Grade 9 STEM in Action: Designing a Biodiverse Schoolyard

Biological Diversity is a strong choice for integrated STEM learning. In Alberta's Science 7–9 Program of Studies, Grade 9 Unit A addresses diversity among and within species, habitat diversity, niches and interdependence, reproduction and inheritance, genes and DNA, variation and species survival, human impacts, and strategies for minimizing biodiversity loss.

Curriculum alignment and scope

This teacher-created project aligns with selected parts of Unit A:

• Outcome 1: investigating diversity among and within species, niches, dependencies and species survival;
• Outcome 4: examining human impacts and evaluating strategies for minimizing biodiversity loss;
• Inquiry and decision-making skills: planning an investigation, gathering and interpreting data, communicating findings and defending a position using evidence.

The project can draw on earlier Grade 7 learning about biotic and abiotic components and food webs. Its engineering criteria, scale drawings, budgeting and mathematics are purposeful STEM enrichment; they should not be presented as additional Alberta Science outcomes.

This project does not replace the full Biological Diversity unit. Unit A outcomes dealing with reproduction, inheritance, chromosomes, genes, DNA and genetic technologies require separate instruction.

The STEM challenge

Driving question

How can we redesign part of our school grounds to support greater biological diversity while respecting cost, safety, water use and the needs of the school community?

Students investigate the existing biodiversity of a selected area and then design a realistic habitat improvement.

Possible solutions might include:

• a native pollinator garden;
• a small wildlife-friendly garden;
• bird or insect shelters;
• a reduced-mowing zone;
• additional native plant layers;
• a rain garden;
• improved soil or ground cover;
• a plan for controlling an invasive species.

Students are not simply asked to make something attractive. Their proposal must be supported by field evidence and biological principles.

How the STEM disciplines are integrated

Technology is optional rather than essential. The entire project can be completed with string, rulers, graph paper, field guides and chart paper.

Suggested project length

Seven to nine 50-minute classes, with an optional follow-up survey later in the season.

Project learning objectives

These are teacher-created objectives aligned to selected curriculum outcomes, not a reproduction of the provincial outcome list.

By the end of the project, students should be able to:

• describe diversity among species, within species and among habitats;
• describe relationships among organisms and their environment;
• identify ways human activity can increase or reduce biodiversity;
• plan and conduct a consistent biological survey;
• organize, graph and interpret field data;
• distinguish an observation from an inference;
• develop a solution that meets criteria and constraints;
• use evidence to justify and improve a design;
• communicate the benefits, limitations and possible unintended consequences of a proposal.

Teachers should connect these objectives with the specific outcomes and terminology in their current program of studies.

Teacher preparation

Select one or more safe study areas on the school grounds. A grassy area, garden edge, stand of trees or relatively bare space can work.

Prepare:

• metre sticks or measuring tapes;
• string or premade quadrats;
• clipboards;
• field-observation sheets;
• graph paper;
• magnifiers, if available;
• local plant and organism identification resources;
• a map or aerial image of the school grounds;
• shared devices, if available;
• basic craft materials for models.

Establish clear outdoor boundaries and expectations. Students should observe organisms without tasting plants, disturbing nests or handling unknown organisms.

Keep the final deliverable as a proposal or model unless the school and facilities team approve an actual site change. Planting, excavation, invasive-species control and shelter installation require appropriate safety, accessibility, maintenance and local-rule checks.

Criteria and constraints

Give students realistic conditions within which to work.

The design must:

• support several locally appropriate species;
• provide at least three habitat needs, such as food, water, shelter or nesting space;
• use evidence from the schoolyard survey;
• use locally native, non-invasive plants suited to the site and target organisms;
• avoid known invasive species;
• explain how the proposal would improve biodiversity;
• include a method for monitoring its success.

The design must also:

• fit inside a defined area;
• stay within a hypothetical $500 budget;
• avoid blocking emergency routes or regular school activities;
• be safe and accessible;
• use water responsibly;
• require a manageable amount of maintenance.

Teachers can adjust these conditions to suit the school.

Learning sequence

Class 1: Introduce the problem

Show students contrasting images of a highly simplified landscape and a biologically diverse habitat.

Ask:

• What do you notice?
• Where would you expect to find more species?
• What evidence would support that prediction?
• Does a green space automatically have high biodiversity?
• How might school activities affect the organisms living there?

Introduce the design challenge and have students identify the problem, possible users and affected organisms.

Conclude by asking students to make an initial claim:

Our selected schoolyard area has high, medium or low biodiversity because...

Students revisit this claim after collecting evidence.

Class 2: Design the field investigation

Teach or review the difference between:

• species richness when identification reaches species level, and taxon or morphotype richness when it does not;
• plant counts or percent cover, and mobile-animal detections;
• biotic and abiotic factors;
• direct observations and inferences;
• random and biased sampling.

Groups develop a survey procedure. They must decide:

• the size of each sample area;
• how sample locations will be selected;
• how many samples will be taken;
• what organisms or signs of organisms will be recorded;
• which abiotic factors will be measured or described;
• how observations will be organized;
• how they will make their method repeatable.

Before approving each plan, ask: If another group followed these instructions, would it collect comparable data?

Class 3: Conduct the schoolyard survey

Students use randomly placed quadrats for plants, ground cover and other stationary or slow organisms. A defined line or belt transect can be used for standardized observations or to compare change along a gradient. For mobile animals, students record standardized sightings or signs as detections unless their method supports an abundance estimate.

