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Student's name
WEBER
RACHAEL LOUISE
Student's I.D. number
22559671
Unit name
EDF4402/1 - Biology education
Phone
0413 620 582
Email
rlweb1@student.monash.edu
Offering
S2-01 * CLAYTON * DE
Type of submission
ASSESSMENT TASK 3: FIELD WORK IN BIOLOGY: PART A & B
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Between 4-5 moderate pollution
Less than 4: severe pollution
E 2003) {DETERMINING THE HEALTH OF A WATER BODY.docx}

BACKGROUND
In addition to the water watch testing conducted on the ecosystem student will take part in an investigation of the macro-invertebrate organisms and other life that exists in the chosen habitat.
An indication of the health and productivity of a stream or water body can be analysed in a number of ways, the first being the testing of physio-chemical properties. The second can be found by analysing the living organisms that live in the system.
Scientists have found that some macro invertebrates are more tolerant to pollutants than others, as a result of this the method of measuring water quality using SIGNAL scores has been developed. “If a stream is polluted , tolerant bugs will usually be found in larger number than intolerant ones” (Gooderham, J & Tsyrlin, E 2003)
The SIGNAL method uses this ecological markers to obtain a result that is said to determine the health of the water body. SIGNAL stands for Stream Invertebrate Grade Number- Average Level and “by obtaining the SIGNAL grade one can calculate a score for the site and therefore form an objective opinion about it’s health” (Chessman, B.C. 2003)
ASSESSMENT
In this part of the field work students will use dip nets or waders to collect water sample that include sample of the macro-invertebrate species present in the water system; then students will sort the invertebrate samples into species (using the ice cube trays and spoons).
To complete this assessment students will be required to fill out the attached worksheet DETERMINING THE HEALTH OF A WATER BODY
Once students have sorted their samples into species students will then attempt to identify the species present using the Waterbug Book or classification sheets provided and if possible determine the corresponding SIGNAL score for each species.
Calculating SIGNAL score:
Step 1: Calculate the sum of the individual SIGNAL grades (count each species once, do not
Include the abundance of each species)
Step 2: Divide the sum by the total number of different species collected.
SIGNAL score and water health:
Higher than 6: healthy ecosystem
Between 5-6: mild pollution
Between 4-5 moderate pollution
Less than 4: severe pollution
(Gooderham, J & Tsyrlin, E 2003)

Hand sanitising gel
Ice cub tray + spoons
Dip nets
Waders
What Students will be testing at the site:

Chessman; B.C. (2003) New sensitivity grages for Australian river macroinvertebrates CSIRO publishing Marine and Freshwater research, 54, 95-103
Gooderham, J & Tsyrlin, E (2005) The Waterbug Book: A guide to the freshwater macroinvertebrates of temperate Australia CSIRO publishing, Aus pg.213
Kinnear, J & Martin, M (92006) Nature of Biology John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, Aus.
Victoria Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/biology/biologyindex.html

In this study a setThe use of key skills is considered essential to Biology. These skills apply across Units 1 to 4. In designing teaching and learning programs for each unit, teachers must ensure that students are given the opportunity to develop, use and apply these skillswater watch program directly links into the VCE biology curriculum and to demonstrate them in a varietynumber of contexts. As the complexityareas of key knowledge increases from Units 1 to 4,study including, but not limited to:
Dynamic ecosystems as students should demonstrate the skills atexamine how ecosystems (in this case their local creek or stream) can be subjected to change from a progressively higher level. Advice on the assessmentnumber of the key skills is provided in the assessment details for each unit. These skills include the ability to:
Investigate and inquire scientifi cally • formulate questions and construct hypotheses appropriate for conducting fi rst-hand and second- hand investigations; • plan, design and conduct fi rst-hand investigations: select anddifferent sources including habitat destruction, resource use equipment and materials appropriate to the investigation; evaluate experimental procedures and reliabilitydisposal of waste.
