Eco-Inquiry

Eco-Inquiry, an ecology curriculum for grades 5-8 helps teachers transform their classrooms into centers of ecological research.

Day 8: Making Food Webs

Objectives

Students make food webs of their study site, then trace how a change in one population could affect other populations within the web.

Lesson Overview

Students will be able to:
- know that most animals eat and are eaten by more than one thing
- understand that a food web shows all the likely feeding relationships at a location
- explain the different ways a change in one population can ripple through a food web

Time: 
Session 1 - 40min and Session 2- 40min
Setting: 
Classroom
Materials

Sessions 1 and 2
For the Class:

  • overhead transparency of "Food Web"
  • overhead marker
  • 20-30 buttons or bean, two colors (optional)
  • food chains from Day 6 (Making Food Chains)
  • master list of study site organisms from Day 3 (Outdoor Research Excursion)
  • several copies of the Who Eats What  guide
  • other resource books (see "Resource List")

For each group of 3-4 students:

  • materials for making food webs
Procedure

See Lesson Resources below for further details.

Lesson Resources
NYS Standards
MST 2- Informational Systems/ Information Technology
MST 4- Physical setting, living environment and nature of science
Benchmarks for Science Literacy
5D Interdependence of Life
5E Flow of Matter and Energy
7D Social Trade-offs
11B Models

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