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SHAWSHEEN VALLEY TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
MCAS REMEDIATION DEPARTMENT CURRICULUM GUIDE
SUMMER MCAS PROGRAM
Goal Strand 6 Students will create and identify food webs and
trophic levels as wells their inter-relationships.
General Objective Central Concept 6 Ecology is the interaction among organisms and
between organisms and their environment
Use a food web to identify and distinguish
Specific Objective 6.3 producers, consumers, and decomposers, and
explain the transfer of energy through trophic
levels. Describe how relationships among
organisms (predation, parasitism, competition,
commensalism, and mutualism) add to the
complexity of biological communities.
Learning Activity (FOOD WEB WARS
Purpose:
To learn about food webs and how energy moves
through a food web by playing a modified version
of the card game WAR.
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MATERIALS
Animal cards that correspond with the
animals in the lesson.
Large paper
Make a Food Web
Use the information below to create a food web.
Make sure you are neat and can read your food
web as you will need it to play the game. The
information shows which animals are in the
ecosystem and who eats who.
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Teacher Tips
My deck of cards was approximately
75.
Depending on the level of your class
you might consider having the food
web already completed or partially set
up for them. It is large and confusing
with a lot of interrelationships.
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Curriculum Guide: Summer MCAS Program
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Assessment Methods
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Ongoing assessment during the game.
Extended Question worksheet
End of unit Quiz
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FOOD WEB WARS
Purpose:
To learn about food webs and how energy moves through a food web by playing a modified version of
the card game WAR.
Step 1: Make a Food Web
Use the information below to create a food web. Make sure you are neat and can read your food web
as you will need it to play the game. The information shows which animals are in the ecosystem and
who eats who.
The animals are arranged into different levels which will help you arrange them in your food web.
LEVEL 1
Crops
Berries
Trees
Grasses
LEVEL 2
Animal
Food Sources
mouse
grass, berries, trees
deer
grass, berries, crops, trees
grasshopper grass, berries, crops, trees
rabbit
grass, berries, trees
chipmunk
grass, berries, trees
squirrel
grass berries, trees
LEVEL 3
Animal
bullfrog
snake
raccoon
weasel
bear
fox
owl
Food Sources
grasshopper
mouse, grasshopper
crops, mouse, berries, trees
mouse, grasshopper, rabbit, chipmunk, squirrel
berries, mouse, grasshopper, rabbit, chipmunk, squirrel
mouse, grasshopper, rabbit, chipmunk, squirrel
mouse, grasshopper, rabbit
LEVEL 4
Animal
Food Sources
eagle
mouse, rabbit, chipmunk, squirrel, snake, raccoon, weasel bullfrog
hawk
mouse, rabbit, chipmunk, squirrel, snake, raccoon, weasel, bullfrog
mountain lion
mouse, rabbit, chipmunk, squirrel, snake raccoon, weasel, deer
coyote
mouse, rabbit, chipmunk, squirrel, snake, raccoon, weasel
bobcat
mouse, rabbit, chipmunk squirrel snake, raccoon, weasel.
DECOMPOSERS
Put these to the side of your food web.
Animal
Food Sources
indian pipes Everything once they are dead
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mushrooms
Everything once they are dead
Step 2: Play the Game using the rules below
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This game will be played with a partner
You will be given a stack of food web playing cards. Randomly separate these into two piles
so each partner has a pile of cards
Each player will be given 15 energy chips
Starting at the top of the deck each partner flips over one card. Check the food web to see
which of the following situations applies and follow the instructions.
IF:
• one card is the predator and the other card the direct prey the player with the prey card must
give the player with the predator card TWO energy chips.
• each card is linked through a food chain, but there is not a direct predator prey relationship the
player that has the animal/plant that is lower on the food chain must give ONE energy chip to
the player that has the card that is higher on the food chain.
• If each card is on the same level and shares a common food source you must play one round of
rock paper scissor and the loser must give an energy chip to winner.
• If a decomposer is flipped with ANY other card you must play a best of 3 rock paper scissor
game.
o If the player who has the decomposer card wins the other players animal/plant is dead
and they must give TWO energy chips to the winning player.
o If the player who has the animal/plant card wins NO energy chips given.
• If you flip two cards and they do not share a direct predator prey relationship, do not belong in
a common food chain, do not compete for a food source and is not a decomposer NO energy
chips are exchanged and you should flip the next card.
• Once you have gone through your deck of cards shuffle and deal again and continue playing.
• If you run out of energy chips you must answer one of the “Get back in the game questions”
Choose one of the questions on the list to answer call your teacher over and if you answer
correctly you will be given 4 energy chips and you may continue playing
• The winner is the player who has accumulated the most energy chips by the end of the game.
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GET BACK IN THE GAME QUESTIONS
1. Give an example of a producer in the food web.
2. Give an example of a consumer in the food web.
3. Give an example of an autotroph in the food web.
4. Give an example of a heterotroph in the food web.
5. Give an example of a food chain where the mountain lion is a tertiary consumer.
6. Give an example of a primary consumer.
7. Give an example of a secondary consumer.
8. Give an example of an organism that makes its own food.
9. Give an example of a food chain where the mountain lion is a quaternary
consumer.
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10. Give an example an organism that would be found in the 1st trophic level.
11. Give an example of an organism that would be found in the 2nd trophic level
12. Give an example of an organism that would be found in the 3rd trophic level.
13. Give an example of an organism that would be found in the 4th trophic level
14. What is the name for organisms that feed on organisms once they are dead?
15. Explain why the arrows point in the direction they do in a food web.
Extended Thinking Questions
1. In the game you had to play rock paper scissors when two animals shared a food source. Why
do you think you did this?
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2. Why do you think you had to give 2 energy chips to a predator if you were a direct prey, but
only one energy chip if you were in the same food chain?
3.
What organisms would be affected if the snake population was removed from the food web.
How would they be affected?
Shawsheen Valley Technical High School MCAS Remediation Department
Curriculum Guide: Summer MCAS Program
8
Shawsheen Valley Technical High School MCAS Remediation Department
Curriculum Guide: Summer MCAS Program
9
Shawsheen Valley Technical High School MCAS Remediation Department
Curriculum Guide: Summer MCAS Program
10
Shawsheen Valley Technical High School MCAS Remediation Department
Curriculum Guide: Summer MCAS Program