Secondary Education
Task: What’s for Lunch?
GPS: S7L4 food webs
Art work by Phillip Martin
Title: What’s For Lunch?
Grade/Subject/Course: 7/Science/Life Science
(Interdependence of Life)
Time Allotment: 50 min
Big Idea: How do organisms in an ecosystem depend on each other?
Author/School: Melissa Niemi/Arnold Magnet Academy
Primary Standard:
S7L4 Student will examine the dependence of organisms
on one
another and their environments.
S7CS5 Students will use the ideas of system, model, change, and scale in
exploring scientific and technological matters.
S7CS9 Students will investigate the features of the process of scientific inquiry.
Per group:
• 12 Index cards
• Copies of organism picture sheets
• Scissors
• Glue
• 2 sheets of white paper
• Lab sheet with Organisms Reference Sheet
• Reference materials/Internet
Materials:
7 E Model
Individual
Reflection and
Whole-Group
Discussion:
1. Elicit
2. Engage
3. Explore
Task Scenario
or Lab
Overview
Group
Assignments:
Individual
Standards-Based Classroom Opening:
Individual:
• Review previous knowledge through journal reflections on
environments from previous learning experiences. Journals
recordings are completed as students enter the classroom.
Whole-Group:
• Review language of standards S7L4, S& CS5 and S7CS9.
• Discuss how the language of the identified standards relates to
the Lab, What’s for Lunch? (partner discussion and whole-group
sharing)
• Identify the problem for the activity, What’s for Lunch?, and
record this in the Problem section on the Lab Sheet.
• Introduce the What’s for Lunch task through the Task Scenario.
You have been accepted into the Junior National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Your first task as Junior
Marine Biologist is to investigate the recent fluctuations in the
fiddler crab and great blue heron populations in the salt marshes
on Sapelo Island. Find out if there are enough food sources to
support these populations.
What’s For Lunch?
• Student Pairs
• Directions are on lab instruction sheet.
Record the answers to the questions in the Conclusions section of
Muscogee County School District
Secondary Education
Task: What’s for Lunch?
GPS: S7L4 food webs
Art work by Phillip Martin
4. Explain
5. Evaluate
Assignment:
Provide
summary of
solution and/or
findings
Varied
Assessment
Tools: (i.e.:
rubric, solution)
the lab report.
Literacy in Science
Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out
experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
Informal Formative:
• Standards-Based Classroom Closing:
• The Three W’s
-What did we learn today?
-So What ? (relevancy, importance, usefulness)
-Now What? (how does this fit into what we are learning)
Formal Formative:
• Individual Assessment , Submitted lab reports serve as a
formal formative assessment.
Discuss population changes and how it affects the ecosystem.
6. Extend/
7. Elaborate
Notes:
Organisms for activity may be modified to include a certain ecosystem of study or a certain area of the
state.
Muscogee County School District
Secondary Education
Task: What’s for Lunch?
GPS: S7L4 food webs
Art work by Phillip Martin
Name ________________
Date _________________
Period ________________
What’s for Lunch?
S7L4a: Demonstrate in a food web that matter is transferred from one organism to another and
can recycle between organisms and their environments
S7L4b: Explain in a food web that sunlight is the source of energy and that this energy moves
from organism to organism.
You have been accepted into the Junior National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA). Your first task as Junior Marine Biologist is to investigate the recent fluctuations in
the fiddler crab and great blue heron populations in the salt marshes on Sapelo Island. Find
out if there are enough food sources to support these populations.
Problem Statement:
Research Notes:

Food chains

Food webs
Hypothesis:
Do you think all of the organisms in an ecosystem will be a part of the food chain? Of the food web?
Materials:

12 Index cards per group

Copies of organism picture sheets for each group

Scissors for each group




Glue for each group
2 sheets of white paper per group
Lab sheet
Reference materials/Internet
Procedure:
1.
Cut out the pictures of the following organisms and paste them on 12 index cards.
2.
Mix up the cards. Randomly select 6 of them.
3.
Using as many of the 6 cards as possible, arrange the organisms into a food chain.
4.
If necessary, use reference materials or the Internet to determine what food(s) each
animal eats.
5.
Draw the food chain onto a clean sheet of white paper. (Animal’s picture & name of animal).
6.
Use arrows to show the flow of energy. The arrow points upwards from the food to the animal
that is eating it, to demonstrate the movement of energy.
7.
Return the cards to the pile. This time, use all 12 cards to create a food web.
8.
Draw the food web on another clean sheet of white paper. (Remember: Animal’s picture &
name of animal). Use arrows to show the flow of energy.
Results: Results will be your completed food chain and food web.
Muscogee County School District
Secondary Education
Task: What’s for Lunch?
GPS: S7L4 food webs
Art work by Phillip Martin
Conclusions: Provide detailed explanations of findings. Write in complete sentences
using the language of the standards.
1. Why does the arrow in a food chain point towards the animal that eats the food?
2. Compare: What does a food chain have in common with a food web?
3. Contrast: How is a food chain different from a food web?
4. Identify: How many organisms were in the first food chain?
5. Classify: Which organisms on your cards were producers?
6. Classify: Which organisms on your cards were consumers?
7. Was your hypothesis correct or incorrect? Explain.
(For continued learning and Food Chain games, visit http://sciencegames.4you4free.com/food_chain.html.
More of Phillip Martin’s art work is also here.)
Muscogee County School District
Secondary Education
Task: What’s for Lunch?
GPS: S7L4 food webs
Art work by Phillip Martin
Smooth Cordgrass
Ribbed Mussels
Fiddler Crab
Algae
Organisms Reference Sheet
Black Needle Rush
Eastern Oyster
Palmetto
Marsh Periwinkle
Great Blue Heron
Shrimp
Sea Turtle
Raccoon
Muscogee County School District