Curated OER
Go With the Energy Flow
Young scholars explore energy and nutrient flow. In this science lesson plan, students diagram the flow of energy through food chains and food webs. Young scholars discuss the importance of energy flow in Earth's ecosystems.
WindWise Education
Are Birds Impacted by Small Wind Turbines?
How do we know if the wind turbine at our school is impacting birds? Here, small groups work together and conduct field work in order to determine the impact of a human-made structure on birds. The groups also determine their searcher...
National Wildlife Federation
Quantifying Land Changes Over Time in Areas of Deforestation and Urbanization
Is qualitative or quantitative research more convincing when it comes to climate change? In the eighth instructional activity during this 21-part series, scholars begin by performing a quantitative analysis of deforestation and...
Curated OER
Sustainability and Extinction
Galapagos Penguins are the only penguins on earth that live north of the equator (in the wild). In this last lesson plan a discussion on how the Galapagos islands developed their populations and diversity sparks the introduction. Two...
NASA
Biology Training Module
Are you a koalafied biologist? The lesson begins with research about human survival and our ecosystem. Then, an online training module simulates the effects of changes to the plants and animals in an ecosystem. Finally, scholars research...
Curated OER
Products, the Environment and Consumer Choices
Students review the factors of production and how they are used to make the products they buy. In groups, they participate in different scenerios in which they discover the amount of power they have to affect change buy purchasing the...
Curated OER
Food Chains and Food Webs
Pupils discuss the characteristics of producers, consumers and decomposers. Using a flow chart, they construct a food chain to visually show how organisms with different energy sources depend upon one another. Students explore a model...
Curated OER
Exploring Ecosystems
Fourth graders investigate ecosystems. In this ecosystem lesson, 4th graders explore producers, consumers, and decomposers and study the interdependence of each.
Curated OER
Ecosystem Energizers
Fourth graders see how the flow of energy through an ecosystem made up of producers, consumers, and decomposers carries out the processes of life and that some energy dissipates as heat and is not recycled.
Curated OER
The Many, Varied, and Unusual Places and Things on Earth
Students discover how energy flows through communities because of the relationship between producers, consumers and decomposers. Examining various ecosystems, they identify the materials that cycle continuously through them. They label...
Curated OER
The Macaroni Lab
Students are given an introduction to the "ecosystem", what factors make up an ecosystem (biotic factors, abiotic factors, food chain, producers, consumers and decomposers) and how those factors interact.
Shelby County Schools
How Ecosystems Work
How does one organism get its energy? What is the main source of energy in an ecosystem? How does the flow of energy affect different types of ecosystems? Answer these questions with a fill-in-the-blank worksheet.
Curated OER
5 Step Food Chain Lesson
Have your class discuss food chains using this resource. Learners watch a presentation on the food chain and how we are dependent on the smallest life forms. They write newspaper articles and create an illustration describing the food...
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...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Modeling Food Webs in Darién, Panama
It's a jungle out there! Young biologists journey to Darien, Panama to examine the intricate relationships between the organisms that inhabit the jungle. Groups begin by demonstrating an understanding of energy flow in ecosystems, then...
Science Matters
Crawly Composters
Get your hands dirty with an interactive instructional activity that showcases the process of decomposing and returning nutrients back into the soil. After building a compost pile, pupils regularly observe the...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Building Ecological Pyramids
Looking for a fresh take on traditional food/energy pyramids? Conduct an innovative activity where pupils build their own! The lesson uses research data from Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique for a real-life safari touch. Scholars...
Curated OER
The Pumpkin Patch - A Venture in Agritourism
After reading an article about how agritourism is helping boost the financial stability of local farms, middle schoolers answer comprehension questions. This is a case-study of Canadian pumpkin producers. It could be useful as a...
Curated OER
The Tropical Supermarket
Third graders explore the sources of the various foods they eat. They examine how everyone is intricately connected to the ecosystems in which natural resources are produced. Students observe how the lives of people living in those...
Curated OER
Stoichiometry
In this stoichiometry worksheet, students use balanced equations for chemical reactions to determine the percent yield and the mass of product produced. This worksheet has five problems to solve.
Curated OER
Sea Turtles and Nesting Behavior
Pupils explore the nesting behavior used by sea turtles and explain how these behaviors are beneficial in the survival of a species. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages that sea turtles have be mass nesting. They identify other...
Curated OER
Food Chains and Webs
In this food chains worksheet, students identify the producers and consumers in the given food chains and describe how contaminants can biologically accumulate. This worksheet has 4 short answer questions.
Curated OER
What is a Food Web?
In this food web worksheet, students will brainstorm organisms and classify them as either a consumer, producer, or decomposer. Students will write the organisms under the correct category in this graphic organizer worksheet.
Curated OER
Interdependence and Adaptation
Learners construct a food web to identify producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore and predator. They complete an online activity collecting plants and animals and arranging them in the web. They describe the interdependence between...