Unit 4 — December: Natural Resources, Sustainability, and Aquaponics/Hydroponics
Description
This unit examines how humans use and impact natural resources. Students learn about causes of extinction and overharvesting through a popcorn fishing simulation that illustrates overfishing impacts. Natural resource and technology interactions are investigated by comparing pre- and post-industrial revolution agriculture, studying Native American agricultural practices, and examining sustainable island agriculture models. The unit introduces hydroponics and aquaponics systems as innovative food production methods that conserve water and land. Students design, set up, and monitor these systems to understand how they work and their potential applications in addressing food insecurity.
Essential Questions
- What are the consequences of overharvesting and unsustainable resource use?
- How have technology and societal change affected our use of natural resources?
- How can alternative agricultural systems like hydroponics and aquaponics support sustainable food production?
Learning Objectives
- Identify and explain causes of extinction and species decline.
- Model the effects of overfishing and understand sustainability principles.
- Compare agricultural practices across historical periods and cultures.
- Design and establish hydroponic or aquaponic systems.
- Monitor and troubleshoot hydroponic/aquaponic systems using scientific observation and measurement.
- Analyze the advantages and limitations of alternative growing systems.
Supplemental Resources
- Popcorn for the overfishing simulation activity
- Pocket folders and clipboards for organizing hydroponic/aquaponic monitoring data
- Graph paper and markers for recording system measurements and creating visual comparisons
- Printed guides on sustainable agriculture practices and alternative farming methods
Crosscutting Concepts
Disciplinary Core Ideas
Earth and Space Sciences
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Life Sciences
Science and Engineering Practices
Students read informational texts about agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and animal science, and produce written work including research reports, blog posts, portfolio updates, and writing assignments. Students engage in collaborative discussions, present findings to peers, and cite evidence from multiple sources to support claims across all units.
Students apply mathematical reasoning across units including calculating food costs, feed amounts, percent loss, square footage for coop design, lumber quantities, soil nutrient amounts, population graphs for carrying capacity, and data collection and graphing in macroinvertebrate and plant biodiversity studies.
Students conduct hands-on investigations aligned to life science, earth science, and engineering design standards. Topics include plant cell structure, photosynthesis, cellular respiration, genetics and heredity, animal systems, water chemistry, ecosystems, food webs, population dynamics, natural resource management, DNA extraction, and aquaponics and hydroponics system design.
Students examine the history of agriculture, Native American agricultural practices, the industrial revolution's impact on natural resources, global food production policies, cultural food practices, food insecurity and inequality, and the role of agriculture in economic development across time periods and regions.
Career readiness, financial literacy, and 21st century skills are embedded in every unit. Students explore agricultural careers, practice agribusiness skills including budgeting and record keeping, develop personal and professional skills through FFA activities, and investigate how education and training affect earning potential in agriculture and related fields.
Formative Assessments
- Observations and discussions during the overfishing simulation activity
- Pair-and-share discussions comparing historical and modern agricultural practices
- Journals documenting daily observations of hydroponic/aquaponic system health and growth
- Group work analyzing system data and troubleshooting problems
Summative Assessment
Projects and Google Slides presentations comparing sustainable and unsustainable resource use; hydroponic/aquaponic system monitoring reports and portfolio updates
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through oral responses during one-on-one or small group interviews about extinction causes, overfishing effects, and agricultural comparisons instead of written presentations. Visual supports such as labeled diagrams, picture cards of different agricultural methods, and simplified graphic organizers may be provided to scaffold participation in discussions and system monitoring activities.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students may benefit from graphic organizers or visual diagrams that break down the relationships between natural resource use, sustainability, and system design, reducing the cognitive load of tracking multiple variables at once. During hands-on activities such as setting up and monitoring growing systems, step-by-step visual task cards with numbered sequences can support independent participation. For observation journals and system reports, providing sentence frames or structured templates allows students to demonstrate understanding of plant and system health without being limited by written output demands. Oral responses, recorded observations, or scribed entries are appropriate alternatives where written expression is a barrier.
Section 504
Extended time should be available for completing observation journals, system monitoring reports, and the summative presentation, particularly when students need additional processing time to organize scientific observations. Preferential seating near demonstration areas and growing systems supports focus during hands-on setup and monitoring tasks. Printed copies of directions and data collection templates should be provided so students are not reliant solely on verbal instructions during active, multi-step activities.
ELL / MLL
Key vocabulary related to natural resources, sustainability, aquaponics, and hydroponics should be introduced with visual support such as labeled diagrams, photographs of systems and species, and illustrated word walls that remain accessible throughout the unit. Directions for system setup and observation tasks should be simplified and delivered in short steps, with demonstrations accompanying verbal explanation. Where possible, connecting concepts such as overfishing or subsistence farming to students' home regions or cultural food practices can build meaningful background knowledge and support comprehension of sustainability principles.
At Risk (RTI)
Connecting the unit's content to familiar, real-world contexts — such as local water use, grocery store food sourcing, or community food access — can help students build relevance and entry points into abstract concepts like sustainability and resource depletion. The overfishing simulation and hands-on system-building activities provide concrete, low-barrier ways to engage with the material before moving to more analytical tasks. Breaking the summative project into smaller checkpoints with frequent feedback allows students to build momentum and experience success progressively rather than facing the full task at once.
Gifted & Talented
Students who demonstrate strong grasp of core concepts may extend their understanding by researching the economic, environmental, or policy dimensions of large-scale aquaponics or hydroponics adoption as a response to food insecurity in specific geographic or climate contexts. Encouraging students to propose and justify modifications to their system design — drawing on independent research into nutrient cycling, species selection, or water chemistry — supports deeper scientific thinking beyond the foundational monitoring tasks. Students might also investigate comparative case studies of indigenous or island agricultural systems and evaluate how those models inform or challenge modern sustainable agriculture practices.