Virginia Department of Education
Predator-Prey Simulation
Do your pupils have the misconception that environmental predators are "bad" and harm smaller creatures? The simulation explains, in detail, the important role predators play in maintaining a stable ecosystem. Through web-based research,...
Curated OER
Population Biology Case Study
Students are focused on the big question: What makes a population grow and how could that growth stop? They use these concepts to help answer the big question: carry capacity, density dependent v. density, independent factors, predation...
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Population Biology - Biology Teaching Thesis
Students explore the effects of different density-dependent and density-independent factors on population growth. They explore how the interactions of organisms can affect population growth. Students explore the pattern of population...
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Web of Predators and Prey
Students investigate the components food chains and food webs in various ecosystems. They describe how living things depend on one another for food energy (food chain) and how more than one food chain exists in an ecosystem
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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...
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Birds & Caterpillars
In this biology worksheet, learners explain the use of camouflage as a defense mechanism. Then they list examples of insects that use camouflage to protect them from predators. Students also identify and name other types of defense...
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How Many Birds Would It Take To Keep A Jackal Alive?
Middle schoolers examine the role of large families in some animal populations. They work together to complete an activity related to food supply. They discover the relationship between preys and predators.
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Wolves
Students explore wolves. In this ecology and wolves lesson, students research predator-prey relationships on the Internet and complete a related worksheet with a partner. Students interpret data on bar graphs to determine growth and...
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Raven Chapter 54 Guided Notes: Community Ecology
Providing a sweeping overview of population and community interactions, this ecology activity gets learners thinking. They differentiate between habitat and niche, describe and give exemplars of various animal and plant defenses, explain...
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Community Ecology
Chart ecological community interactions and answer questions about niche, defenses, trophic structure, and succession. This community ecology instructional activity provides a general overview of the interactions that occur among...
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Competition/Cooperation Relationships
Students view the PowerPoint slide of a lynx and hare and discuss what would happen if all the lynxes were destroyed. They then take notes on the lesson and brainstorm about other competitive/cooperative relationships as well as discuss...
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Population Biology
Students define the following terms: predation, competition, carrying capacity and population. They can explain the patterns of growth and the limitations of growth. Students explain the difference between density-dependent and...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Arctic Smorgasbord
Though the walrus spends roughly one third of its time on land, it eats organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean. The first in a series of five, the lesson uses a variety of plant and animal cards to have scholars build an arctic...
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Species Interactions
Learners research desert species to find where it lives, what it eats, and what species it interacts with directly. Upon completion of research, students construct a web of all the species as a class. This emphasizes the role each...
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Changes in Ecosystems
In this changes in ecosystems worksheet, students complete 21 various types of questions related to ecosystem. First, they determine whether each statement is true or false based on vocabulary. Then, students determine whether natural...
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Tortoise Tales
Students read journal entry from a Gal??pagos field researcher, find examples of five ecological relationships (competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism) and take notes on the details they find in the entry using a...
Amazon Web Services
Brexit Debate
Should we stay or should we go? Class members debate whether Britain should exit the European Union. While the resource predates the exit vote, the materials provide class members with an opportunity to explore some of the many issues...
EngageNY
Close Read: Epiphytes of the Rainforest and the Creatures That Call Them Home (Pages 24–26)
It's all connected. Scholars use pages 24-26 of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World to identify the relationship between the plants and animals in the rainforest. They answer and discuss questions about the relationship with a group....
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Compettion at its Best
Sixth graders role play predators, prey and other parts of the aquatic ecosystem. They show inter and intra-specific competition as well as the link between abiotic and biotic components in an ecosystem. Students play games about the...
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biology - 9th Grade
The clear cartoon style slides in this presentation contain details that affect population growth. Natural disasters and other external factors are listed as density independent factors, and density dependent factors, such as competition...
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Amazon Food Chain
Explore food chains in the Amazon Rainforest using this resource. Learners discuss the predator vs. prey relationships in the food chain. Then, they create a food web to describe this relationship. This is a simple and effective way to...
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Costa Rican Food Chain
Discuss the animals and plants in the rainforest food chain using this lesson. Learners talk about and do research on the top predators from the Costa Rican region and create a model of one of them in class. They also make a visual model...
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The Natural Selection of Stick-Worms
Young scholars discuss and role-play the elements of natural selection. They use toothpicks to represent Stick-Worms and discover the mechanisms of change of traits in populations.
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Sharks
Students research sharks, the food chain, and the water habitat shared by humans and sharks.