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 instructional activity includes a game about consumers and...
Curated OER
Food Chain
Fourth graders explore the concept of food chains. In this food chain lesson, 4th graders discuss what different animals eat and how they are all connected. Students explore a garden and the environment around them to find examples of a...
National Wildlife Federation
Soil Decomposers
The class studies the soil food web that includes earthworms and conduct four experiments using the crawly critters. Individuals determine whether earthworms are sensitive to light, touch, temperature, and acid.
Curated OER
Links in the Chain of Life
Using the prairie dog community as an example, middle school ecologists examine the food web. Pairs of learners take one species in the community and research its role in the ecosystem. They share their findings with the rest of the...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Food for Thought: Climate Change and Trophic Cascades
Learners examines the arctic food web with a short video about polar bears and an article about bears and warming temperatures. They design an arctic food web and discuss the trophic cascade that could come from climate...
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...
NOAA
Marine Ecosystems
Be at the top of the food chain when it comes to understanding marine ecosystems. The 21st installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program investigates marine ecosystems, ocean zones, and food...
Alachua County Public Schools
Food Chain
Two to four players receive seven cards each, with plants, animals, or nitrates depicted. They place what they have onto their own empty game board with the objective to complete a food chain. The game is a fun way to reinforce learning...
Curated OER
Use Concept Maps to Teach the Transfer of Energy
Practical tips, lessons, and ideas for teaching the transfer of energy.
National Wildlife Federation
Habitat Web
It's all connected. Classes create a web to connect living things in a local ecosystem. They create cards with both living and nonliving things found in their areas while considering the characteristics of each. After they have a good...
Curated OER
Ecosystem Food Web Mural
Learners create a food web mural about an ecosystem of the freshwater marsh. For this food web lesson plan, students write about the organisms and how each one depends on another.
Curated OER
Food Chain/Food Web
Students explore ecosystems. In this ecology lesson, students read an article explaining ecosystems. Students create a visual organizer with index cards using components of various ecosystems.
Curated OER
Modeling changes to Ecosystems Part 1
Students record changes in an ecosystem. In this science instructional activity students make a hypothesis about changes in a terrarium. They record their observations. The students conduct an experiment to test their hypothesis.
Curated OER
Wetlands - Food Web Relationships
In this food web relationships worksheet, students click on the links to learn about the food web relationships in the wetlands and answer short answer questions about it. Students complete 8 questions total.
Curated OER
Web of Predators and Prey
Students investigate the food chain by researching the Internet. In this ecosystem lesson, students view the video "Competitor and Predator" and read a book from the series "The Magic School Bus." Students utilize a worksheet...
Science Matters
Post-Assessment
Twenty questions make up an assessment designed to test super scientists' knowledge of ecosystems. Scholars answer multiple-choice and short-answer questions about organisms, food chains, energy flow, and more.
Curated OER
Bering Sea Buffet - A Foodweb Activity
Life in the Bering Sea, food webs, and the ocean ecosystem are introduced with a map activity. The lesson starts as kids explore maps and images of the Bering Sea, then it kicks into high gear as they start to discuss the types of...
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
Pupils create a bulletin board display illustrating food chains they make from a list of ocean organisms. Students also play a game showing what happens when one of the organisms is removed from the food chain and how they are all...
Curated OER
Food Webs
Students research rainforest animals and use that information to make a flow chart to show the order in which energy is transferred through several organisms. They label the producers, consumers, and decomposers in their chart.
American Museum of Natural History
Dive Into Worlds Within the Sea
The ocean is a series of ecosystems within an ecosystem. Learners dive into an exploration of ecosystems in an interactive lesson. They identify connections between organisms by following leading prompts within the lesson. The resource...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Entering the Twilight Zone
Imagine an ecosystem without any light or oxygen, where living things convert carbon dioxide into food. This ecosystem is thriving and might just be the largest ecosystem on our planet, yet we know very little about it. The lesson...
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
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...