They might record:

• number of plant types;
• observable insects and other animals;
• signs such as nests, webs, tracks or feeding damage;
• vegetation height and coverage;
• exposed soil;
• shade;
• temperature;
• moisture;
• nearby pavement, garbage or human traffic.

Students should photograph rather than collect organisms whenever possible.

Identification does not need to reach the species level in every case. Consistent categories such as “grass type A” or “small flying insect B” can still produce useful comparative data, but students should call the result taxon or morphotype richness rather than species richness.

Class 4: Analyze the evidence

Groups organize their results in a table and create at least two useful visualizations.

Examples include:

• a bar graph showing observations by organism type;
• a pie or stacked chart showing ground coverage;
• a map showing where organisms were observed;
• a comparison of shaded and unshaded samples;
• average plant counts or percent cover across quadrats;
• standardized mobile-animal or animal-sign detections.

Students then answer:

1. Which organisms or habitat features were most common?
2. Which were rare or absent?
3. What patterns appear in the data?
4. What might explain those patterns?
5. What can the data not tell us?
6. What additional evidence would improve the investigation?

Emphasize that a one-day survey provides an initial snapshot, not a complete measure of biodiversity across all seasons. It should not be used to infer genetic diversity, total species richness or true animal abundance. Repeating the same method across seasons would produce a more useful baseline for comparison.

Class 5: Learn what makes a healthy habitat

Provide a short lesson on:

• habitat needs;
• native and introduced species;
• interdependence;
• competition;
• food webs;
• structural diversity in vegetation;
• effects of mowing, paving, pesticides and human disturbance.

Students research a small number of locally appropriate organisms and determine what habitat features would support them.

If including First Nations, Métis or Inuit perspectives, use Nation- and community-specific resources, follow local protocols and, where appropriate and with permission, involve Elders, Knowledge Keepers, cultural advisors or local community members. Avoid presenting one perspective as pan-Indigenous or translating it wholesale into Western-science categories.

Class 6: Develop possible solutions

Each group generates at least three ideas before selecting one.

Students compare the ideas using a decision matrix:

The numbers do not make the decision automatically. Students must explain why each score is reasonable.

Class 7: Create the design

Students produce a scale drawing, physical model or digital site plan.

The design should identify:

• dimensions;
• important existing features;
• proposed changes;
• organisms expected to benefit;
• required materials;
• estimated costs;
• maintenance needs;
• possible risks;
• a monitoring plan.

Every major feature should be linked to evidence or a biological principle.

For example:

We included flowering native plants with different bloom periods because pollinators need food across more than one part of the growing season.

Class 8: Test through peer review

Groups exchange designs and evaluate them against the criteria and constraints.

Reviewers provide:

• one strength;
• one question about the evidence;
• one criterion that may not yet be satisfied;
• one possible unintended consequence;
• one recommended improvement.

Groups then revise at least one meaningful part of their design. They document what changed and why.

Class 9: Present the proposal

Students present their proposal to the class or a simulated school decision-making committee.

Possible audiences include another class, administrators, facilities staff, parents, an environmental club or a community organization.

Each presentation should explain:

1. the existing problem;
2. the evidence collected;
3. the proposed solution;
4. the relevant biological principles;
5. the mathematical analysis;
6. how the design meets the criteria;
7. its costs and trade-offs;
8. how success would be measured.

Final student products

Each group submits:

• its field-survey plan;
• raw observation data;
• at least two graphs or maps;
• the decision matrix;
• a scale plan or model;
• a basic budget;
• the revised conservation proposal;
• a short presentation.

Each student also submits an individual reflection explaining:

• one conclusion supported by the group's data;
• one limitation of the investigation;
• one design decision they influenced;
• one change made after testing or feedback;
• one question they would investigate next.

Teacher-created assessment example

A beautiful model should not earn a high mark if the scientific reasoning is weak. Likewise, an unsuccessful design can demonstrate strong learning when students analyze the failure and propose a well-supported revision.

Lower-preparation version

If time or outdoor access is limited, provide students with:

• a photograph or map of a fictional schoolyard;
• a prepared biodiversity dataset;
• a list of possible native plants and habitat features;
• prices for materials.

Students analyze the supplied evidence and complete the same engineering-design challenge in three classes:

1. Analyze the habitat data.
2. Develop and compare solutions.
3. Present and revise a final design.

What makes this genuinely STEM?

This is more than a science poster project because:

• students investigate a real environment;
• mathematical evidence affects their decisions;
• technology serves a specific research or communication purpose;
• students design within authentic constraints;
• solutions are evaluated rather than simply displayed;
• revision is based on evidence and feedback.

The project shows students that protecting biodiversity is not accomplished through scientific knowledge alone. It requires measurement, design, technology, economic decisions, community participation and an understanding of trade-offs.

Read the full series

• What Is STEM Education? Its History, Meaning, and Future
• Bringing STEM into the Classroom: A Practical Guide for Teachers

Sources and further reading

• Alberta Education: Science 7-9 Program of Studies
• National Academies: Essential Practices for K-12 Science Classrooms
• U.S. National Park Service: Transects and Quadrat Sampling
• Environment and Climate Change Canada: Build a Pollinator Garden
• Government of Alberta: Invasive Plants and Weeds
• Government of Canada: Indigenous Knowledge Policy Framework

Sources checked August 10, 2026 against Alberta's Science 7–9 Program of Studies and the linked primary guidance. Curriculum renewal is underway; verify the current provincial program before classroom use.