Virginia Department of Education
Biomes of the World
Incorporate knowledge about biomes and ecosystems in multiple ways while encouraging creativity. Emerging ecologists collaborate and perform research to complete a graphic organizer about various biomes of the world. They conclude the...
Baylor College
Energy for Life (Energy from Food)
Energy comes in many forms, but how do living things get the energy they need to survive and thrive? In a simple, controlled experiment with yeast, water, and sugar, groups make observations about how yeast reacts with water alone, then...
Curated OER
Soil: Food Mapping
Learners examine the concept of food mapping . In this agriculture lesson, students explore food and agriculture systems in the United States in the past and today. Learners complete food mapping activities.
Curated OER
Food Chains
Students investigate the food chain. In this ecology lesson, students define producers and consumers. Students use organism cards to demonstrate how the food chain works.
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...
National Park Service
Living & Non-Living Interactions
What better way to learn about ecosystems than by getting outside and observing them first hand? Accompanying a field trip to a local park or outdoor space, this series of collaborative activities engages children in...
Kentucky School for the Deaf
Levels of Organization within an Ecosystem
From tiny organisms to entire biomes, young scientists examine the interdependent relationships tying all living and non-living things together with this collection of ecology resources.
National Wildlife Federation
Habitat Web
Young scientists weave together an understanding of ecosystems with this fun collaborative activity. Taking on the roles of different living and non-living elements of specific habitats, learners use a ball of yarn to create...
Michigan Sea Grant
Food Web II
A food web consists of complex food chains and the more complex the web, the better likelihood of survival. Learners compare and contrast food webs and food chains and discuss concepts like the predator-prey and consumer-producer...
Curated OER
Interdisciplinary Unit On Wellness
Students create a portfolio throughout their middle school years on wellness. Students explore their awareness of the connections between health, physical education, and family and consumer sciences with particular emphasis on the areas...
Curated OER
Food Webs
Sixth graders discuss and describe consumers and producers. They discuss and describe predator-prey relationship. Students review food chains. They form a circle, and each student is given an ecosystem card. Student at the top is given...
Curated OER
The Food Chain Game - A Lesson in Ecosystems
Students are divided into three groups, herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores which receive a certain number of lives. Once in their ecosystem (outside or the gym), the carnivores chase and eat either the herbivores or omnivores, the...
Science Matters
Matter Cycles — Sum It Up
Scholars become part of the cycle of matter with a reader's theater that showcases producers, consumers, decomposers, and the sun. A diagram and discussion concludes the learning experience and enhances comprehension.
Curated OER
Cycling of Matter and Energy
These twenty various types of questions related to the cycling of matter and energy require students to match each definition in column 1 with the correct vocabulary term from column 2. Then, students explain what is being demonstrated...
Biology Junction
Ecology
Psychologists study human relationships while ecologist study relationships between organisms in the environment. An introduction to ecology and the related vocabulary benefits scholars as they progress through the presentation and...
Science Matters
Peanut Energy
How do humans get energy since they aren't mechanical and can't photosynthesize? Learners explore this question by relating potential energy in food to human energy levels. Scholars measure the change in mass and a change in...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Modeling Trophic Cascades
In the ecological game of who eats who, one small change can have a big impact! Individuals create food chains in an array of ecosystems, then determine what happens to organisms in the chain when one organism changes its feeding...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Building Ecological Pyramids
Looking for a fresh take on traditional food/energy pyramids? Conduct an innovative activity where pupils build their own! The lesson uses research data from Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique for a real-life safari touch. Scholars...
Curated OER
The Science and Technology of Food
High schoolers examine the guidelines the United States Department of Agriculture places on food. In groups, they create a list of the foods they consume and discuss the political and environmental implications of purchasing the food. ...
World Wildlife Federation
Food Chains and Food Webs
As part of a study of food chains and food webs, class members complete a series of worksheets that trace a marine chain from producers to consumers or decomposers. After studying a food chain example, young marine biologists make up...
Curated OER
Food Web
Students identify producers and consumers, including scavengers and decomposers, and discuss role each plays in food web. They then make diagram of possible food chain that might include skull pictured on Montana's quarter, and...
Curated OER
Animals and Plants of BC's Rocky Shore: lesson 3
Students create a mural of the food chain of the animals and plants of BC's rocky shore. In this food chain lesson plan, students also play a food chain matching game.
Curated OER
Food Safety-Consumers Need the Facts
Learners begin by completing a survey asking them to rank their concerns about commercially prepared foods. They develop a definition of relative risk, and complete the "Pro or Con" worksheet. Students work in groups to make a study of...
Curated OER
Where Does Food Come From?
Distinguish between food and non-food items. Recognize that food is obtained from both plant and animal sources. Identify sources for some common animal foods then construct a simple food path from the farm to the consumer.