Day 1: How Does Energy Travel through Food Chains? (60 min.)
Note: This portion of the activity requires a computer lab or access to one computer for each team of two or three students.

• Establish a knowledge base for wetlands by reading a brief wetlands book or viewing a wetlands movie or website. See Related Resources for ideas.
• Summarize the Wetlands Are Wonderlands! for your students. Students will:
  • explore a wetland using the Online Wetland Ecosystem
  • hypothesize food chain relationships within a wetland
  • use observations of physical characteristics/adaptations of producers and consumers in order to infer food chain/web relationships
  • use food chains to create a food web that illustrates interdependence in a wetland ecosystem
  • learn about the Pyramid of Energy and the Ten Percent Rule
• Set clear expectations for behavior.
  • scientific thinking
  • respectful listening
  • speaking in appropriate voices
  • participating
• Explain how this activity is grouped:
  • introduction
  • computer-based activity
  • classroom activities
  • class discussion
• Group students into twos or threes

Go!!!

• Engage. Take students to your school's computer lab. Allow five minutes for students to explore the Online Wetlands Ecosystem in teams of two or three. Verify their understanding of the Producer/Consumer key at the bottom of the page through questioning/discussion. Clarify terms as needed (e.g., producer, consumer, phytoplankton, zooplankton). See Background Information for details.
• Introduce the terms observation, inference, and food chain. (See Background Information.) Model an example observation that leads to a food chain inference (i.e., A duck does not have sharp teeth (observation) so it most likely eats plants (inference). Remind students to use observation skills in order to infer reasonable food chains.
• Distribute the Wetlands Are Wonderlands! Thinksheet and guide students through the "Question," "Think It Through," and "Hypothesis" sections. Allow 20-30 minutes for students to create 10 food chains using the Online Wetland Ecosystem.
  Note: Precise identification of food chains is not essential to the success of this activity. The goal is to stress that energy passes through a food chain/web and that ecosystems rely on these food web relationships (interdependence). Students are actually creating a hypothesis about how a wetland works as they construct food chains.
• Explain. Have students share examples of food chains they have created and discuss. Have each team share an observation that lead them to make a food chain inference. Note: Observation vs. inference is on the Wetlands Proficiency Assessment.
• Distribute the Family Page at the end of the lesson.

Day 2: How Does Energy Travel through Food Webs? (45 min.)

• Load the Wetlands Are Wonderlands! Online Wetland Ecosystem on your classroom computer(s) so that teams of students can refer to it as needed.
• Gather a sheet of large construction paper or chart paper (12x18 or larger) for each team of four to six students.
• Gather markers or crayons for each team if students do not have their own.
  
  Note: You may wish to group teams from Day 1 together to create teams of four to six students. Each team would then have two or more sets of food chain ideas, which are used in the next part of this activity.

• Introduce the term food web. (See Background Information.) Draw a sun on the chalkboard or overhead projector. Call on a student to share a food chain from Day 1 that begins with a producer. Add this food chain to the board or overhead projector so that it connects to the sun. (See example.) Now call on a student to share a food chain that is different from the first chain, but has a producer or consumer that was mentioned in the first food chain. Demonstrate how to connect these food chains into a food web using energy arrows so that no consumer or producer appears more than once. (See example.)
  

Go!!!

• Allow 30 minutes for students to combine food chains into one food web using construction paper or chart paper. As students work, circulate to make sure that energy arrows are being used appropriately and that each organism is only being listed once. Teams that finish early should add details to their posters (e.g., border, pictures, title). Note: It is recommended that students work in pencil first before following up with crayon or marker.
• Display posters in the classroom when complete.
• Collect Thinksheets. Note: Students will wait to complete the "Make Some Sense Of It" section until after the Pyramid of Energy lessons.

Day 3: Wetlands Are Wonderlands and Wolf Island (45 min.)

Ready...

