Curated OER
Web of Predators and Prey
Students investigate the food chain by researching the Internet. In this ecosystem activity, students view the video "Competitor and Predator" and read a book from the series "The Magic School Bus." Students utilize a worksheet to...
Curated OER
Use Concept Maps to Teach the Transfer of Energy
Practical tips, lessons, and ideas for teaching the transfer of energy.
New York City Department of Education
Grade 5 Literacy in Science: Ecosytems
How do humans affect ecosystems? Learners read two articles and interpret a graph to develop essays on the human impact on ecosystems. They read about human impact on tigers and manatees as a basis for their overarching papers.
Curated OER
Food Webs
Fourth graders discover how organisms depend upon each other in an ecosystem. In this ecosystems lesson plan, 4th graders use food webs to discuss the interdependence between organisms in an ecosystem.
Curated OER
Standard 4-Ecosystems
In this ecosystem worksheet, high schoolers answer questions about energy pyramids, food chains, consumers, producers, decomposers, biotic and abiotic factors in an environment, natural selection and the importance of biodiversity in an...
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...
Curated OER
Surviving in Our Ecosystems
Third graders investigate the balance of ecosystems and how each species has different survival needs. They research on the internet using the site included. They then participate in activities/centers utilizing the facts they discovered.
Curated OER
Prairie Food Chains & Webs
Students complete a food chain. In this ecosystem lesson, students learn about producers, consumers and decomposers. Students identify herbivores, carnivores and omnivores and complete two worksheets.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Cycles, Systems, and Webs
Fourth graders review the parts of the plant and their functions. In this plant lesson plan, 4th graders recognize that plants must transfer energy to make food. Students understand the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem.
Curated OER
Food Chains
Fourth graders investigate food chains. They review cycles and discuss ecosystems. They select an environment and create a food chain in small groups. They write their food chain and label it for the class to evaluate. They create...
Curated OER
Bugs in the Woods
Second graders identify insects and plants in the forest ecosystem in a structured field trip with stations and activity booklets. In this bugs instructional activity, 2nd graders explore the ecosystem of the forest, complete the...
Curated OER
Forest Floor Terrarium
Students study the aspects of a forest floor ecosystem, including decomposition, the water cycle, food webs, the needs of living things, and physical vs. chemical change over an extended period. In addition, students conduct observations...
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
Observing the Nutritional Relationships in an Ecosystem
Make learning about food webs fun and fascinating for your fifth graders.
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...
Captain Planet Foundation
Energy Flow in the Garden
How can you tell what an owl has eaten? Study the food chain and flow of energy in an ecosystem by dissecting an owl pellet and noting the bones found inside. Additionally, the lesson includes a game about consumers and producers with a...
Curated OER
Food Web Follies
Seventh graders cut and paste animal pictures to create a food web and trace the path of energy. They write a paragraph explaining the importance of photosynthesis in all food webs.
Curated OER
Great Flathead Lake Ecosystem Mystery
Pupils analyze data to solve the mystery of what contributed to an ecological disaster at Great Flathead Lake. They read and graph the available data, create a food web of the problem ecosystem, and construct a formal problem statement...
Curated OER
Field Trip to the Watsonville Wetlands
Students explore the differences between food webs and food chains. In this wetland lesson students play a food web game and go on a scavenger hunt.
Ask a Biologist
It’s a Plankton Eat Plankton World
For as small as they are, plankton sure play an enormous role in maintaining marine ecosystems. Dive into an investigation of these tiny organisms with a hands-on life science activity in which children cut out pictures of sea animals...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Modeling Trophic Cascades
In the ecological game of who eats who, one small change can have a big impact! Individuals create food chains in an array of ecosystems, then determine what happens to organisms in the chain when one organism changes its feeding...
Curated OER
Plants and Animals
Seventh graders discover the interconnectedness of plants and animals in ecosystems. In groups, they create a food web and discuss the problems when one link of the chain is broken. To end the lesson, they set up a balanced environment...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Ecological Mismatches
Modeling is a powerful teaching tool. The final installment in a six-part series has pupils complete an activity to model a food web and discover the interconnected relationships in an ecosystem. They then read about changes in migratory...
Curated OER
Forest Food Web Activity
Students gain knowledge of food webs and ecological interconnections in the forest, and place different life forms in their proper place in a food chain. Students appreciate the balance of nature and how humans are affected by extinct...