Procedure
1. Students will be dropped off in each of three specific habitats near the school. Students will be at least 100 yards from one another to assure total privacy and eliminate any communication.
2. Students will choose a spot in which to sit. They will occupy that spot for 15 minutes in each of the habitats. They will record in their notebooks as many of the living things in that habitat as they can in that time period.
3. Students will then return to the room and be allowed the rest of the period to begin constructing a creative story relating the living organisms with each other. The same procedure should be used for each of the three habitats.
4. Remind the students to emphasize the interaction and importance of each organism to each other and how their interactions are important to the success of the ecosystem.
5. Criteria for evaluation will then be agreed to by each student and a rubric devised to use for that evaluation.
6. Students will then read their stories to the class for evaluation.