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Scientific Explanation: top of page
What is a food chain? A food chain is made up of living organisms classified as either a producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, scavengers and decomposers. Energy is passed from one organism to the next during consumption. [ Notes ]
How does a plant or animal adapt to seasonal changes within their environment? They have certain characteristics and behaviors that enable them to survive in their environment. [Example : Bears hibernate (behavioral change) to reserve food and energy during the winter months because food is scarce during that time.] [Example : Cacti that live in the desert, have needles (characteristic) instead of leaves to minimize evaporation of water from their leaves.] [ Notes ]
Classification of Animals: Discuss Mammals, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, Amphibians, Crustaceans, Insects, and Arachnids. Note if they are invertebrates or vertebrates, lay eggs or have live births, have hair or feathers, or scales, etc. [ Notes ]
What does competition mean among plants? How about Animals? Competition is the struggle among organisms for food, water, space, etc. Plants struggle for space, as well as animals do. For example: the weed in your yard compete with the grass for space. If you weed your yard, plant more grass seed, water it...what do you think begins to grow? The grass. In animal competitions of lions, the dominant or strongest male of the pride gets to be "king," and lead the pack.
Draw pictures or write the words sun, green grass (producer), a grazing animal -herbivore (rabbit, sheep, or cow), then a meat eater -carnivore (fox, bear, wolf) on the board or use an overhead. Prompt your students to recognize any connection between these organisms. What do all of these organisms have in common? Ponder further the thought of what happens when there is an unbalance of nature in the food chain. What happens when one organism is over-populated? What would happen if there wasn't any more producers for a food chain? Use the Food Chain Wheel to prompt scenarios.
Draw or show a picture of a person layered up for the winter with long pants, a coat, hat, boots, mittens, scarf, etc. and a person who is dressed for warmer weather with a t-shirt, shorts, sandals, etc. Discuss how we adapt to our environment by adding or subtracting the amount of layers we wear as the seasons change. Adaptation is when an organism changes its structure or behavior to help it to survive in its environment.
Arrange the students in groups of 4. Pass out folders for each of the students to keep work in. Assign each group a land ecosystems: Desert, Rainforest, Grasslands, Tundra, Deciduous Forest and Coniferous Forests. Have them decide who will become the navigator, botanist, zoologist, and meteorologist for their group.
Hand out worksheets or have them connect to the Web site to download a copy of the worksheet, specific to the scientist they have chosen. Have them keep a basic journal that they can write any new discoveries they find. The students keep a journal, if possible, to make entries about one new tidbit of information they have learned during the lesson. This journal page should remain in their folder with other important handouts.
Have the students contribute to a common bulletin board (photos, images, magazine clips, or drawings) of plant life and animals. The teacher collects one picture of a producer from each of the ecosystems. Another day, ask for a primary consumer from their specific ecosystem. Still another day, ask for secondary consumers, and then finally, ask for pictures of decomposers.
So that students can research links, they need to go to the computer lab at least twice a week for approximately 45 minutes. Additional computer lab time will be needed to construct a PowerPoint presentation or design food chains using Inspiration. Classroom time may consist of group discussions, peer-to-peer learning about their assigned ecosystem, and/or researching plants and animals through books from the library.
Concept Introduction: top of page
Ask the students to go to their journal and write one new piece of knowledge they have learned from the activity.
Have the students get together to discuss the food chain that is part of their ecosystem.
Discuss as a whole class, problems that may arise in ecosystems due to pollution, poaching, deforestation, and human migration.
Concept Application: top of page
By using role playing as a method of teaching this unit on Ecology, students have the choice to become either the navigator, meteorologist, botanist, or zoologist for their team.
Students use collaborative learning, forming a discussion group, and present their project to the class.
Have a student dress in shorts and a T-shirt. Layer over this a sweater, pants, socks, boots, a hat, mittens, and a winter coat. Show how humans adapt to the seasonal changes they face.
How can we help (at the local level) with pollution problems in our own ecosystem? [Example: Recycle, Plant a Tree or start a Garden, etc.]
Students will engage in open classroom discussion or VES Forum to predict what could possibly happen to the food chain if certain organisms no longer existed or became over-populated. They will develop a deep sense of the balance of nature and the world in which they live in. [ Notes ]
Show students how to use Inspiration to chart a food chain to best represent their ecosystem. [Tutorial ] [Example Sheet ]
As a group, the students will construct a PowerPoint presentation on their ecosystem to be presented in class. [ Tutorial ] [ Example Presentation]
Create a Spelling List from the the Vocabulary words used for this lesson.
Use the Crossword Puzzle to reinforce the words and concepts used for this lesson.
Give out the Word Search Puzzle to reinforce new words learned in this lesson.
Help the student organize what ecosystem certain animals live in by using the Matching Worksheet.
Students contribute one photo or image of an organism each week, towards building a food chain specific for their ecosystem on a classroom. See sample of bulletin board.
Students will develop a journal that will show what they know, what they want to learn, and what they have learned. Use the KWL Worksheet.
Printable Worksheets: top of page
© 2004 Bridget Fish
