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The Rainforest Community
Young scholars create a miniature rainforest ecosystem, a terrarium. Students then explain how the continuous flow of energy and food in the ecosystem allows it to sustain itself.
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How Does Your Ecosystem Grow?
Young scholars consider that under certain conditions in nature tend to remain the same or move toward a balance. They observe populations and determine the functions (e.g., de-composers, producers, consumers) they serve in an ecosystem....
Science Matters
Formative Assessment #3
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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Food Webs
Sixth graders discuss and describe consumers and producers. They discuss and describe predator-prey relationship. Students review food chains. They form a circle, and each student is given an ecosystem card. Student at the top is given...
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What A Tangled Web We Weave
Learners of many ages discuss how all organisms rely on other organisms for their survival. They construct a food web and energy pyramids, and write an informative essay about the food web that they have designed.
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Ecosystem Interactions in Refuges
Seventh graders, using national parks as models, illustrate the energy flow in ecosystems. Working in groups, they use murals, flow charts, or other visual displays to record their findings. Students represent the food chains and webs...
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Populations and Ecosystems
Seventh graders create a model of an ecosystem and label it to show structure and function. They research the food web of an aquatic animal and also trace energy flow from the primary producer up the food chain.
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Exploring Ecosystems
Fourth graders investigate ecosystems. In this ecosystem lesson, 4th graders explore producers, consumers, and decomposers and study the interdependence of each.
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Horticulture Crops in the agro-ecosystem
Ninth graders apply ecological analysis to fruit and vegetable production systems. In this horticulture instructional activity students learn about different management practices.
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Nutrition and Energy Flow
In this energy flow worksheet, students will complete 10 short answer questions based on a food web diagram. Then students will review different cycles in nature including the water cycle, carbon cycle, and energy cycle. This worksheet...
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How do plant & animal cells make and use energy?
Learners show the relationship between the need for plants to undergo photosynthesis in order to generate oxygen. They see the flaws associated with this thinking because of the lack of CO2 and H2O and lack of sufficient gravity in order...
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Links in a Food Chain
Little ones make costumes and act out a rhyme in which there are daisies, bugs, wrens, snakes, and foxes that all interact in a food web. This would be a memorable activity for primary life scientists to participate in as a wrap-up...
Science Matters
That’s An Otter Story
Young scientists discover how sea otters' habitats have changed due to human impact. Through conversation, video observation, and story reading, scholars identify how human interactions change a specific ecosystem in both positive and...
Polar Trec
Arctic Smorgasbord!
Two blooms of phytoplankton, instead of just one, now occur in the Arctic due to declining sea ice, which will have widespread effects on the marine life and climate. In small groups, participants build an Arctic food web with given...
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Trophic Relationships, Cycling of Chemicals, Human Impact on Ecosystems and Conservation
Students explore how the energy flow through a system is related to trophic levels. They investigate how organisms affect the cycling of elements and water through the biosphere. Students participate in lab activities to observe ways...
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Studying a Piece of an Ecosystem
Students carry out an outdoor land study in which they identify organisms living in the soil, and any other animals living within the site. Groups also examine abiotic factors. They respond to a series of questions concerning their data...
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Trophic Pyramids and Levels
The bulk of this lesson involves the construction of both an aquatic and a terrestrial ecosystem in which to observe trophic relationships. Detailed directions are provided, as well as discussion questions, and assessment activities....
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Marine Ecosystems
Students identify producers and consumers and construct a food chain from four marine ecosystems. They describe the delicate balance among organisms in each environment. In groups, students discuss the human activities that upset the...
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The Biogeochemical Cycles
The majority of this presentation is a collection of diagrams and graphs that back your lecture on biogeochemical cycles. The last few slides define ecosystems and the Gaia hypothesis. You may find these slides valuable, but will...
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Cell Respiration Worksheet
Beginning biologists demonstrate their grasp on cellular respiration, photosynthesis, and energy flow though ecosystems when completing this worksheet. Fifteen multiple choice and short answer questions test their knowledge. Because of...
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Understanding Interactions Among Local Species and the Local Environment
Young scholars examine the differences between biotic and abiotic factors, explain the difference between habitat and niche and compare how organisms get their nutritional needs. In this local environment instructional activity...
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Oh Panther
Students play a game that replicates the balance of prey and predators in an ecosystem. In this physical education lesson, students follow the instructions to play "Oh Panther!" Students collect data regarding the game and discuss the...
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Ecology and the St. Lawrence River
Ninth graders complete a unit of lessons on ecosystems, organism interactions, and energy flow. They create a key for known species of fish, diagram the movement of energy through an ecosystem, and create and present food chains and food...
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The Rock Cycle: The Story of a Rock
Students describe the changes undergone by rocks during the rock cycle and develop an understanding of the interconnectedness of the rock cycle.