Curated OER
Ecosystem Tumble
Students create visual representations of ecosystems. In this ecology lesson, students discuss the interdependence of plants and animals in various ecosystems. Students cut pictures from magazines and glue them on sturdy blocks. Using...
Curated OER
Examining the Effects of Pollution on Ecosystems
Students examine the different types of tests used to measure the environmental effects of hazardous waste. They work together to determine the impact of pollution on different ecosystems. They read a case study and answer questions to...
Curated OER
Using Venn Diagrams to Compare Two Ecosystems
Students explore the distribution of two ecosystems on a global scale; and map the distribution of tropical and temperate rain forests throughout the world. They use a Venn Diagram to describe these ecosystems and the differences between...
Curated OER
Amazing Grazing: Keeping Our Ecosystem Running
Students discover the value of sustainability within our ecosystem. In this ecological instructional activity, students discuss the importance of a food cycle in our society, and how humans can improve the conservation of a healthy...
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...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Animal Classes and Their Ecosystems
Students explore animal characteristics by participating in an environment identification activity. In this animal habitat instructional activity, students discuss a range of different wild life and the ecosystems that they are a part...
Curated OER
Using the Carbon Cycle Interactive Game in the Classroom
An online reading and interactive game bring the path of a carbon molecule to life for your earth science explorers! As an assessment, learners can map out or write about their experience in the carbon cycle. Thoroughly written...
Curated OER
Species Interactions
Students research desert species to find where it lives, what it eats, and what species it interacts with directly. Upon completion of research, students construct a web of all the species as a class. This emphasizes the role each...
Wild BC
Connecting Ecosystems & Climate
Collaborators sort a set of cards into biotic and abiotic categories. Then, as a class, they discuss their work and relate each of the abiotic components to climate change. Finally, they form a web of components by connecting those that...
Curated OER
Food Chain Activities
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...
Project WET Foundation
Investigate Fresh Water
It's all about freshwater in this water interactive! Users navigate through freshwater habitats such as lakes, rivers, and wetlands, taking note of the animals that live there. They also look at a desert habitat for comparison....
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Gorongosa: Making Observations Activity
Do you have young scientists wanting to make new discoveries rather than just completing the same experiments? Young scientists use their observational skills to identify animals and patterns in animal behavior. Through tracking...
University of Kentucky
Beneficial Bug Scavenger Hunt
Many people think of bugs as annoying pests to be squashed, but most insects and spiders are beneficial, eating the actual pests or pollinating plants. After reviewing some of the common bugs in your area (they may differ from those...
Curated OER
Endangered Species in the Sonoran Desert
Learners identify and explain some caused of endangerment and extinction for species as well as explain the effects of extinction on an ecosystem. Teachers use this lesson plan before teaching students about collecting insects or plants.
Curated OER
If the Forests Could TAlk
Third graders research insects using the internet sites provided. They research the role of insects as pollinators for plants, and the impact they have on our ecosystem. They participate in various activities/centers utilizing the facts...
PBS
All Tangled Up
It is a tangled web the ecosystem weaves. Learners begin an activity on ecosystem interactions by building a food chain and then a food web with yarn as a group. To finish, they research local environmental changes that may impact the...
Curated OER
Interactive Biogeochemical Cycle
Young scholars gain understanding of several of the biogeochemical processes in microbial mats. They acquire knowledge of the different roles of organisms in a microbial mat ecosystem. They understand how microbial mat ecosystems...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Entering the Twilight Zone
Imagine an ecosystem without any light or oxygen, where living things convert carbon dioxide into food. This ecosystem is thriving and might just be the largest ecosystem on our planet, yet we know very little about it. The lesson...
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...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Life is Weird!
A pool of brine in the deep sea can be up to four times as salty as the surrounding sea water. The deep sea ecosystem relies on chemosynthesis and the organisms that live there are often strange to us. The lesson focuses on researching...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Cool Corals
Young oceanographers research deep sea corals that thrive on chemosynthesis. The lesson plan focuses on the biology of the animal, preferred habitat, associations, and interactions.
Montana Natural History Center
Studying Grassland Ecosystems
At first glance, grassland ecosystems might seem dull and uninteresting, but once you start to explore it's amazing the things you'll find! Through this series of engaging lessons, activities, and experiments, elementary students examine...
University of Waikato
Build a Marine Food Web
Dive into a lesson on marine ecosystem interactions. Individuals learn about and devise a marine food web. The resource provides organism cards and pupils use article resources to discover interactions before modeling them in a food web.
Curated OER
Ecosystems II
Students engage in a lesson that is about the concepts related to the careful balance of an ecosystem. They identify the beneficial and harmful relationships that can exist with diverse populations in an ecosystem. The lesson includes...