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Lesson Plan
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)

Arctic Smorgasbord

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Though the walrus spends roughly one third of its time on land, it eats organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean. The first in a series of five, the lesson uses a variety of plant and animal cards to have scholars build an arctic...
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Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Super Teeth

For Students 6th - 12th
A brief comparison of human teeth versus animal teeth sets the stage for two worksheets. Scholars match a picture of a tooth-filled mouth to the animal to which it belongs and coloring pages featuring a different animal and informative...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Adding to Cascading Consequences and Stakeholders: Industrial Food Chain

For Teachers 8th Standards
Young researchers create a class Cascading Consequences chart to see how the industrial food chain affects people, animals, and the environment. They also work in teams to complete a Stakeholders chart for the industrial food chain model...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Preparing for Further Research: Industrial Food Chain

For Teachers 8th Standards
Using an informative resource, pupils discover how to write research questions that are focused, answerable, and relevant. Scholars evaluate resources about the industrial food chain from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and then...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Determining Cascading Consequences Using The Omnivore’s Dilemma: Industrial Organic Food Chain

For Teachers 8th Standards
Organic versus conventional farming: which option is best? Pupils use Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma to determine the cascading consequences of the industrial organic food chain. They work in research teams to create an...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Further Research: Industrial Food Chain

For Teachers 8th Standards
Scholars extend their research of the food chain that Michael Pollan discusses in The Omnivore's Dilemma. They determine additional consequences of the food chain and add them to their Cascading Consequences charts. Additionally, pupils...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Determining Cascading Consequences Using The Omnivore’s Dilemma: Industrial Food Chain

For Teachers 8th Standards
Which of Michael Pollan's four food chains from his book The Omnivore's Dilemma would best feed everyone in the United States? Using a thought-provoking resource, scholars learn how to create a Cascading Consequences chart to answer the...
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Unit Plan
Purdue University

Mammals and Ecosystems

For Teachers K - 5th Standards
Mammals have unique interactions with their ecosystems. Using a multi-part lesson, learners research local mammals using recommended websites and use their findings to create their own paper ecosystems including appropriate mammals. They...
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Unit Plan
Purdue University

Mammal Food Webs

For Students K - 5th Standards
You are what you eat—or at least a part of what you eat. Budding scientists examine owl pellets to develop their own food webs. They use tooth and skull identification techniques to classify what they find.
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PPT
Biology Junction

Ecology

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Psychologists study human relationships while ecologist study relationships between organisms in the environment. An introduction to ecology and the related vocabulary benefits scholars as they progress through the presentation and...
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PPT
Biology Junction

Energy Flow in an Ecosystem

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Every living thing requires a food source, thus the interconnections in ecosystems become complex. Scholars learn about these interconnections in a presentation on energy flow. It starts with the sun and moves through many different...
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Lesson Plan
Penguin Books

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Young Readers Edition

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
As the saying goes, you are what you eat. A useful set of lesson plans encourage young readers to take a second look at their eating habits. Pre- and post-reading questions bring in reflective writing and discussion while extension...
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PPT
Biology Junction

Energy Flow Through an Ecosystem: Food Chains, Food Webs, and Energy Pyramids

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
When a minnow eats a piece of plastic, that garbage often tracks through multiple animals, causing harm to each as it passes through the food chain. Scholars learn about food chains, food webs, and energy pyramids with a presentation. It...
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Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Modeling Food Webs in Darién, Panama

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
It's a jungle out there! Young biologists journey to Darien, Panama to examine the intricate relationships between the organisms that inhabit the jungle. Groups begin by demonstrating an understanding of energy flow in ecosystems, then...
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Assessment
Science Matters

Formative Assessment #3

For Students 3rd - 5th Standards
Thirteen short-answer questions follow a brief food web activity in a formative assessment designed to test knowledge of ecosystems and the energy that flows through them.
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Lesson Plan
Polar Trec

Bering Sea Fabulous Food Chain Game

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
In spring, the Bering Sea turns green due to phytoplankton, which live at the surface, experiencing a population explosion. Groups of scholars play a food chain game, writing down food chains as the game is played. After five to six...
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Worksheet
Shelby County Schools

How Ecosystems Work

For Students 6th - 9th
How does one organism get its energy? What is the main source of energy in an ecosystem? How does the flow of energy affect different types of ecosystems? Answer these questions with a fill-in-the-blank worksheet. 
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Lesson Plan
NOAA

Seafood and Human Health

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Whether your young biologists realize it or not, humans play a significant role in marine ecosystems. To help them understand this fact children first create graphical representations that show homo sapiens' place in marine food chains,...
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Activity
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Curated OER

Food Chain Activities

For Teachers 2nd - 6th Standards
Transform young biologists into grasshoppers, lizards, and hawks as you teach them about food chains in an interactive life science simulation. Working collaboratively to act out three different scenarios involving these creatures,...
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Activity
Exploring Nature Educational Resources

Building A Classroom Food Web

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
From bears and owls to chipmunks and trees, all life depends on the sun for the energy to survive. Young biologists develop an understanding of this big idea as they arrange this series of plant and animal picture cards into food webs...
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Handout
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Kentucky School for the Deaf

Levels of Organization within an Ecosystem

For Students 5th - 10th Standards
From tiny organisms to entire biomes, young scientists examine the interdependent relationships tying all living and non-living things together with this collection of ecology resources.
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Lesson Plan
Cheetah Outreach

Nutrition

For Teachers 4th - 6th
What can teeth tell us about an animal's diet? Learners examine animal skulls to determine what their canines, incisros, premolars, and molars reveal. 
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Lesson Plan
World Wildlife Fund

Arctic Food Chain

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Explore the food chains that support Arctic ecosystems. A class discussion on interdependence and the different roles plants and animals play in ecosystems provides students with the knowledge to complete a worksheet asking them to...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Bite on This!

For Students 3rd - 4th
Different types of teeth have different roles. Third graders study how molars, incisors, and canines function in a rabbit skull and a cat skull. After answering some questions about the teeth of herbivores and carnivores, kids...