Ecosystems: Interactive Interconnections - Sue White

Key Concepts:

Ecosystems

• Food webs
• Interconnectedness
• Inquiry
• Producers, consumers, and decomposers
Lesson Goals:
• Students will be introduced to some common wetland animals
• Students will use deductive reasoning to figure out an answer to a problem
• Students will be able to appreciate the interconnectedness of plants and animals in an ecosystem
• Students will participate in the simulation of a food web and realize the potential effects of humans on ecosystems
Subject Areas:

This lesson was developed to support an ecosystems unit and integrates science, communication, writing, listening, and problem solving.

Essential Academic Learning Requirements Connected to Lesson:from Washington State Commission on Student Learning Technical Manual

SCIENCE: 1.3 understand how interactions within and among systems cause changes in matter and energy

Interdependence of life: explain how organisms interact with their environment and with other organisms to acquire energy, cycle matter, influence behavior, and establish competitive or mutually beneficial relationships

Environmental and resource issues: explain how human societies’ use of natural resources affects quality of life and the health of ecosystems

Pre-Assessment:

This lesson follows an ecosystem preassessment which involved the students analyzing a wetlands picture and answering prompts to assess their prior knowledge of ecosystem concepts. The students have also read some text introducing these concepts. This lesson is an attempt to make these concepts more tangible to a diversity of learning styles. It is also an attempt to instill some ownership in the learning about ecosystems.

Developmentally Appropriate/Grade Level

This lesson is developed for a fifth/sixth grade at Mill Pond Intermediate in Yelm. One way to adapt this to a variety of learners is to organize the animals cards into more difficult and less difficult and distribute them according to abilities and exposure to these concepts without the students knowing this is happening. This lesson complements the reading by providing a tangible way to explore abstract ideas.

Instructional Resources:

Materials:

• An appropriate outdoor space
• Animal cards (with animal name and what it eats and is eaten by highlighted)
• Tape
• String or twine
• Paper and pen to record who is what animal
• Student science journals for writing prompt
Resources:
• Wetland animal cards from Discover Wetlands, Department of Ecology
• "Webbing" and "Puget Sound Scramble" lessons from Forest, Stream, and Sound, City of Olympia
Duration: One Hour

Teaching Procedures:

INTRODUCTION: (approximately five minutes)

• Ask students to get their science notebooks out on desk

• In a large group, review what we have already covered in terms of ecosystem.
• Preassessment poster activity
• Reading from Science Books

• Share the general outline for this activity (write on board)
• Animal name activity (outside)
• Webbing activity (outside)
• Writing activity (inside)

• Facilitate a quick discussion regarding self-managing when working outside
ANIMAL NAME ACTIVITY: (approximately twenty minutes)
• Explain the activity
• Everyone will get a card on their back
• The object is to ask "yes or no" questions to figure out what it is
• Look at the information on the card to answer people’s questions
• Model "yes or no" questions for the class
• Cannot ask the same person two questions in a row
• May be more than one of the same animal
• Do not tell people what animal they are
• If finished early:
• Report back to me to tell me what you are
• Figure out what you eat and what eats you, find those animals on other people’s backs
• Come to me for another card
• Help others figure out what they are

• After about five minutes, we will gather together for the next activity

• Put animals on back after explaining directions (otherwise too preoccupied with finding out what they are)
• Proceed with activity outside
WEBBING ACTIVITY: (approximately twenty minutes)
• Explain that every single one of the animals that they represent is very important to the health and balance of a wetland. Every animal is connected to another animal in some way. This activity will illustrate these connections.
• Students will hold their animal cards in their hands and stand or sit in a circle
• I will represent the sun which provides energy to everything, and will pass the twine around
• Start with one students who identifies another animal that he or she is linked to and connect them with the twine
• This students will then connect themselves to another animal
• This "web" will develop, but eventually it should become apparent that there needs to be some plants
• Ask any other adults to step in to represent plants
• (The reason there are no plants is that I wouldn’t expect the students to be able to deduct which particular plant they may be)
• Use the lack of plants as a springboard to a discussion about energy, producers, consumers, and decomposers
• Proceed to web the students until everyone is included
• Some folks may be connected more than once
• Once the web is complete, have everyone pull the string so that it is taught
• Use examples of things that may happen to affect one organism in the web. That organism gives a tug and those who felt the tug give another. This will illustrate how animals are interconnected.
• Facilitate a closure to the web and ask students to just lay twine down on the ground.
CLOSURE: (approximately fifteen minutes)
• As a closing activity, return to the classroom and have students respond to a writing prompt written on the board:
"How did this activity help you understand ecosystems better? What animal were you? How were you connected in the web?"

Assessment Procedures:

• The writing prompt will serve as one assessment for this activity.
• Students will also be assessed by their performance and participation during the activity. Students will be able to show their understanding of ecosystem concepts during the webbing activity and discussion.
Post Lesson Reflection:

Reflecting on how well the students seemed to understand these concepts will help determine what to do next in this unit. Also, by asking the students to write in their journals will give them a chance to reflect as well. It may be important to reflect as a group on how well folks were managing themselves outside in a somewhat unstructured activity.

Extensions:

• This lesson is a starting point for a full ecosystem unit where the students develop their own aquariums and terrariums.
• This is also an introduction to wetlands for a future field trip to the Nisqually River Refuge.