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LESSON PLAN DETAILS

Grade Level: 9th Grade Number of Students: 25+

Subject: Life Science/Living Environment Total Class Time: 50 minutes

Lesson Topic: Ecosystems

Keywords: Energy flow, interactions, environment, food chain, and food web; Producers and types of consumers (herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, detritivore)

NYS INTERMEDIATE MST STANDARDS

Standard 1 Scientific Inquiry – Students formulate questions for explanations of everyday observations; construct explanations; design and read charts, tables, graphs and diagrams.

Standard 4: Key Idea 6

Living Environment – Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment. SWBAT describe flow of energy and matter through food chains and food webs; provide evidence that green plants make food; and explain the significance of the process to other organisms.

CONCEPTUAL LENS Interdependence ESSENTIAL QUESTION “What significance does energy flow have on interactions between living organisms in an ecosystem?” MAIN GENERALIZATIONS

1. Living organisms depend on interactions between one another and their physical environment to survive.

2. Interactions between living organisms and the environment drive the flow of energy. 3. Energy flow cycles nutrients and materials that living organisms need to survive. 4. The sun is the main source of energy in an ecosystem.

TEACHING OBJECTIVES – Students will be able to…

1 Break down the components of an ecosystem into categories of producers and consumers

2 Construct a physical model of a food chain and a food web

3 Research and summarize information on choice of habitat and organism found at John Boyd Thacher State Park

4 Create a comic strip featuring a community of organisms that may be found at John Boyd Thacher State Park

MATERIALS

For the teacher For the students (each)

Computer station Science journal

Projector Writing utensil

Internet access Index cards or half sheets of white paper

Slideshow file Markers or crayons

Dry erase markers and eraser Scissors

Ball of yarn Tape

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PREPARATION

INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS

Lesson Plan Summary

Bloom Taxonomy Level

Remembering Comprehension Application Analysis X

Synthesis X

Evaluation

This lesson plan is the first arrangement in the ecosystems unit. It serves as an introduction to food chains and food webs. Students have previously learned about producers and the different types of consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detritivores). They are asked to use deductive reasoning by breaking down their dinner into its individual ingredients. Students’ reasoning skills are also employed to categorize the ingredients into plant or animal, and to further classify animal ingredients into different types of consumers. With this background knowledge and the creation of food chain and food web models, students should be able to produce generalizations about energy flow in ecosystems. With the generalizations, students can move forward and learn more in-depth about interdependence in ecosystems. The last half of the lesson introduces the activities for the next 2-3 days. Students will work in collaborative groups to design and create an ecosystem comic strip. Students will select a community of organisms that may be found at a local state park. Each member will pick and choose an organism, research information, compile organism profiles and create a comic strip that demonstrate the relationships of their organisms and the role of energy flow in their particular community.

05 Mins Introduction – Engagement, Building Connections to Students

Activities Resources

Brain Buzzer- “What did you have for dinner last night?” Students will write their responses in their science journals, share their responses with a seat partner, and discuss answers with whole class. Teacher will collect student answers and generate a list on the board. Learning objectives and the essential question are introduced.

Attendance records Slideshow file

20 Mins Lesson Activities – Exploration, Direct Experiences with Concepts

Activities Resources

Brainstorm/Graphic Organizer – Students are asked to choose one of the meals on the list for analysis. A student volunteer is picked to create a bubble-map diagram on the whiteboard or interactive white board, using information determined by fellow classmates. Together students break down a meal into its individual ingredients. They will use the diagram to answer the

Online bubble map generator Index cards, paper, yarn, and tape

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following questions:

Which of these foods come from plants?

Which of these foods do not come from plants?

Which of the animals eat plants? Other animals? Both?

Are there any decomposers? A second student volunteer is picked to label the bubble-map diagram. With the help of fellow classmates, together they will assign the following vocabulary words to the individual ingredients: producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore, and detritivore. Looking at the diagram at this point, is there anything that students think or feel that is missing? Students should be able to add the plants’ food source, which is the sun. Revise the diagram to fit the new information. Students should look at the diagram again. What can students say about ecosystems based on this diagram? What patterns do they see? Answers should include the following: there are different organisms in an ecosystem, the organisms interact with one another, there is a general flow of energy from producers to consumers, and the energy flow starts with the sun. Individual Practice* - Students create their own food chains by taking their own dinner meal and breaking it down into its individual ingredients onto index cards. They should list one ingredient per index card and label them as producer or as a type of consumer. Students will select one of their ingredients and draw a picture of it on a half sheet of paper. The half sheet must also be properly labeled. Group Practice** – In small groups, students will work together to form a food web using their individual food chains. Each student will display one of his or her organisms to each other. Teacher will give a ball of yarn to one student. That student must toss the yarn to another organism that 1) it feeds on; or 2) is eaten by another organism. Another variation is to start with all producers and then include different consumers into the web. Students will continue adding additional different organisms to their food web by adding the sun, producers, consumers and decomposers. They should create a giant food web and realize that all members of the web are interconnected. They will also discover that some organisms share the same role in the food web—eating the same foods or being eaten by the same predators.

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*Students can draw their individual ingredients/organisms of writing names down onto index cards. **This activity can also be performed as a whole class standing up in a circle, or by their desks depending on available room space and remaining class time.