• Locate a copy of Wolf Island by Celia Godkin (see Related Resources).
• Copy a class set of the Wetlands Are Wonderlands and Wolf Island pages (see Ready to Print). Enviro-Note: Two-sided copies, please.

Get Set...

• Gather students to listen to the story.
• Ask, "Do you think it's possible for ONE change in a food web to affect an entire community?"
• Read Wolf Island.

Go!!!

• Distribute the Wetlands Are Wonderlands and Wolf Island student pages and discuss.
• Complete the food web page together.
• Story Ball--Using a soft ball or Koosh ball, retell the story of Wolf Island. The teacher begins by sharing a topic sentence (i.e., It IS possible for ONE change in a food web to affect the entire community). The teacher then calls a student by name and tosses the Story Ball to them (underhand, please!). This student shares a sentence to continue the retelling, then passes the ball on to another student. This continues until the retelling is complete.
• Discuss the Wetlands are Wonderlands and Wolf Island paragraph writing student page. Note: You may want to offer extra credit to students who use ALL of the Word Bank choices in their paragraph.
• Allow time for students to write.
• Direct students to share their paragraphs in groups of 2-4 at the end of class or at the beginning of the next science class (if time does not permit).

---

Day 4: What Is the Pyramid of Energy? (45 min.)

• Copy a class set of the 3D Model and Student Information Pages.
• Gather scissors and tape.
• Make a sample 3D Model prior to the lesson for display.
• Choose a student food web poster from Day 2 to use during the lesson.

• Introduce the term consumer levels. (See Background Information.) Draw the following food chain on the blackboard or overhead projector: phytoplankton (producer) >>> zooplankton (primary consumer) >>> sunfish (secondary consumer) >>> great blue heron (tertiary consumer).
• Reinforce the meaning of the terms primary consumer (C1), secondary consumer (C2), and tertiary consumer (C3) by pointing to various consumers on a selected food web poster and calling on students to justify their consumer level.

• Distribute the 3D Model.
• Direct students to cut and fold pyramids into their three-dimensional shape, then tape them.
• Read and discuss Student Information Pages.

Day 5: What Is the Role of Energy and Matter in an Ecosystem? (45 min.)

• Gather the following student materials: gluesticks (or glue), scissors, yellow and red crayons or coloring pencils.
• Copy a class set of the Energy Flows and Matter Cycles Pyramid of Energy and The Pyramid of Energy and Food Webs and make an overhead transparency of these pages for teacher use.
• Gather the following teacher materials: red and yellow overhead markers.
• Note: Although this portion of the lesson is designed for students to complete individually, you could also have pairs or teams of students complete one pyramid each.

• Review the Pyramid of Energy and Ten Percent Rule information from Day 3.

• Distribute the Energy Flows and Matter Cycles Pyramid of Energy and discuss.
  • Label the producer, primary consumer (C1), secondary consumer (C2), and tertiary consumer (C3) levels using the key. (See example.)
  • Distribute The Pyramid of Energy and Food Webs page. Cut and glue the producers and consumers into their correct locations on the triangle. (See example.)
  • Introduce the expression energy flows and discuss. (See Background Information.) Color the sun and energy arrows yellow. Start with the sun and work up from the bottom to emphasize the direction of the flow of energy. (See example.)
  • Record Abiotic Matter labels at the bottom of the triangle. Introduce the expression matter cycles and discuss. (See Background Information.) Shade the Abiotic Matter section red. (See example.)
  • Shade the producer level matter arrows red and discuss. (See example.) Have students trace the matter cycle with their finger beginning and ending with Abiotic Matter. Discuss the role of decomposers in the cycling of matter. (See Background Information.)
  • Shade the primary consumer level matter arrows red and discuss. Have students trace the matter cycle with their finger beginning and ending with Abiotic Matter. Emphasize the role of decomposers.
  • Shade the secondary consumer level matter arrows red and discuss. Have students trace the matter cycle with their finger beginning and ending with Abiotic Matter. Emphasize the role of decomposers.
  • Shade the tertiary consumer level matter arrows red and discuss. Have students trace the matter cycle with their finger beginning and ending with Abiotic Matter. Emphasize the role of decomposers.
  • Add the decomposer icons to complete the pyramid. (See finished pyramid.)
  • Attach the Energy Flows and Matter Cycles food web to the back of the pyramid to complete the page.
    
