Science Lesson Planning Template
Overview and Context
Your name(s):
Grade level and school:
Title of lesson/activity:
Teaching date(s) and time(s):
Estimated time for lesson/activity:
Overview of lesson:
Context of lesson:
Sources:
Learning Goals and Assessments
Learning Goals and EEE+A
Connection
NGSS Performance Expectation
Learning Goal(s)
Type of Assessment(s)
Connection to Activities
Investigation question students
will answer:
Claim with evidence and
reasoning you hope students will
generate:
Adapted from University of Michigan, Elementary Teacher Education Program
Elizabeth Casolari
9th Grade Troy High School
10% Rule and Hunting Activity
11/10 at 8:20 am
55 minutes
In this lesson the students will be completing a Hunting activity to
help visualize energy flow through a food web/food chain. The
activity will span about 2/3 of the class as the energy flows from
Sun Plants  Zebras  Lions. After the lions have hunted the
activity ends and the students will discuss in their groups the what
happened to energy in the system they created. After they have
talked there will be a whole class discussion on what happened
during the activity in terms of energy flow and energy availability
based on the discussion questions on the student’s handout.
Following the whole class discussion, the students will complete a
CER on energy flow in an ecosystem.
The students had previously learned about food webs/food
chains/trophic levels and completed the first part of the handout,
the 10% rule. The hunting activity comes after they have learned
about all of this to help them visualize the energy flow and the
10% rule before they move into an assessment on food webs/food
chains/ trophic levels and energy flow.
Forshey, Jeff. “10% Rule Worksheet.” Jeff Forshey, 2022
Forshey, Jeff. “Hunting Activity Worksheet.” Jeff Forshey, 2022
HS-LS2-6 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics.
Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex
interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent
numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions but
changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
-Students will be able to generate claims, evidence, and reasoning on
the flow of energy in an ecosystem.
Students CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning)
The CER is based on the class discussion and 10% rule worksheet.
The 10% rule was shown through the Hunting activity and the class
discussion was based on the Hunting activity.
How does energy flow through an ecosystem?
Claim: There is more energy available at lower trophic levels.
Evidence: Energy flow in Pyramid A: Sun= 32,500,000 Kcal,
Producer= 2,800,000 Kcal, Primary Consumer= 450,000 Kcal,
Secondary Consumer= 50,000 Kcal, Tertiary Consumer= 2,500 Kcal.
page 1 of 5
 Energy flow in Hunting activity: Sun= constant energy production,
Plants= consistent energy from the sun (10 bags=1bag to zebras),
Zebras= slow but consistent energy from the plants (10 bags=1 bag
to lions), Lions= infrequent energy from zebras (1 bag of energy).
Reasoning: There is a greater amount of energy available at lower
trophic levels such as a producer (2,800,000/ Plant) in comparison to
a Primary Consumer (450,000/ Zebra). At each stage only about
10% of total energy is being passed on (10 bags received=1 bag
passed on). Finally, the pyramid shape of the energy show showed
the relative amount of biomass available at each level. As there is
more energy available at lower trophic levels there is more biomass
there in comparison to the number/amount of species present at
higher tropic levels.

Attending to the Learners

Anticipating student ideas,
including alternative ideas,
misconceptions, prior knowledge,
and prior experiences:
Making the content accessible to
all students, including how you are
setting high expectations for all
students, helping every student be
a doer of science, and working
toward structural equity and critical
consciousness. (If there are
individual children you need to be
sure to differentiate for, write that
here as well)
Prior Knowledge/Experiences: All of the students have previously
studied the 10% rule, food webs/food chains, and energy flow
through an ecosystem so this activity should just solidify the
knowledge that they already have about energy flow.
During the hunting activity I set up the roles so that students with
accommodations for extra time/written expression were in roles
where I could provide one-on-one support while waiting for energy
to flow to them. Students with accommodations for extra time also
had the option to turn in their work at a set later date. All class
documents were uploaded for students to have access to in order
to refer back to as needed. The students were given groups for the
class discussion, were given access to the questions in advance,
and time to discuss with their groups prior to sharing with the class.

