to regular speed, click on “normal.”
Supporting Universal Design for Learning
The scientific information in each StoryMap is equally rigorous, but the printed text is written at different reading levels to support differentiation.
Diversified Farming - 810-1000 L
Sustainable Palm Oil - 975-1025 L
Customary Forests -1010-1200 L