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Making Food Webs

Unit Plan: Who Eats What?Lesson: 8 Time: Session 1 (40min) and Session 2 (40min) Setting: Classroom
3-5, 6-8Schoolyard Ecology
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Objectives

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

    Overview
    Rating:

    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

    Materials

    Sessions 1 and 2
    For the Class:

    • Display or photocopy page titled "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

    Lesson Files

    pdf
    Making Food Webs
    pdf
    Introduction - Includes Resource List
    pdf
    Who Eats What Guide

    Benchmarks for Science Literacy

    5D Interdependence of Life, 5E Flow of Matter and Energy, 7D Social Trade-offs, 11B Models

    NYS Standards

    MST 2- Informational Systems/ Information Technology, MST 4- Physical setting, living environment and nature of science
    Next Generation Science Standards

    Science and Engineering Practices

    Asking questions and defining problems, Developing and using models, Planning and carrying out investigations

    Cross Cutting Concepts

    Patterns

    Disciplinary Core Ideas

    LS2A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
    New York State Science Learning Standards

    Performance Expectations

    MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms in a variety of ecosystems.

    Hogan, Kathleen. Eco-Inquiry: A Guide to Ecological Learning Experiences for the Upper Elementary/Middle Grades. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, PO Box 1840, 4050 Westmark Drive, Dubuque, IA 52004-1840., 1994.