Instructional Sequence

Materials: Beans
Sorting Cups
Role Signs
Plastic bags
10% Rule and Hunting Activity Handout

Instructional Sequence

Steps for Engage Element

Time ~5 The teacher will: The students will:

minutes
 Great the students for the day and as
they enter the room assign them their
role (sun, plant, zebra, or lion) and
direct them to their seating area for
the class period.
 Sit at the area for their assigned role,
read through the instructions for their
role, and share their role with the
class.

Adapted from University of Michigan, Elementary Teacher Education Program page 2 of 5

  Once all of the students have been
assigned their role, direct the
students to take a minute to read
through the instructions for their role.
 After students have had a chance to
read the instructions, ask each role
what they will be doing (What will
you be doing?) and highlight
important points
o Suns: 10 beans in a bag and
pass to the plants.
o Plants: get a bag from the
suns, divide the beans into
their cups according to the
cups instructions and once
there are 10 beans in the
growth cup bag them and
pass them onto the Zebras.
o Zebras: get a bag from the
plants, divide the beans into
cups according to the cups
instructions and once there
are 10 beans in the growth
cup, bag them, and go to the
hunting grounds.
o Lions: wait until a zebra goes
to the hunting grounds and
them hunt them by tapping
them on the shoulder. Collect
their bag of beans and sort
the beans into your cups
according to the cups
instructions.
 Ask if the students have any
questions before directing the suns to
begin sorting the beans.
Steps for Experience Element

Time ~ 30 The teacher will: The students will:

minutes
 Walk around to each group to ensure  Complete the assignment directions
that they are correctly following their for their role.
roles, answer any questions, and then  Clean up the hunting activity lab
work one-on-one with the  Discuss with groups.
Lions/Zebras that need extra support
to complete the math from the
previous day, and/or the math for the
current activity.
 Once the lions have hunted at least
once, inform students, “Stop sorting
and clean up by returning all bags
and beans to the suns, once you have
finished cleaning up get together with

Adapted from University of Michigan, Elementary Teacher Education Program page 3 of 5

 your groups to discuss what you
noticed throughout the activity, what
your group did, and the discussion
questions 5-7 on the 10% rule and
hunting activity handout.
Steps for Explain + Argue Element

Time ~ 20 The teacher will: The students will:

minutes
 Once the students have had a chance  Participate in the class discussion, ask
to discuss everything for the any questions, and then complete the
discussion in advance, bring the 10% rule and hunting activity
students attention back and start the handout.
discussion by asking each group what
they did and noticed in their role
throughout the activity.
o What did you do? How much
energy was passed on? What
did you spend energy on?
What did you do while you
were waiting?
 After groups have shared on their
roles, go through discussion
questions 5-7 on the 10% rule and
hunting activity handout as a class
and record the students answers on
the sheet to be posted later.
o While going through the
discussion ask students to
elaborate/add on/
agree/disagree as needed
and have students refer back
to their groups if needed.
 Once questions 5-7 are answered,
remind the students that if they have
not done so previously they need to
complete questions 8-11 before
moving on to question 12 the CER.
 Ask the students what each part of
the CER stands for and what should
go in it.
o Claim: Answers a question,
something that we learned
that we didn’t know before.
o Evidence: specific data that
supports our claim.
o Reasoning: Ties the evidence
and claim together, proves
the claim, brings in any
relevant scientific principles,
and disproves any other
potential answer.
 Ask the students if they have any

Adapted from University of Michigan, Elementary Teacher Education Program page 4 of 5

 questions and then inform them that
their handout and CER will be due at
the start of class tomorrow.

Organizational/Management Considerations:

-The class that this activity was being run with is a quite class, and do not often participate in class
discussions. When I put them into groups and have them discuss, I will go to each group and inform
them that they will be sharing with the class and if they are not comfortable sharing they need to have
at least one member that will convey the results of their group discussion with the class for the class
discussion.

Adapted from University of Michigan, Elementary Teacher Education Program page 5 of 5