Noah Crosson EDU 180 B

Ag. Cohort Winter 2017

Technology-Based Lesson: Ecology

Name: Noah Crosson Unit Title: Intro to Sustainable Ag

Class Title: Sustainable Agriculture Grade Level: 9
Lesson Title: Length: 55 minutes

Goal/Purpose/Guiding Question
Can students identify the relationships between species?
Can student recognize how changes to these relationships affect a network of other
relationships between organism, known as an ecosystem?

State Agricultural Standards:

E5.0 Students understand wildlife management and habitat:
E5.1 Understand the relationship between habitat and wildlife population.
E5.2 Understand habitat requirements for different species and identify factors that
influence population dynamics.

State Science Standards/National Agricultural Standards:

NGSS HS-LS2-2. Use mathematical representations to support and revise
explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and
populations in ecosystems of different scales

Supplies, Equipment, Materials Needed (list everything that is necessary for a

successful lesson):
Ipads/Chromebooks/Desktop
Computers

Safety Considerations:
None

Modifications/Adaptions (EL, IEP, 504 Plan)

ELL, IEP, 504, & challenged learners recieve a handout with vocabulary definitions

References/ Resources (text books, web sites)

https://goo.gl/forms/zZgL4O5bDlm1SI8s2
http://coolclassroom.org/cool_windows/home.html
http://www.sciencegeek.net/Biology/Powerpoints.shtml
https://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/interactives/ecology/

Vocabulary and terms:

See handout
Objective(s):
Students will complete pre assessment
Students will play Food Web Game
Student will create a google drawing diagram
Students will present a powerpoint to a partner
Student create 3 graphs through ecology simulation and explain what occurs

Review (setting the context):

Ok class, most of you have completed your Agriscience fair projects. Each one of
these had a hypothesis If ___ then ____ . In most of your science projects you were
studying what occurs if you do something; generally speaking, cause and effect,
something causes something else to occur. In this unit we will investigate how the
presence, absence, or removal and organisms from a location will affect the other
organisms that depend or interact with it. This is known as an ecosystem: literally a
interconnected system of living things, such as your family, or our school.

Anticipatory set:
Here in class we have our own ecosystem. What would happen if Enrique didnt
show up today? What would his partner do? What would happen if Mr. Crosson
didnt show up today? What would happen if it didn't rain in California for a year?
All of these events would cause a reaction in their local ecosystem, and that is what
we will investigate today.

Timing Content Outline (written out for substitute) / Checks for Teaching
Understanding (CFU) (written out after each concept or 12-15 methods
minutes)
DAY 1
5 Teacher draws food chain of students lunch on board Direct
Instruction/
Discussion
5 Students complete pre-game google forms Assessment
https://goo.gl/forms/zZgL4O5bDlm1SI8s2
15 Students play Food Web Game Individual
-If they score under an 80 they must retake the quiz. Activity
-Students take a screenshot of their grade and upload it to
google classroom
20 Students use Google Draw to draw an ecology chain using Individual
animals in their area Activity
5 Students share their food webs. Presentation

DAY 2
15 Students prepare to present online powerpoint to a partner Group Work
from
http://www.sciencegeek.net/Biology/Powerpoints.shtml
1.) Ecology or
2.) Food Web Systems
*Students must include a personal example/metaphor/
comparison for every slide that they show.
10 Students present their powerpoint to their partner then Presentation
switch.
25 Students open up food web simuator Group
https://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/interactives/ecol Assignment
ogy/
Students create 3 food webs with different amount of
animals
The addition or removal of one species affects many other
species with which it might compete for, or provide food. In
this lab you will get a chance to "build your own" ecosystem,
and explore the effects of these interrelationships.
Students take a screenshot of the three different graphs they
create.

10 Students paste screenshot to google docs and describe why Individual

the graphs go up and down as a result of the interactions of Activity

Modeling:
Teacher demonstrates on main screen:
-Google drawing tools
-Food web simulator and how to tweek the settings.

Application / Guided Practice:

Teacher rotates around room and helps students troubleshoot.

Independent Practice:
Students create google drawing, food web game, and food web simulator
independently.

Closure:
Ok, do we have any volunteers who would like to receive extra credit for displaying
their graphs and how changing the presence of organisms in the ecosystem affect
the graph?

Evaluation:
Formative (during the lesson): Are students able to navigate to the correct sites?
Are students able to manipulate the online games
Summative (after the lesson): Did students correctly interpret their graphs.
Can students describe what an ecosystem is and how changing organisms and
habitat affects the ecosystem?
 EcologyVocabulary
The study of interactions of living organisms with one another and with their
local habitat.

Habitat: place where a particular population of a species lives.

Community: the many different species that live together in a habitat.
Ecosystem: a community and all of the physical aspects of its habitat: soil, air, water, etc.
Abiotic: the physical aspects of a habitat.
Biotic: the living organisms of a habitat.
Biodiversity: number of species living within an ecosystem.
Autotroph: Organisms
that make their own food,
producers.
Heterotroph: Organisms
that consume producers
for food, consumers.
Producer: organisms
that first capture energy
and that make their own
food (plants).
Consumer: organisms
that consume producers
for food (animals).
Trophic Level: a
specific level in an ecosystem based on the organisms source of energy.
Food Chain: the path of energy through the trophic levels of an ecosystem.
Herbivores: second trophic level, animals that eat plants or other primary producer.
Carnivores: third trophic level, animals that eat herbivores.
Omnivores: both herbivores and carnivores.
Detritivores: obtain energy from organic waste and dead bodies, release nutrients back
into environment. (decomposers: worms, bacteria, fungi)
Food Web: a complicated, interconnected group of food chains.
Biomass: the dry weight of tissue and other organic matter found in a specific
ecosystem.
Predation: the act of one organism feeding on another.
Symbiosis: two or more species live together in a close, long-term association.
Biome: major biological community that occurs over a large area of land.
Pre-assessment on Google Forms: https://goo.gl/forms/zZgL4O5bDlm1SI8s2