    Note: Keep your overhead transparency for the next activity.

Day 6: How Do Humans Fit into the Pyramid of Energy? (45 min.)

• Remind students to have food items brought to class prior to the lesson day. (See Family Page.)
• Gather tape for attaching food items to the overhead projector screen (see below).
• Copy a class set of the Humans and the Pyramid of Energy Thinksheet (see Ready to Print).
• Locate a copy of the book If the World Were a Village by David J. Smith (see Related Resources).

• Display an overhead transparency (or LCD projection) of the Energy Flows and Matter Cycles Pyramid of Energy constructed during the previous lesson and review.
• Group students into teams of four and give them a few minutes to discuss the origins of their food items. For example, macaroni and cheese comes from cows (cheese) and wheat (macaroni).
• Distribute the Humans and the Pyramid of Energy Thinksheet and direct students to record their thoughts in the "Think It Through" section.
• Invite students to share their thoughts with the class, then complete the Hypothesis section.

• Direct students to the overhead transparency of the Energy Flows and Matter Cycles Pyramid of Energy constructed during the previous lesson and review.
• Model where and how to place a food item on the Pyramid of Energy using tape (i.e., cracker package goes in the producers section because crackers are a wheat product)
• Direct each team to choose one item per person to share and attach to the projector screen displaying the Energy Flows and Matter Cycles Pyramid of Energy. A few examples are listed below.

Food Item	Pyramid Level * indicates a food item with ingredients at more than one level, which was placed at the level which seemed most appropriate.
salad	producers (comes from plants)
cheeseburger	*primary consumers (meat comes from cattle)
milk	primary consumers (milk comes from cows)
macaroni and cheese	*producers (macaroni comes from wheat)

• Direct students to record foods on their Thinksheet as they are added to the Pyramid of Energy.
• Call on one team at a time to share their findings. Invite class discussion. Once all food items are displayed, summarize results as a class.
• Concluding questions:
  • Which level(s) of the Pyramid of Energy do we rely on the most? (producers)
  • Where do humans fit on the Pyramid of Energy? (we are usually primary or secondary consumers)
  • How can humans make better use of food energy? (consume from lower levels of the Pyramid of Energy)
• Read If the World Were a Village: a Book about the World's People and discuss how many in the world do not have the energy resources (food, electricity, etc.) that are common in the United States (see Related Resources).

• Summarize the Main Points
  • Food chains show the energy relationships between living things.
  • Food webs show the energy relationships among a community of living things.
  • ONE change in a food web CAN affect an entire community.
  • The Pyramid of Energy explains why there are so few large consumers and so many producers.
  • The Ten Percent Rule is a guideline for understanding how much energy is lost (to the system) as it passes from one consumer level to another.
  • Two of the great laws of nature are "energy flows and matter cycles."
• Compliment students for appropriate behaviors during the lesson.
• Complete the "Make Some Sense Of It" section of the Thinksheet.
• Evaluation
• Formative: anecdotal notes of teams in progress, incidental questioning of students' rationale for what they are doing (during activity), observation of teamwork, status of the class (end of each unfinished activity day)
• Summative: Choose from one or more of the following (see Ready to Print).
  • Proficiency Assessment
  • Online Assessment

 

Want Something More???

• Check out Related Resources.
• Take a field trip to a nearby wetland. Southwest Ohio teachers may want to schedule a visit to the Gilmore Ponds Wetland. See Related Resources for more information.
• Music Integration: "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly." Have students come up with their own version using a different food chain.
• Discuss the following statement: "If China decided tomorrow to eat meat the way we eat meat in the United States, the world would need to become their cattle ranch."