Lesson Plan
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Jason: Island Fox: A Population in Trouble

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Examine the relationship between the island fox and golden eagle populations on Santa Cruz Island over a twelve-year period using the TI-73 Explorer to graph and analyze the values.
Unit Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: Study Jams! Science: Ecosystems: Population Growth

For Students 3rd - 8th
Population in areas is most often determined by environmental factors. This video and the test will help ensure understanding of the trends of population growth with scientific evidence.
Unit Plan
Concord Consortium

Concord Consortium: Dam Removing: Changes in the Environment Affect Population

For Students 9th - 10th
What happens to a population when the environment changes? Students remove a dam that divides an ecosystem to illustrate the effects of environmental changes. Students observe and collect data as the grass and then the rabbit populations...
Interactive
Concord Consortium

Concord Consortium: Stem Resources: Experiment With Ecosystems

For Students 4th - 7th
Learn what happens to different populations of organisms as their ecosystem changes. Design your own experiment and make your own guesses with what the result will be with this virtual ecosystem. Also experiment with producer/consumer...
Unit Plan
Open Ed

Open Ed Sci: 7.5 Ecosystem Dynamics

For Teachers 7th - 9th
This unit on ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity begins with students reading headlines that claim that the future of orangutans is in peril and that the purchasing of chocolate may be the cause. Students launch a scientific...
Lesson Plan
Other

My Science Box: Ecosystem Organization

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
In this lesson plan, students will learn about the different levels in the hierarchy of ecology and explain the relationships: organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, and biosphere. They will also discover why different...
Article
Population Connection

Population Connection: Population and Environment[pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
A paper from the Population Connection that outlines the consequences to the environment if humans continue on the path of overpopulation.
Whiteboard
SMART Technologies

Smart: Energy Flow in an Ecosystem

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students learn about Abiotic and Biotic Factors and how they affect the ecosystem in which an animal might live in.
Lesson Plan
National Geographic

National Geographic: Symbiotic Relationships in Marine Ecosystems

For Teachers 9th - 10th
For this lesson young scholars analyze videos to make observations about species, populations, and communities of organisms and discuss their symbiotic relationships. Then they create a hypothetical marine ecosystem and describe the...
Unit Plan
Concord Consortium

Concord Consortium: Dam Building: How Changes in Environment Affect Population

For Students 9th - 10th
In this simulation, students build a dam in the middle of a field, dividing an ecosystem in half to illustrate the effects of environmental changes. They watch and collect data as the grass and then the rabbit populations in that region...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: How Disruptions Affect Animal Populations

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students explore the effects that ecosystem disruptions can have on animal populations. They learn about the disruptions that have driven three species-the Madagascar fish eagle, the Iberian lynx, and the rowi kiwi, to the brink of...
Activity
National Geographic

National Geographic: Oil and Bird Populations

For Teachers 5th - 8th
After learning about the diversity of wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico, students focus on birds and their patterns of behavior. They then how an oil spill might affect migrating birds, and possible ways to help them in the event of an oil...
Interactive
Concord Consortium

Concord Consortium: Stem Resources: The Virtual Ecosystem

For Students 3rd - 8th
What does competition for food do to a population? Experience what happens to a rabbit population with limited resources in this virtual ecosystem. At the end of the exercise, there are questions relating to concepts reviewed.
Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: Limiting Factors in the Desert Ecosystem

For Students 3rd - 7th
Describes conditions in a desert that limit how large populations of species can grow.
eBook
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Life Science: 12.3 Population

For Students 5th - 9th
Discover what a population is in regards to an ecosystem.
Article
Oswego City School District

Regents Prep: Ecosystems/communities

For Students 9th - 10th
Abiotic factors vary in the environment and determining the types and numbers of organisms that exist in that environment. Factors which determine the types and numbers of organisms of a species in an ecosystem are called limiting...
Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: The 6 Chief Levels of Organization in Ecology

For Students 5th - 8th
Describes six levels of organization in the biological world - individual species, population, community, ecosystem, biome, and biosphere.
Interactive
PBS

Nova: Earth in Peril

For Students 9th - 10th
A series of nine maps with accompanying explanations. They show how population growth has affected the environment around the world in terms of water availability, climate change, land and forest use, and more. There are both interactive...
Unit Plan
CPALMS

Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: Limits to Population Growth

For Students 6th - 8th
Explore biotic and abiotic factors that can influence the growth of populations of organisms in this interactive tutorial.
Unit Plan
Concord Consortium

Concord Consortium: Evolution: Natural Selection

For Students 3rd - 8th
The concept of interdependence in an ecosystem and its effect on the evolution of populations is further explored through a model of a dam. Students build a dam in the middle of the field, dividing the ecosystem in half to illustrate the...
Article
Other

Western North Carolina Vitality Index: Ecosystem Threats

For Students 9th - 10th
The forests of Western North Carolina are threatened by a wide variety of environmental stressors and disturbances, such as insects, disease, invasive species, drought, fire, hurricanes, tornadoes, and ice storms. A stressor is any kind...
Interactive
University of California

University of California Berkeley: Ecosystem Equilibrium

For Students 9th - 10th
A simulator reviewing over the concepts of ecosystem equilibrium.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Environmental Interactions: Connectedness of a Natural System

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A field experience where students undergo an exploration in a natural environment. They are introduced to the concepts of species, population, community, ecosystem, niche, and biosphere.
eBook
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Life Science: 12.7 Competition

For Students 5th - 9th
Understand how competition affects the populations in an ecosystem.