8th Grade Science Guide

8.3: Ecology 3 Dimensions & Progressions

Unit 3

things are connected in an ecosystem.

Activity: Oh Deer! Lab

Objective

Overview

Materials

● I can make connections between ecosystem changes and the stability of cycling matter

● Students simulate

● Lab

producer, predator, prey relationships in a game format as a class to study the stability between living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

between living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Activity: Food Chain - Gizmo

Objective

Overview

Materials

● Students classify producers and

● Students are shown a

● Gizmo

hypothetical food chain in which hawks eat snakes, snakes eat rabbits, and rabbits eat grass. The

consumers, observe food chain equilibrium, and determine how one organism affects another in a food chain.

population of each organisms can be manipulated by the

student, and the resulting effects on the populations of other organisms can be observed over time.

Activity: Food Chain Reading/Creation

Objective

Overview

Materials

● Review food chain vocabulary like abiotic, biotic, producer, consumer, trophic levels, etc. ● Students read an article about food chains, to get a basic background. ● Then as a class, create a food chain that students can connect to.

● Newsela Article - The Food Chain: Who Eats Who in the Wild? ● Food chain WS - Check for Understanding

● I can identify parts of a food chain and use arrows to show who eats who in a food chain.