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Student Experience 1: Who consumes who in Sunrise Farm pond?

all together [1]

Purposes

  1. To reveal students’ ideas about the feeding relationships among organisms in the farm pond ecosystem [2].
  2. To help students understand the feeding relationships among the organisms that live beneath the surface of a pond: underwater plants (e.g., hornwort, pondweed), algae, mayfly larvae, minnows, perch.

Description

Students examine the organism [3]populations in the pond model from Part Two and make predictions about feeding relationships among organisms within the pond ecosystem.  At this point, it is not necessary for students to record these predictions on their model; however, students may record them elsewhere.  Once all students have discussed initial ideas, facilitate a whole-group discussion, encouraging students to provide a rationale for their predictions.  You may need to reiterate that organisms that live underwater are of highest interest rather than those that live above the surface, or those who visit the pond.  After students have had an opportunity to discuss initial ideas, use student contributions to develop a food web for the organism populations most central to the Sunrise Farm mystery: perch, minnows, mayfly larvae, underwater plants (e.g., hornwort, pondweed), algae, decomposers.

Questions to Ask Students

Student Thinking

Implementation Tips

 

Decomposers Model [6]