Science.5.12.B

Previous Next
The student is expected to predict how changes in the ecosystem affect the cycling of matter and flow of energy in a food web; and
1666 TEKS header image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

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

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

the biotic and abiotic resources provided to support specific populations in a community 

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

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

Research

Rockow, Michael. “Tabizi Pythons & Clendro Hawks: Using Imaginary Animals to Achieve Real Knowledge About Ecosystems.” Science Scope 30, no. 5 (January 2007):16–22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43181037.

Summary: In this activity, the teacher creates his own fictional animals and plants to teach students about ecosystems and food webs. Real food webs can, at times, be too simple or too complicated for some students. This made-up food web allows students to examine food webs without any prior knowledge of the animals and plants they are observing. This also allows the teacher to create animals that help teach specific concepts. Cards are printed with these animals on them along with cards listing different scenarios that might affect an ecosystem (droughts, floods, human activity). Students will separate these cards into groups based on whether they are herbivores, carnivores, or producers and create a food web of their own.

Research

Keeley, Page. “Formative Assessment Probes: Uncovering Representations of the Water Cycle.” Science and Children 55, no. 5 (January 2018): 18-19.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/44709896.

Summary: There are several common misconceptions that students make about interdependency and food chains. Students may assume that only the next living thing in a food chain is affected if one organism dies off, not realizing how this would affect the entire food chain. This article explains that early childhood students should understand that all animals depend on plants, even animals that do not eat plants at all. Students need to realize that all animals depend on plants, as in their later grades, they will need to understand that plants are the primary source of energy for animals in food webs. When teaching food chains, teachers should repeatedly trace back to plants at the start of the food chain and ask students other questions about interdependency in an ecosystem.