20 Mins Discussion – Explain, Building Connections to Ideas

Activities Resources

Group Discussion- At the end of the group activity, display diagrams of a food chain and food web. How is a food chain similar to and different from a food web? Students should be able to reflect on the previous activities and answer the following questions:

Why is a food web a better representation of who eats who in an ecosystem than a food chain?

What would happen to the rest of the food web if an organism became extinct? If the habitat was damaged?

What are the pros and cons of organisms being interconnected or interdependent on one another?

How does this translate to survival of a living organism?

Slideshow file

00 Mins Expansion – Elaboration, Building Real World Connections

Activities Resources

Food Pyramid- Display a picture of a food pyramid. Ask students what they see. Answers should include the following: there are more producers at the bottom; the numbers of organisms decreases as you go further up the pyramid; there is less energy as you go up the pyramid because the organisms at the previous level use some of it for their own growth and survival. Ask the essential question again: What significance does energy flow have on interactions between living organisms in an ecosystem? Refer to main generalizations for answers. Show YouTube music video clip, “It’s The Food Webby Web”, as summary of today’s topics. Student Research- Introduce the next assignment. Students will work in collaborative groups to design and create a comic strip, using organisms found in a park ecosystem as characters. Each member will pick an organism to research. Each organism in the group should be part of the group’s food web. Students will use remaining class time to look through the park wildlife checklist,

YouTube Video Clip Slideshow file Project handout and rubrics Animals of NY Checklist 6-Panel Comic Storyboard Template Online Comic Strip Generator

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See section on Student Involvement.

CONTINGENCY/ EXTENSION PLAN

Students can create food chain mobiles using their index cards, yarn and tape. Groups can connect their individual food chain mobiles with one another to create a large class food web mobile.

Students can create a grocery list mosaic using old grocery coupon magazines for their dinner break-down activity.

Students can create a 3D energy pyramid using milk cartons or foldable cubes from the cafeteria.

Students can watch the following clip: Brain Pop Quick Flick

ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION OF LEARNING

Achievement

Targets

Selected

Response Essay

Performance

Assessment

Personal

Communication Format

Knowledge and

Understanding X X X

Brainstorm activities, selected

response quiz, closure

summaries

Reasoning

Proficiency X X

Bubble-map diagrams,

classification of ingredients,

food chains and food web

models, class discussions,

construct of food web on

product

Performance Skills X X

Teacher observations on class

performances with food

chains/food web,

collaboration, communication

skills, research and technology

use for comic strip product

Ability to Create

Products X X

Food chain/food web models,

function and aesthetics of

comic strip poster

Dispositions X X Student self-assessments,

rating scales on handout

choose their communities and individual organism to research. Distribute project handouts and rubrics. Depending on amount of remaining class time, students can start brainstorming research questions and storyboard ideas. Students can also decide how to obtain additional materials.*

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ACCOMODATIONS/ MODIFICATIONS Speak loudly and clearly. Repeat instructions twice. Call on various students to read text. Provide visual graphics. Move around and check on students.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT Students must do this assignment: 3 points.

1. Log onto the class website and complete the online vocabulary quiz. 2. Students who scored 6/10 items incorrectly must retake the quiz!

Students can choose one out of three assignments: 10 points.

1. Consider the food web that you, as a human, are part of. Draw an illustration of this food web on an 8x11” sheet, color and label the different categories of producers and types of consumers.

2. Create a T-chart listing 5 different ways each that food chains are similar, and then different to food webs.

3. Compose a haiku poem or 1-minute song about food chains and food webs.

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT

Encourage students to obtain additional research materials by contacting local park rangers and/or members of the community. They can ask for brochures, animal field guides, and set up online Skype interviews and conferences with biologists and naturalists.

Encourage students to set up bake sales as fundraisers, arrange a field trip to the local park, set up guided tours with a park ranger, and take pictures and/or video of their trip to add to their product.

Students are given choice on type of organism and habitat and design flexibility of comic strip product.

Students are given voice through group roles, self-assessments and rating scales.

CREDITS & RESOURCES Salter, Irene. (2005, August 26). My Science box: hands-on science curriculum for the adventurous teacher. Retrieved from http://www.mysciencebox.org/foodwebs Anderson, B, Dixon, E, & Hayden, B. (n.d.). Create a food chain (k-2). Retrieved from http://www.sd5.k12.mt.us/glaciereft/foodchk2.htm Nye, Bill. (Producer). (2008). It's the food web [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbWyrcY5i3s. BrainPOP. (Producer). (n.d.). National geographic for kids: food chain movie [Web]. Retrieved from http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0309/quickflicks/ Edelman, K, & Amelyan, L. (2009). Bubbl.us: brainstorming made simple. Retrieved from http://bubbl.us/

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Zimmerman, B. (2006). Make Beliefs comix. Retrieved from http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/ Enchanted Learning. (n.d.). Foldable cube. Retrieved from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/geometry/solids/Cubetemplate.shtml NYS Department of Wildlife Conservation. Checklist of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals of New York State. Retrieved from http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/vertchecklist0907.pdf. Animals, Plants, Aquatic Life: Information about species. (2009). Retrieved October 31, 2009 from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation: http://www.dec.ny.gov/23.html. Color Brochures and Posters of NY Natural Resources. (2009). Retrieved October 31, 2009 from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation: http://www.dec.ny.gov/pubs/4791.html.