Lesson 3.1: Ecosystem Interactions

NGSS Standard:

Objective

Students will be able to identity and create a food chain for the Milkweed Bug. They will be able to define key vocabulary for food chains.

Materials

Per Student:

-Red and Black Colored Pencils, Markers, or Crayons

Prep

• Place red, and black colored pencils and/or markers at each table group.
• Pull up the Milkweed Bug Experiment slides.
• Fill a couple large cups with tap water and a few large cups with sunflower seeds. Set aside to be used by the students when they need to fill up their food and water cups.

Procedure

Introduction:

5 Minutes: Learning About Food Chains

1. Ask students what a food chain is

• A food chain is the path of energy in the form of food from one organism to another.

2. Define the following terms as a class. Use the Power Point to begin placing these terms into their relative places on the food chain.

Producer

• These are plants that can perform photosynthesis to make energy.

Primary Consumer

• These are insects and animals that eat producers or plants.

Secondary Consumer

•  These are insects and animals that eat primary consumers.

Tertiary Consumer

•  These are animals that eat secondary consumers and are at the top of the food chain.

Decomposer

• These are organisms like slugs, fungi, and bacteria that break down dead organisms.

Explanation:

2-5 Minutes: Explanation of the Activity.

1. Use the slides to show the movement of energy in a food chain.

•  Point out the direction of the arrows. They point towards the organism that is receiving the energy.

2. Using the proceeding slides, show a few examples of food chains.

3. Have students turn to the food chain page of their journal. Have students work with their elbow partner to complete their food chain.

• They will be writing and drawing organisms in the correct place on their sheets.

Activity:

10 Minutes: Creating the Milkweed Bug Food Chain

1. Have students work together to create a food chain for the Milkweed Bug in their journal.

Closing:

10 Minutes: Cleaning and Care/Observations

1. Pass out role tags to each table group (optional)
2. Have the "Supplier" from each table group grab their containers from the insulated coolers and bring them carefully to their table.
3. Have students carefully change and remove the plastic portion cups from the containers.
4. Have the "Waterer" and "Feeder" change the water and sunflower seeds.
5. Remind the "Escape Watch" students to use the paintbrushes to keep the insect in their containers.
6. Have students place the clean food and water cups back into the containers.
7. Give students about 5 minutes to write their observations. Encourage them to work with their table group to fill out this section.
8. Show the Power Point slide of the different nymph stages of the insects.
9. Once students have completed their observations, ask them to clean up their space and have their "Supplier" return trays to the coolers according to labeled temperature.