Key Concepts

• Plants transfer energy and nutrients to other organisms
• Organisms transfer energy and nutrients to other organisms
• Excrement is a source of energy for other organisms
• Excrement and biomass release nutrients to the soil and energy back into the ecosystem

Teacher Resources & Lesson Ideas

Basic information about energy flow through the ecosystem – easy read. Could be used as a resource for students or an assignment for students.
http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/Mod1/Flow/foodchains.htm

Background information and chemical composition of carbohydrates
http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=61

Background information on the importance of insects for energy transfer: a teacher web site on the importance of insects for the transfer of energy through the ecosystem
http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2002/03/030402t_insects.jhtml

Bugs in the food chain - Alternative approaches to the transferring of energy through the food chain
http://museumvictoria.com.au/bugs/foodchains/predation.aspx

Edible Insects – overview of insects as food from the University of Kentucky
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/bugconnection/edible/edible.htm

Insects as food for humans: background resource on the nutritional value of insects with suggestions on how they could be included in our diet.
http://www.manataka.org/page160.html

Edible bugs - Many cultures around the world value insects as a food source
http://webecoist.com/2009/07/07/eco-friendly-protein-edible-bugs/

Lesson idea for creating an ecosystem with insects
http://iitc.tamu.edu/1998and2000/lessons/lesson31.html

Insects As Carnivores

Praying Mantis capturing a humming bird
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/backyardbirds/hummingbirds/mantis-hummer.aspx

Meat eating bees
http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/carnivorous-bees/

Plants As Carnivores

Carnivorous Plants – everything you wanted to know and more – over 600 carnivorous plants have been identified.
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html

Carnivorous Plants – web site presents carnivorous plants by Kingdom and Family with colored pictures of each plant.
http://www.botany.org/Carnivorous_Plants/

Growing and caring for carnivorous plants
http://mysite.verizon.net/elgecko1989/carnivorous.html

How carnivorous plants capture insects and why are plants carnivorous!
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5270668_do-carnivorous-plants-capture-insects.html

Lesson Plans and Activities on the Food Web

Ohio Resource Center # 555 http://biology.arizona.edu/sciconn/lessons/scheidemantel/overview.html 
In this unit, the students explore basic ecology concepts and scientific processes using spiders as model organisms. They capture spiders, observe and care for them, and use them to answer their own questions about spider behavior. Modeling the process of a research scientist, each team of students designs and conducts their own experiment. Simultaneously, the class collaborates on joint projects investigating feeding rates of spiders (by pooling individual feeding data) and their importance in controlling the numbers of insects (by conducting a field study on or near school grounds). The unit includes both teacher and student materials. The teacher materials include teaching tips, scheduling time lines, preparation instructions, and resource materials. The student materials include the lab handouts the students will be using in each of their experiments.

Mathematics Connections to Data Analysis, Representations and Communications

Mathematics and energy transfer from food – lesson on nutrition – page 4 has student doing graphs and data analysis for calorie intact from food sources.
http://www.greenscreen.org/articles_teachers/TG%20Global%20Food%20SR.pdf

Teacher demonstration with student interaction on energy transfer through the food web could also be used as an embedded assessment activity.  Energy flow in the ecosystem – simple explanation and class activity teacher can do to help students understand the amount of energy transfer from the sun to plants and the resulting food chain. Use of mathematics (percents and measurements)…
http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/Science/sciber00/8th/energy/sciber/ecosys.htm

 

Student Misconceptions

• Students may not have a conceptual understanding of the food web and that energy transfer can move in many directions: for example from plants to cows to insects to other insects to mammals to fish.
• A surprising number of students don’t think of insects as animals.
• Students may not think of plants as predators and insects as carnivores.

Student Prior Knowledge

Photosynthesis, carbon dioxide, carbohydrates, food chain, food web, herbivores, carnivores, & nutrients.

Assessment Strategies

Here are a number of strategies and activities you might use to help uncover student misconceptions, the level of student learning and areas students might need further instruction.

Pre-Assessment

Use an origami student response system (See paper folding student response instructions and sample.)

Here are three multiple choice questions you can ask your students prior to viewing and discussing the Food Web from an Insect’s Perspective video. We suggest you adjust and/or add more questions to best address the needs of your students.

Students are each given the “origami student response system” and fold the paper to show their answer to each question. After the teacher asked each multiple choice question each student holds up his or her response by folding the paper so that the answer is facing the teacher.

QUESTIONS

1.  Food webs show how matter and energy can move in an ecosystem.  Which of the following relationships would NOT be found in a food web?
            a.  a praying mantis eating a hummingbird
            b.  a grasshopper eating a fly
            c.   a wasp eating an aphid
            d.  a plant eating an insect

2.  Soil contains many important nutrients.  Which of the following provides the most nutrients to the soil?
            a.  decomposition of dead animals
            b.  manmade fertilizers
            c.  recycled animal waste
            d.  rain water

3.  An energy pyramid shows the transfer of energy in an ecosystem.  How much energy is transferred from one level of the pyramid to the next?
            a.  100%
            b.  90%
            c.  50%
            d.  10%

ANSWERS

            1b, 2c, 3d

Origami Answer Sheet for Students

 

Pre-Assessment and Embedded Assessment Activities

Pre-Assessment:

Draw a food web that contains at least 10 organisms.  Then, with your partner, try to combine your individual webs into one larger, more complex web.  Share your ideas with the class.