KEY KNOWLEDGE:
· Identifying components of data; • collect, process and record information systematically; analyse and synthesise data; draw conclusions consistent with the question under investigation and the evidence obtained; • act responsibly when conducting investigations: maintain safe practices; work independently and collaboratively as appropriate. Apply biological understandings • apply understandingsecosystem
· Ability to familiar and new contexts; make connectionsrecognise key relationships between concepts; solve problems; • analyse issuesorganisms and implications relating to scientifi ctheir surrounding environment
· Understand the flow of energy including inputs and technological developments; • analyseoutputs of water and evaluatewaste
· Cycling of matter including the reliabilityintroduction of informationtoxins and opinions presented inpollutants
· Students should be able to determine how the public domain. Communicate biological information and understandings
• interpret, transpose and communicate information and ideas effectively; • use techniques of communication appropriate to different audiences and purposes; • use scientifi c terminology and conventions appropriately
Unit 2: Organismsecosystem has change over time
Ecosystems and their environment
The rich diversity of Australian ecosystems provides a variety of contexts forliving communities The water watch field work encourages students to studythink about the
relationships relationships not only between living things and their environment. Students investigate particular sets of biotic
and abiotic factorsthe organisms that operate in different placeslive in the biosphere, andwater ecosystem but also how thesechemicals factors infl uence
the kinds of organisms that live there. Students examine how organisms ininfluence their particular habitats are
part of the integratedproductivity, abundance and naturally self-sustaining systems in which energy fl ows and matter is cycled
betweengrowth.
KEY KNOWLEDGE:
· Identify the living and non-living components of an ecosystem
· Understand the environment.
Students investigate how features possessed by organisms affect their fi tness and reproductive success,
in relation to their habitats. They consider how species are affected by changes in environmental
conditions, whether natural or human-induced.
In this unit students investigate what changes have taken place in selected ecosystems, how ecological
principles can be applied to conserve natural ecosystems, to restore damaged ones and to ensure
sustainabilitynature of the biosphere. Students investigate how technologies are being applied to monitor
natural ecosystems and to manage systems developed to provide resources for humans.
AREA OF STUDY 1
Adaptationsa living community
· Become aware of organisms
This area of study focuses onvarious ecological roles in a community
· Understand the kindsvariety of environmental factorsinteractions that are common to all habitats. Students
investigate the adaptationsoccur within a ecosystem
Flow of organisms that enable them to exploit the resources of their particular
ecological niche. Adaptations are interrelatedenergy and can be grouped into structural, physiological, and
behavioural categories.
Students make connections between the conditions that operate in habitats, the tolerance rangecycling of
organisms and matter the distribution of organisms. They examine individual and collective behaviours that
organisms exhibit and relate themplanned fieldwork introduces students to an organism’s survival.
Students undertake practical investigations into selected factors operating in habitatssuch as salinity, nitrate levels, phosphate, dissolved oxygen and adaptations
of organisms to those habitats. They investigate techniques and technologies that monitor and record
environmentalpH. All of these factors and track the distributionare part of species.
October 2009
18 VCE STUDY DESIGN
Unit 2 BIOLOGY
Outcome 1
On completion of this unit the student should be able to explaincycle and analyse the relationship between
environmental factors,flow and adaptationsmatter and distribution of living things.
To achieve this outcome the student will draw on the key knowledge outlined in area of study 1,materials and
key skills listed on page 12.
Key knowledge
This knowledge includes
• environmental factors: biotic and abiotic factors; availability of resources;
• structural adaptations: relating major features of organisms introduce students to survival value;
• physiological adaptations
– tolerance range of organisms; maintaining equilibrium by detectinghow energy and responding to changes
in environmental conditions
– nerve control in complex multicellular organisms: major sense organschemicals transfer and pathways of transmission of nerve impulses
– hormonal control in complex multicellular organisms
– regulating water balance and controlling temperature;
• plant tropisms: growth responses, rhythmic activities;
• behavioural adaptations: individual and group behaviours of animals including rhythmic activities,
feeding behaviours; communication; social and territorial behaviours;
• reproductive adaptations: systems and strategies; development and life cycles;
• techniques used to monitor environmental change and species distribution.
AREA OF STUDY 2
Dynamic ecosystems
Withthrough an emphasis on Australian ecosystems, this area of study focuses onecosystem.
KEY KNOWLEDGE:
· Describe the complex and fi nely
balanced relationshipsways in which energy flows through ecosystem
· Recognise that exist between living things and the resourcesmatter cycles within an ecosystem
· Give examples of biogeochemical cycles
Changes in their particular habitat.
