Inquiry Lesson Plan- Biology

Topic: Energy Transfer through Food Webs Michigan High School Objectives (HSCEs)-

Erin Parr TE 408 Science Minors Lab 04/10/13

B3.2C Draw the flow of energy through an ecosystem. Predict changes in the food web when one or more organisms are removed. B.3.3A Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers and explain the transfer of energy through each trophic level.

Big Ideas
The ultimate source of this energy in an ecosystem comes from carbon molecules that are initially in the air as carbon dioxide and then reduced to sugars by plants, which will later be eaten by animals. Energy flows through an ecosystem at each trophic level. Trophic levels are made of producers, consumers, and decomposers. Each of these organisms is essential for energy to be transferred, and if one is taken out, the ecosystem will be greatly altered. Objective Students will be able to conduct their own investigations of the effects each organism in an ecosystem has on that particular food web.

Inquiry Sequence
Day 1- Introduction: During day one, students will be introduced to their activities for the next two days. First, we will establish the problem below, and discuss a few of the key aspects they think might be take-away points of the lesson overall. Establish a problem You are a conservation officer working to protect the organisms in our Michigan ecosystems. Your boss just assigned you to a job in Lansing, and told you to ensure that food webs in the area are maintaining proper balance. Think, pair, share: Create a list of things that must happen for a food web to remain balanced. Questions- Class Discussion Start with a journal question: what information is important for a conservation officer to understand about ecosystems in order to best do his/her job? Class discussion over students journal responses.

Students reflect on knowledge they learned in previous lessons that will help them with todays mission. Data Gathering/Collection

Erin Parr TE 408 Science Minors Lab 04/10/13

Students will have time to go outside and observe the ecosystem inhabiting their schoolyard. In pairs, they will take count of all the organisms they see in this ecosystem. Students will be reminded that they need to try to count as accurately as possible, and they must get numbers for at least one example of these types of organisms: Primary Producers Primary Consumers Secondary Consumers Decomposers Students can use the following table to help them collect their data (the first row is an example of how to complete the table): Animal Robin Category Secondary Consumer Number 6 Brief Description These birds were seen both in the air and on the ground, digging for worms.

Other observations: It was a rainy, gloomy day, so a lot of worms came out and were on the sidewalks. I was careful not to step on any! It was hard for me to find a larger secondary or tertiary consumers, so I just figured there had to be at least one or two around (that is why I wrote that there was 1 fox). Those types of consumers probably hide more because they dont need food as often, and when they do, they have to be very sneaky to catch their prey. Day 1- Conclusion: Today students were able to observe an ecosystem that inhabits their surrounding schoolyard. It was important for the students to see the animals they may see everyday, and think about them in the context of where they fit in an actual ecosystem. Their thoughts and observations today will be very helpful for tomorrows work and evaluations.

Day 2- Introduction: Todays lesson gives students an opportunity to think more critically about the observations they made in class the day before, and analyze/evaluate what kinds of impacts certain animals hold within the local ecosystems.

Erin Parr TE 408 Science Minors Lab 04/10/13

Student Explanations Students are given a short amount of time to look over their tables and think about the significance of their data. They are assigned to draw their own food webs of their observations. They will think about it means that there are fewer secondary consumers than primary consumers. Then, I present them with this next theoretical problem to write a paragraph about: A huge storm swept through a neighboring town and destroyed much of the habitat, leaving many of the larger predators and secondary consumers hungry and homeless. As a result, they have come over to our schoolyard looking for smaller organisms to eat as a way to get energy and survive. What problem does this create for the ecosystem you observed today? As a conservation officer, what would you do to fix this problem? Scientific Explanations/Conclusions For homework, students will think about the question above and write a one-page, detailed report of their results including the following: Their data collection A sample data collection from real research (find outside source) Food web BEFORE & AFTER the interruption of the storm How the ecosystem was altered What this means to them as conservation officers Questions they might still have Day 2- Conclusion: Having the students write lab reports summarizing their explanations or conclusions about their observations of the rhetorical ecosystem is beneficial in many ways. First of all, it allows students to sum up the big ideas and take away lessons they learned from their inquiries. It is also good practice for the future when they are expected to write more thorough lab reports. Overall from this inquiry lesson, students should have learned about the effects all organisms have on the balance and well-being of their ecosystems, whether they are large or small.