Energy Transfer/ Food Chain LESSON PLAN

 

Name(s): Annessa Allan, Kathy Goepfert, & Travis Lara

 

Title of Lesson: The Food Chain Connection

 

Date of Lesson: 4^th Week, Day 3

 

Length of Lesson: 1 hour

 

Description of the Class: 8^th Grade Science

              

Source of the Lesson:

               The lesson was acquired from a collaboration from an Outdoor Biological Instructional Strategies pamphlet and Food Chains & Webs website www.vtaide.com/png/foodchains.htm

 

TEKS Addressed:

(a)  Introduction.

(2)  As students learn science skills, they identify the roles of both human activities and natural events in altering Earth systems.

(5)  Science is a way of learning about the natural world.

(6)  A system is a collection of cycles, structures, and processes that interact.

(7)  Investigations are used to learn about the natural world.

 

 

I.                  Overview

The lesson will focus on the students learning about the food chain through an interactive activity and that it is necessary to survive.

 

II.               Performance Objectives

The student will be able to: Understand the actions that take place within a food chain, define a food chain/energy transfer, and apply knowledge gained to making their own food chains.

 

III.            Resources, Materials, and Supplies Needed

3 different types of yarn

A class set of index cards

A set of poker chips

A kitchen Timer

Plastic sandwich bags (1 for each student)

Masking Tape

 

 

IV.             Safety Considerations

Students need to be aware of their surroundings and need to take into consideration their own personal space as well as others. Also, students need to take their time and not run around during the activity for safety reasons.

 

V.                Supplementary Materials, Handouts

No supplemental handouts will be given to the students.

 

Five E Organization

 

                      Teacher Does                                                                          Student Does

 

Engage: Demonstrate actual food chain at the beginning while probing students for the connections (i.e. Seeds to Mice to Snakes)   Questions: What do Mice eat? What eat Mice?

Students will give examples to help fill in the sequence to the best of their acquired knowledge so far.   Answers: Mice eat seeds. Snakes eat mice.

 

Evaluate

Students will seem to be interested in topic and ready to proceed.

 

Explore: Go through Food Chain Game.   Questions: What would happen if we introduced Frogs to eat the grasshoppers? What would happen if we introduced Hawks to eat the frogs?

Students should be able to complete the game and are involved with the activity taking place.   Answers: Frogs have to work harder to eat the grasshoppers first to survive. Hawks have to work even harder to eat the remaining frogs to survive.

 

Evaluate

Watch activity and see if the students are learning any strategies to staying in the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Explain: Discussion with class over food chains and energy transfer within.     Questions: What are the different parts of a food chain? Why is there difference in energy transfer between groups?

Students should be able to pull from the experiences, both from the activity as well as from lecture, to find out how the structure of the food chain is vital to existence.   Answers: Primary producer, first consumer, second consumer, etc. Energy transfer becomes smaller as one moves up the food chain.

 

Evaluate

See if they actually understood the concepts that were portrayed both in the activity and the lecture.

 

Extend/Elaborate: With the use of a website, given in resources, have the students build their own food web.   Questions: What needs to be part of the food chain?

Students are asked to draw from the activity’s interaction and view how this might be helpful in creating other food chains that exist in nature.   Answers: At a basic level, producers and consumers that have to sustain existence by living off of one another.

 

Evaluate

Students should be able to draw conclusions from this activity and cross-apply it to their own models of food chains and energy transfers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food Chain Game - OBIS

 

MATERIALS

 

For each animal:

• Sashes about 20 cm X 100 (see PREPARATION for # - (I used yarn/posterboard necklaces)
• 1 plastic bag “stomach”

 

For group:

• 4 – 5 liters of popcorn (I used poker chips)
• 1 data board
• 1 marking pen
• 1 kitchen timer
• 1 roll masking tape

 

 

PREPARATION

• Sashes – made from 3 colors of fabric. Depending on # of students, have enough so that ¾ of group can be grasshoppers; 1/3 can be frogs; 1/3 can be hawks. The #’s don’t add up, but this allows a change in ratios depending on scenario.
• Stomachs – place a strip of masking tape 4 cm from bottom – this is the “full” line. (With poker chips, I gave a # that can change depending on scenarios.)
• Site selection – open area with boundaries. You can designate separate “home bases” for hoppers and frogs.

 

ACTION

Ask participants if they know what mice eat and what eats mice. “Mice eat seeds and snakes eat mice,” they may respond. Diagram the relationship and introduce as a food chain. Seeds à mice à snakes Ask for examples of other food chains, including ones with man.

 

1. Describe limits of gaming area. Spread popcorn over area (save a little). Tell the group that you are distributing plants that grasshoppers eat.
2. Hand out a plastic bag and hopper sash to 1/3 group. Tell kids to pick up “food and put in their “stomachs” when game begins. Hand out bags and frog sashes to second 1/3 of group AND hawk sashes to the last 1/3.
3. When the game starts, frogs will capture (tag) hoppers and the hawks will pursue frogs. When a frog captures a hopper, the hopper’s stomach contents are transferred to the stomach of the frog. When the hawk captures a frog, he takes the frog’s whole stomach. Hawks do not eat hoppers in this game.
4. State the challenge. Set the timer for 5 mins. And holler “Go!” The first game lasts only a few seconds with one of two things happening. Hoppers are gobbled up before they have a chance to forage OR the frogs are gobbled up and hoppers continue to eat popcorn and get fat.
5. Analysis. How many animals survive? For a hopper to survive – stomach must be filled to bottom of line. For a frog to survive – stomach must be filled to top of tape. Hawks must have one frog with sufficient stomach contents to survive. Mark data on chart. If at least one of each kind of animal survives, you have an ongoing food chain. Return popcorn to the activity area after each game.
6. Instant replay: learn by making rule variations. Change only one rule per game.
• Change # of hoppers and/or frogs and/or hawks
• Let hopper come back as another hopper after being captured and transferring “stomach” contents.
• Provide “home bases” for safety zones.
• Timed releases: let hoppers go first. 1 minute later frogs. 1 minute later hawks.
• Spread out more popcorn
• Introduce “tainted” food. Don’t offer any explanation until the end of the game when animals who have full stomachs still die because they have been poisoned.

Write results after each replay.

Analysis –

• What would happen if there were only half as many popcorn plants? What would happen to the animal that depends on those plants?
• If there were no frogs, what would happen to the plant population? The hopper population? The hawk population?
• Do hawks need plants to survive? Why?
• Describe food chains that you are a part of?

Note: eliminate bickering over who gets which animal by drawing markers from a hat to assign roles for replays. So students can switch roles.