Biotic and Abiotic Factors

This lesson plan involves 3 activities. First, there is a class discussion centered on displayed images of ecosystems, one ecosystem with life and another without. Then, the teacher leads the class in building a “human” ecosystem where the students act as the different components. Finally, there is an interactive game that involves the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers. Students learn about the biotic and abiotic factors that influence the populations in an ecosystem. The students act out the roles and interactions of producers, consumers, and decomposers. All of this enables them to understand the dynamic equilibrium of the relationships in the ecosystem and how different things, both biotic and abiotic, can impact that equilibrium.

Weblink address (URL):

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives:

Objectives:

Students will be able to define the living and non-living parts of an ecosystem.
Students will be able to give examples of producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Students will be able trace the path of energy through an ecosystem.

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level:

Understanding

Helpful Hints

Materials:

Overhead projector
Overhead transparencies made from enclosed illustrations
Printing Instructions: Before printing, change Page Setup... to print the page in Landscape mode. Due to the variability of computers, page sizes may vary. For Macintosh computers, it is recommended in Page Setup... to change the Scale to 75% for best fit printing.
Figure 1 - (100 K)
Figure 2 - (100 K)
Figure 3 - (100 K)
Figure 3 (Teacher's Edition) - (100 K)

References

Contributors:

Kelly Ramey

Originator:

Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation