Curated OER
Balance and Flux Reveal How Organisms Are Connected in Ecosystems
Students read about cats in Borneo and discuss role predators play in controlling population size. They map the interdependencies among species. They read about flux in ecosystems and complete a worksheet.
Curated OER
Population Patterns
Students study patterns of population growth in an ecosystem and why populations must remain in balance. They interpret basic population graphs and suggest scenarios about different population growth patterns in an ecosystem.
Curated OER
Ecosystems II
Middle schoolers engage in a lesson that is about the concepts related to the careful balance of an ecosystem. They identify the beneficial and harmful relationships that can exist with diverse populations in an ecosystem. The lesson...
Curated OER
Ecosystems and Habitats
Fourth graders go on a virtual field trip to five ecosystems. They investigate and videotape a temperate forest in the school's backyard.
Curated OER
Ecosystems
Seventh graders create a closed ecosystem and place it where is it visible to others in the school. They label it with posters describing the interdependence of living things in the ecosystem. They discuss what might happen to the...
Curated OER
Visualizing Vocabulary in an Ecosystem
Sixth graders observe the pond ecosystem. In this ecosystem instructional activity, 6th graders observe the organisms at the pond and create a poster that illustrates the pond.
Curated OER
The Delicate Balance within a Forest Ecosystem
Young scholars examine the causes and effects of alterations in a forest ecosystem and evaluate how human actions may only seem to have minor consequences, but can lead to extinctions of large numbers of populations. Students produce an...
Curated OER
Micro-Ecosystems
Students create a sustainable, self-contained ecosystem in a ten-gallon aquarium.
Curated OER
Earth's Ecosystem: Seven Major Biomes
Students discuss the different types of ecosystems and the composition of biomes. Working in groups, they define various related terms and make posters of them. Then they explain their posters to the class.
Science 4 Inquiry
Snakes in the Everglades
The Burmese python is on the loose ... and he's hungry! Illustrate the differences between causative and correlative relationships through an inquiry instructional activity. Pupils examine several sources of information to determine if...
Science Matters
That’s An Otter Story
Young scientists discover how sea otters' habitats have changed due to human impact. Through conversation, video observation, and story reading, scholars identify how human interactions change a specific ecosystem in both positive and...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lesson 4: Gorongosa's Food Webs
Who eats who in the savannas of Africa? Explore trophic levels with part four of an eight-part series of lessons focused around Gorongosa National Park. After young explorers identify animals using trailcam images, they construct a food...
Shodor Education Foundation
Rabbits and Wolves
A change in a parameter can end in overpopulation. The resources gives pupils the opportunity to control the parameters of rabbits and wolves in a natural setting. Using the set parameters, the simulation runs and displays the population...
It's About Time
Diversity in Living Things
How diverse is the world we live in compared to the way things used to be? Young biologists explore diverse organisms and relate the structure of each organism to its ability to survive in our current environmental conditions....
Curated OER
Populations and Ecosystems
Sixth graders examine the factors that influence the stability of ecosystems. They construct a miniature ecosystem in a jar that includes plants, small fish, and snails, record the population changes over a period of four weeks, and...
Curated OER
Ecosystem Organization
Students examine the structure of ecosystems. In this ecology lesson, students listen to a lecture on relationships among organisms and biomes. Students use the information to create ecosystem organization pyramids.
Curated OER
Some Similarities Between the Spread of an Infectious Disease and Population Growth
Students compare and contrast the spread of infectious diseases and population growth. In this biology lesson, students identify the exponential growth pattern of spreading diseases. They relate this to HIV infection and AIDS.
Curated OER
Ecosystem Interactions Web
Students pick an ecosystem (forest, desert, coral reef, open ocean, grassland, mountain, savanna, etc.) and design an interaction web for their chosen ecosystem. Each group shares their ecosystem's web of life with the class.
Curated OER
Populations and Ecosystems
Seventh graders create a model of an ecosystem and label it to show structure and function. They research the food web of an aquatic animal and also trace energy flow from the primary producer up the food chain.
Curated OER
Making Connections, Linking Population and the Environment
Young scholars find out that all habitats have a carrying capacity. They explore how the world's human population has grown markedly in the 20th century, and that humans impact environmental health. Students investigate that people can...
Curated OER
Population Density In Fish
Students investigate how a population of fish multiplies in an ecosystem and the kinds of things that must be done to maintain a healthy population balance with other organisms that live there. They conduct an experiment to test the...
Curated OER
"Using Cichlids To Demonstrate the Effects of Human Activity On Ecosystems"
Students explore the freshwater ecosystem of Africa's Lake Victoria by creating a freshwater aquarium. They investigate factors affecting the aquarium's ecosystem and conduct lab activities.
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
"Croak" Science Mystery
Solve the mystery of a declining frog population! Lead your junior ecologists on an investigation that simulates actual events concerning pollution, predation, poaching, and more. Investigators read a story online, then analyze survey...