Teacher Monitoring Guide
Grade 7 · Cycle 8 · Week 2 — Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services

Learning Goal

Students will explain how biodiversity contributes to ecosystem resilience and productivity, and evaluate evidence connecting species diversity to the stability of ecosystem services that humans depend on.

Station Checkpoints

Station 1 — Hook & Phenomenon
Look for: Students connecting the phenomenon to prior knowledge and generating testable questions
Common misconception: More species always means a healthier ecosystem — complicate with invasive species scenarios where species richness increases but ecosystem function degrades
Station 2 — Investigation / Data Collection
Look for: Accurate data recording and identification of emerging patterns in the evidence
Common misconception: Ecosystem services are just natural beauty — quantify dollar values of pollination, water filtration, carbon storage, and flood protection to make services tangible
Station 3 — Sense-Making
Look for: Students revising their model based on evidence collected during investigation
Common misconception: Extinction of one species has little impact — use extinction cascade models to show how losing a keystone species can trigger secondary extinctions

Exit Ticket Monitoring

Score Range Interpretation Next Step
18–23 pts Meeting target Extend with synthesis question
10–17 pts Developing Small group re-teach at day start
0–9 pts Needs support 1:1 intervention before next station

MTSS Tier 2 Supports

For students scoring below 10 pts on the exit ticket: use the sentence frames below during the next class's hook.