Sampling techniques

{{Rinfo |title= Sampling techniques |topic= Sampling mechanisms in Science |subject=Science |resourcenumber= SC0033 |age= Secondary, KS4 and 6th Form |content=Four sets of activities based on four different organisms: the butterfly, the oak, the whale and the zebra. |strategy=The pedagogical purpose of this lesson for the learners is:
* An opportunity for them to analyse a ‘real scientific publication’. The selected articles are very demanding. There is no need to fully understand them, but it offers the students an opportunity to learn how to skim such materials and pick up the relevant information.
* As a result of the teamwork this lesson should enable students to be critical of their colleagues work and enable them to improve their own and others’ information.
* The summary stage should enable students to produce and present the results of their investigation.

See below for the full pedagogic rationale. |Learning Objectives= By the end of this series of lessons students should be able to:
* Describe each of the sampling techniques used to assess the population size of more than one organism.
* Explain the advantages of a special sampling technique when compared with other methods.
* Communicate the results and conclusion of the supplied scientific articles describing sampling population size.
|additional resources= |useful information=Black oak article: http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/black-oaks.htm,
Butterflies article: http://www.ukbms.org/methods.htm,
Plain Zebra article: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/4/725.full,
Sperm Whale article: http://www.oneworldwildlife.org/what_we_do/projects/current/mediterranean |related resources=Our Living Environment |other=Duration: Approximately 1h, see below for more details. |format=Each organism has 4 documents where N represents: B (Butterfly), O (Oak), W (Whale) or Z (Zebra)
N1 – Leading questions
N2 – Differentiated material that may help the less able to answer the questions
N3 – a word document copy of the web-based article if no ICT is available or if the article is not available online
N4 – a truncated word document of the original article to be used as differentiated material. The text contains the parts relevant to answer the leading questions from the original article |resources=Leading questions
File:B1 Butterfly questions worksheet.docx
File:O1 Oak questions worksheet.docx
File:W1 Whale questions worksheet.docx
File:Z1 Zebra questions worksheet.docx
Differentiated material for the less able students:
File:B2 Butterfly differentiated materials.doc
O2_Oak_Tree_Differentiated_materials.doc
[[File: W2_Whale_differentiated_materials.doc|W2_Whale_differentiated_materials.doc]
Z2_Zebra_differentiated_materials.doc

}}

Pedagogic Rationale

The pedagogical purpose of this lesson for the learners is:

A. An opportunity for them to analyse a ‘real scientific publication’. The selected articles are very demanding. There is no need to fully understand them, but it offers the students an opportunity to learn how to skim such materials and pick up the relevant information.
B. As a result of the teamwork this lesson should enable students to be critical of their colleagues work and enable them to improve their own and others’ information.
C. The summary stage should enable students to produce and present the results of their investigation.

For teachers it may increase the variety of different examples available for ecological sampling.

Additionally it is also an ICT based investigation that enables students to work independently and in groups. There are numerous assessment opportunities for students analysis, team effort and presentation abilities.

Students, therefore, will learn to analyse a lot of complex data and produce the relevant information. They will also have to collaborate to produce the final presentation. Additionally the second round of ICT work should enable students to add to the knowledge collected by the team members. The final presentation will enable students to present data to the class.

The lesson is meant to be an ICT based lesson. The class should be divided into groups of 4 students; each group should have at least one more able student who could lead the group work. I would recommend distributing the less able or less motivated students into different groups.

The following list is a guideline to how the lesson may be delivered:

• 5 minutes Teacher based starter i.e. explaining the task.
• 20 minutes students research online using the provided articles and answering the questions.
• 5 minutes for the groups to meet and start filling in their presentation poster.
• 15 minutes for the students to research different organisms using different publications.
• 5 minutes for the groups to meet and add information to the poster.
• 10 minutes for a plenary where the groups present their findings. The teacher can also ask directed questions.

Student learning that is supported

The lesson follows on from a series of preceding practical investigations in the school grounds. During these previous lessons students will have experienced a variety of sampling techniques such as use of quadrants, leaf litter sampling, ‘tree beating’ sampling and so on. This lesson takes the sampling techniques question into a ‘real life’ scenario that they may not have encountered.

This lesson offers the opportunity to expand the following learning scenarios:

• Analysis of the scientific articles thereby supporting exploration and data analysis.
• Collaborative learning by working in a group to prepare and produce the poster together.
• The second meeting around the poster supports consolidation.
• The presentation of the poster supports presentations skills.

Tips for the teacher

The following hints may be useful to keep in mind. It is important to:

• Form good grouping of your students.
• Provide plenty of room for the groups to meet as well as fill in the poster.
• Give time for the plenary e.g. students presentation followed by potential questioning. Pitfalls or issues to consider

• As the students are working independently most of the time it is necessary to provide good supervision to ensure that they are and remain on task.
• The scientific articles are quite challenging. Able students may need some encouragement and help to skim the information.
• Less able students are provided with a differentiated worksheet that helps them answer the questions.

Duration
Starter - divide class in groups of 4 students – allocate roles and explain task. (5 minutes).
Students start to research their task using a guiding document. They collect information on their worksheet. (20 minutes)
Group return to their original place to exchange information found during the research and start filling up the information poster. (5 minutes)
Students return to the computers to research a different organism and add information to the first round of research. (15 minutes)
The groups reconvene – finalising their presentation on the poster. (5 minutes)
Plenary - One person describes to the rest of the class one of the sampling techniques researched.(10 minutes)

Teacher's Notes:
This is a ICT investigation linked to group work and presentation of posters.

Follow up/extension – The lesson is the last in a sequence of lessons of sampling techniques.

Recommendations/class set up This lesson is following students practical experience with sampling methods. The lesson should increase the students understanding of sampling methods and expose them to real scientific use of these methods.

Differentiation – Each task has differentiated material to support less able students.

Resources

Each organism has 4 documents where N represents: B (Butterfly), O (Oak), W (Whale) or Z (Zebra)
N1 – the leading questions
N2 – the differentiated material that may help the less able to answer the questions
N3 – a word document copy of the web based article if no ICT is available or if the article is not available online
N4 – a truncated word document of the original article to be used as differentiated material. The text contains the parts relevant to answer the leading questions from the original article

Black oak task
O1 questions Black Oak sampling
O2 differentiated material Oak tree
O3 Oak tree sampling article
O4 Oak tree sampling differentiated article

Butterflies task
B1 questions butterflies sampling
B2 differentiated material butterflies
B3 butterflies sampling article

Zebra task
Z1 questions Plain Zebra sampling
Z2 differentiated material Plain zebra
Z3 Plain Zebra sampling article
Z4 Plain Zebra sampling differentiated article

Whale task
W1 sperm whale sampling
W2 differentiated material Sperm whale
W3 sperm whale sampling
W4 sperm whale sampling differentiated article
Information poster A3 page – PowerPoint page to print and enlarge to A3 size. One per group. Tags - PowerPoint pages to produce ‘expert’ tags for the different organisms (optional resource)