Urban Ecosystems 4: Metabolism of Urban Ecosystems

Elementary school physical scientists explore kinetic mechanical energy by dropping a golf ball on different surfaces. They discuss how human made materials might react to light differently from nature made materials. This lesson plan...

Young scientists play tag as they act out the food pyramid in the ocean ecosystem. Energy circles pass from the smaller prey to the predators and at the end of the activity, a data chart and analysis questions allow pupils to apply their...

Ecosystems provide many things humans not only use but also need in order to survive. The last lesson in the series of seven introduces scholars to the idea of ecosystem services, that ecosystems provide humans with many things we need....

If you need a few basic activities for teaching food chains to your emerging ecologists, here they are. Three sheets of organism cards are included for learners to cut out and arrange according to trophic relationships. To make the most...

A video starts by defining an ecosystem. It expands on the concept by covering trophic structure, primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, detrivores, and bioaccumulation. 

Eager ecologists explore ecosystems through video and photographs of a Mangrove. They discuss the animals in this habitat and how they interact with each other after reading and discussing "The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle."...

Students investigate the importance of food surpluses to the historical development of urban ecosystems.

Cities are compared to living, breathing, metabolizing organisms. Fourth in a five-part series of lessons, this one focuses on the flow of materials through a city. Links to interesting websites and images make your delivery of...

Second in a series of five lessons, this lesson encourages preteens to consider cities as urban ecosystems. First, they keep a food diary for a few days. They visit the Natrional Agricultural Statistics Service website for current data...