Energy Flow
This lesson plan includes two small group activities and a powerpoint presentation. Through the basic information presented in the powerpoint and then the two small group activities, students gain a good understanding of how energy flows through an ecosystem. The two small group activities are a computer-based food chain activity and a paper-based energy pyramid activity. In this activity, students will identify and label organisms in an ecosystem as being producers, scavengers, consumers, or decomposers and then demonstrate this knowledge by creating and correctly labeling their own food chain. Then students create an energy pyramid and label each level of the energy pyramid. Students describe verbally to other students why there is less useable energy as you go up the pyramid. These activities directly relate to the learning expectation of analyzing energy flow through an ecosystem.
