NOAA
Build Your Own Ocean Ecosystem
Hold the sea in the palm of your hand! Amateur oceanographers work together to create models of an ocean ecosystem in the sixth and final installment in a series. Raise awareness of global ocean health issues through guided research,...
Curated OER
Endangered Ecosystems
Reading comprehension and note-taking skills are practiced as young ecologists embark on this journey. Explorers visit a website where they will read about three ecosystems that are in danger. They use interactive programs to build a...
Baylor College
Bio Build-up
Trace pollutants through the environment in the seventh lesson of this series on the science of food. Looking at a picture of the plants and animals in an aquatic ecosystem, learners use dot stickers to represent harmful chemicals as...
Baylor College
Food Webs
Explore various ecosystems from around the world as your class discovers the interdependence of all living things. Using the provided sets of ecosystem cards, young scientists work in small groups building food webs to demonstrate the...
Curated OER
Exploring Ecosystems
Young scholars examine the relationships between plants, animals, and the environment in ecosystems. They sort animal cards, collect natural materials from the schoolyard, and record an ecosystem web in the form of a poster.
Curated OER
The Marvels of Mud
Young scientists roll up their sleeves and get a little dirty in this three-day earth science investigation. Following the scientific method, children monitor the growth of algae in pond water samples in order to determine the role that...
Curated OER
Building an Ecosystem
Students research a variety of local and world ecosystems. Students will create a collage to represent the biotic and abiotic factors and interactions important to their given ecosystem.Students will understand that an ecosystem is...
Aquarium of the Pacific
Ecosystem Comparison
Fifth graders examine plants and animals in two ecosystems and compare them. In this ecosystem survival lesson, 5th graders compare and contrast a coral reef and kelp forest ecosystem. Students investigate the abiotic and biotic factors...
Curated OER
Parts of an Ecosystem
Fourth graders study the Great Salt lake and the ecosystem that encompasses it. They study the relationship between an individual of a species, a population of that species, a community that includes that population, and the...
Curated OER
Climate Change Effects on Organisms and Ecosystems: You are the Experts!
Seventh graders research about the effect of climate on different ecosystems. In this life science lesson, 7th graders present their research by creating a poster, infomercial, skit or song. They discuss how organisms adapt to climate...
Curated OER
Unique Ecosystems
Fourth graders explain how in any particular environment, some kinds of
plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. They research the ecosystem of which each animal or plant is natively a part.
Curated OER
GPS Ecosystem (Ecotone) Scavenger Hunt
High schoolers describe the characteristics of an ecotone. In this ecotone lesson, students pick out their area and describe the visual appearance, conditions, ecosystem, biodiversity, predators, prey, and trees in their ecotone. They...
Curated OER
Food Chain/Food Web
Students explore ecosystems. In this ecology lesson plan, students read an article explaining ecosystems. Students create a visual organizer with index cards using components of various ecosystems.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Nature Walk and Ecosystem Introduction
A food web has no organism higher than a tertiary consumer because there wouldn't be enough energy left to sustain them. The fourth installment in a seven-part series begins with a nature walk to get pupils thinking about their...
Curated OER
Design a Reef!
Using a miniature coral reef aquarium kit, young ecologists model this unique ecosystem. They research various coral reef organisms and their niches, and they culminate the project by working together to write a report. Use this activity...
Eastern Michigan University
Energy Flow in a Wetland Ecosystem
How is energy transferred within an ecosystem? What would happen to a food web if one of the organisms was removed? Elementary or middle school ecologists examine these questions and more in a comprehensive 5E learning cycle lesson....
Curated OER
Diving the Deep
Children research plant and animal components of marine ecosystem, visualize undersea life, and picture themselves wearing scuba-diving equipment needed to explore underwater. Students then create underwater scene in which they explore...
Curated OER
Art: Coral Reef Ala Oil
Students investigate Australia's Great Barrier Reef and create oil paintings of it. After their research, they apply various painting techniques to depict air bubbles, sun's radiation, and color blending. For older students, the...
Curated OER
Forest Ecosystem
Students become familiar with the temperate rainforest. In this forest ecosystem lesson, students identify the producers, consumers and decomposers in the forest ecosystem. Students sort cards and identify the trophic level of the...
Curated OER
Ecosystems
Seventh graders create a closed ecosystem and place it where is it visible to others in the school. They label it with posters describing the interdependence of living things in the ecosystem. They discuss what might happen to the...
Curated OER
Ecosystems and Habitats
Fourth graders go on a virtual field trip to five ecosystems. They investigate and videotape a temperate forest in the school's backyard.
Curated OER
Visualizing Vocabulary in an Ecosystem
Sixth graders observe the pond ecosystem. For this ecosystem lesson, 6th graders observe the organisms at the pond and create a poster that illustrates the pond.
Curated OER
The Delicate Balance within a Forest Ecosystem
Young scholars examine the causes and effects of alterations in a forest ecosystem and evaluate how human actions may only seem to have minor consequences, but can lead to extinctions of large numbers of populations. Students produce an...
Curated OER
Cause And Effects Of Pollutants In Ecosystems
Eighth graders define what an ecosystem is, what its make up is and how pollution effects it. In this air pollution lesson students identify the cause and effects of pollution on an ecosystem and trace a food chain.