(Teachers Note:  Look for the initial understanding of what happens in a food web.  In addition, look for any correct but non-traditional relationships, such as parasites, carnivorous plants, or organisms that eat the waste of other organisms, which is an important part of this video lesson.)

Embedded-Assessment:

Revisit the food web that was drawn during the pre-assessment.  Add at least three more organisms to your web that show your more complete understanding of a food web.  Feel free to construct a completely new food web if you wish.

(Teachers:  Look for a correct understanding of the relationships in food webs.  In addition, look for the inclusion of organisms discussed in the video, such as carnivorous plants [Venus flytrap and fly], and parasites [wasp and aphid].

Embedded Assessment:

Teacher demonstration with student interaction:
Energy flow in the ecosystem – simple explanation and class activity that teachers can do to help students understand the amount of energy transfer from the sun to plants and the resulting food chain. Use of mathematics (percents and measurements)
http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/Science/sciber00/8th/energy/sciber/ecosys.htm

Post- Assessment:

You can use the NAEP assessment items found on the Ohio Resource Center site that deal with Benchmark C and/or the constructed response questions development for this episode.

NAEP Assessment items:

• ORC resource #1581 http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrls/portal.asp?questionlist=2000-8S9:2  Students are asked to identify two things animals get from their food that helps keep them alive. This constructed response question is a sample test item used in past National Assessments of Educational Progress (see About NAEP). The URL link above takes the user to the NAEP test item, with access to performance data by various subgroups, a scoring guide and student responses, and the content on which the item is based.
• ORC resource# 1583  http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrls/portal.asp?questionlist=2000-8S9:4  Students are asked to complete a food web. This constructed response question is a sample test item used in past National Assessments of Educational Progress (see About NAEP). The URL link above takes the user to the NAEP test item, with access to performance data by various subgroups, a scoring guide and student responses, and the content on which the item is based.

Constructed Response Question:

At the end of the video, the host says, “One way or another, it all goes back to plants.”  Explain this statement, using examples from the video.

Grading Rubric:

4 points:  The response should include the following points:  Plants have the ability to capture the energy from the sun to use in food webs.  As organisms eat plants, they are able to use the energy that had come from the sun.  Some of this energy is not completely used by the organism, and the undigested plant waste that is found in their manure supplies energy for many other organisms.  Carnivorous plants eat insects that can trace their food back to plants.  The wasps that use the aphids as hosts for their eggs also trace their food source back to plants.

3 points:  Any three facts from the 4 point answer

2 points:  Any two facts from the 4 point answer

1 point:  Any one fact from the 4 point answer

0 points:  No facts from the 4 point answer

Standards

Science and Mathematics Academic Content Standards

Benchmarks - Grade Level Indicators Addressed in Video and Related Activities:

 

Grade Six Life Science Standard:  Diversity and Interdependence of Life

Benchmark C

Explain how energy entering the ecosystems as sunlight supports the life of organisms through photosynthesis and the transfer of energy through the interactions of organisms and the environment.

Grade Level Indicator 8

Describe how organisms may interact with one another.

Grade Six Mathematics Standards: Patterns, Functions and Algebra

Students use patterns, relations and functions to model, represent
and analyze problem situations that involve variable quantities. Students analyze, model and solve problems using various representations such as tables, graphs and equations.

Benchmarks B, F

B. Represent, analyze and generalize a variety of patterns and functions with tables, graphs, words and symbolic rules.
F. Use representations, such as tables, graphs and equations, to model situations and to solve problems, especially those that involve linear relationships.

Grade Level Indicators 1, 5

1. Represent and analyze patterns, rules and functions, using physical materials, tables and graphs.
5. Produce and interpret graphs that represent the relationship between two variables.

Science and Mathematics Standards
Addressed through Suggested Teacher Interaction with Students

 

Science and Technology

Students should recognize that science and technology are interconnected, and that using technology involves assessment of the benefits, risks, and costs. Students should build scientific and technological knowledge, as well as the skill required to design and construct devices. In addition, they should develop the processes to solve problems and to understand that problems may be solved in several ways.

Scientific Inquiry

Students develop scientific habits of mind as they use the processes of scientific inquiry to ask valid questions, and to gather and analyze information. They understand how to develop hypotheses and make predictions. They are able to reflect on scientific practices as they develop plans of action to create and evaluate a variety of conclusions. Students are also able to demonstrate the ability to communicate their findings to others.

Scientific Ways of Knowing

Students realize that the current body of scientific knowledge must be based on evidence, be predictive, logical, subject to modification, and limited to the natural world. This includes demonstrating an understanding that scientific knowledge grows and advances as new evidence is discovered to support or modify existing theories, as well as to encourage the development of new theories. Students are able to reflect on ethical scientific practices and demonstrate an understanding of how the current body of scientific knowledge reflects the historical and cultural contributions of women and men who provide us with a more reliable and comprehensive understanding of the natural world.

Mathematical Processes

Students use mathematical processes and knowledge to solve problems. Students apply problem-solving and decision-making techniques, and communicate mathematical ideas.