This networkecosystems The fieldwork program develops students understanding of relationships can be understood as a system with inputs, processinghow and outputs:
therewhy testing on water bodies is carried out. It introduces them to a fl owrange of energyscientific equipment and cycling of matter betweenprocedures aimed at monitoring the living and non-living componentsquality of the
ecosystem. Ecosystems do not exist in isolation from each other; they form a network of ecosystems
that constitute water system.
KEY KNOWLEDGE:
· Understand how environments change over time
· Recognise the global system of the biosphere.
Students examine how ecosystems are subject to changes that differ in scope, intensity and regularity.
They investigate how human activities such as habitat destruction, resource use and disposalimpact of wastes,
affect not only the ecological niche that individual species occupy, but the functioninga number of ecosystems
at local and global levels.
Students undertake practical investigations into interactions between membersnatural changes
· Show awareness of the same and
different species and between organisms and their non-living environment. They examine the effect
on ecosystemsimpact of historical practices, and investigate emerginghuman induced changes
· Identify techniques for monitoring and technologies that help
to monitor and maintain them. Students consider the issues and implications associated with human
activities that affect the sustainability of ecosystems.
October 2009
VCE STUDY DESIGN 19
BIOLOGY Unit 2
Outcome 2
On completion ofmaintaining ecosystems
OUTCOME: outcomes for this unit in the student should bestudy design included students being able to design,“design, conduct and on a fi eld
investigation related to thefield investigation” Students undertake practical investigations into interactions between explain how
ecosystems ecosystems change over time.
To achieve
The results obtained through this outcome the student will draw on the key knowledge outlinedstudy can also be used in area of study 2, and
key skills listed on page 12.
Key knowledge
This knowledge includes
• components of ecosystems: communities of living organisms, ecological groupings; ecological
niche;
• relationships between organisms: feeding including parasite/host, predator/prey, of mutual benefi t
including mutualism and symbiosis;
• fl ow of energy: inputs and outputs of the system; productivity; trophic levels and trophic effi ciency;
• cycling of matter: principle of exchange between living and non-living components of the ecosystem, including inputs and outputs; biogeochemical systems including those of water, carbon, oxygen,
nitrogen; bioaccumulation;
• population dynamics: carrying capacity of ecosystems; factors affecting distribution and abundance of organisms including birth and death rates, migration;
• change to ecosystems over time
– scope and intensity of regular and irregular natural changes; succession
– human activity and the sustainability of ecosystems
– historical practices of indigenous peoples and settlers;
• techniques for monitoring and maintaining ecosystems.
ASSESSMENT
The award of satisfactory completion for a unit is based on a decision that the student has demonstrated
achievement of the setnumber of other outcomes specifi ed for the unit. This decision will be based on the teacher’s
assessment of the student’s overall performance on assessment tasks designated for the unit.
The key knowledge for each outcomeincluding multimedia or web presentations, data analysis and key skills listed on page 12 shouldcan be used as a guideevidence when responding to
course design and the development media articles.
On completion of learning activities. The key knowledge and skills do not constitute a checklist and such an approach is not necessary or desirable for determining the achievement of
outcomes. The elements of key knowledge and skillsthis fieldwork student should not be assessed separately.
Assessment tasks must be a part of the regular teaching and learning program and must not unduly add
to the workload associated with that program. They must be completed mainly in class and within a
limited timeframe. Teachers should select a variety of assessment tasks for their assessment program
to refl ect the key knowledge and skills being assessed andable to provide for different learning styles.
For this unit students are required to demonstrate achievement of the two outcomes. As a set these
outcomes encompass both areas of study.
October 2009
20 VCE STUDY DESIGN
Unit 2 BIOLOGY
Demonstration of achievement of Outcomes 1explain and 2 must be based onanalyse the student’s performance on a
selection of assessment tasks. Where teachers allow students to chooserelationship between tasks they must ensure
that the tasks they set are of comparable scopeenvironmental factors, and adaptations and demand. Assessment tasks for this unit are:
For Outcome 1:
at least threedistribution of the following:
• practical activities;
• multimedia or web page presentation;
• response to a media article;
• oral presentation;
• annotated poster;
• data analysis;
• test, multiple choice and/or short answer and/or extended response.
And
For Outcome 2:
• a written report on fi eldwork (fi eldwork may include a study of habitat within or outside the
classroom).
.living things.