Science.4.12.B

Previous Next
The student is expected to

describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy through food webs, including the roles of the Sun, producers, consumers, and decomposers; and

1666 TEKS header image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Organisms and environments. The student describes patterns, cycles, systems, and relationships within environments.

In grade 3, students explored the flow of energy through food chains. In grade 4, students gain experiences with food webs.  By grade 5, students will be able to use their knowledge to predict the consequences of changes made to a food web.

Decomposers consume the bodies or waste of other organisms as food. Decomposers include insects, worms, bacteria, and fungi. Although they are neither plants nor animals, grade 4 students are not expected to know that bacteria and fungi belong to different kingdoms.

organism that depends on other organisms for food

interval of time during which a sequence of a recurring succession of events or phenomena is completed; a course or series of events or operations that recur regularly and usually lead back to the starting point

organism that cycles organic substances through the ecosystem by feeding on and breaking down dead organisms and their products  

the circumstances, objects, or conditions that surround an organism including abiotic (climate and soil) and biotic (living organisms) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival

model that demonstrates how matter and energy are transferred between producers (generally plants and other organisms that engage in photosynthesis), consumers (herbivores, omnivores, carnivores), and decomposers as the three groups interact—primarily for food—within an ecosystem

regular sequences that can be found throughout nature

organism such as a plant that make their own food using water, carbon dioxide, and light energy from the Sun

a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole

Research

Dobson, Christopher, and Dan Postema. “The Amazing Ecology of Terrestrial Isopods.” Science and Children  51, no. 7 (March 2014): Washington: National Science Teachers Association.
 https://www.proquest.com/docview/1506150053?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals.

Summary: This article explains a study done in an elementary classroom on how roly-polies interact with their environment. Roly-polies were chosen because they are easily accessible and safe for children to handle and observe closely. This study shows how organisms interact with non-living things (sunlight, water, temperature) and other living things, either by competition or mutualism. Students observe how roly-polies use things in their environment to help them survive by finding moist and dim areas. Roly-polies also benefit from group behavior by huddling together in response to water loss or warmth.