Teaching Smarter Science Inquiry Framework Using
Food Chain Gizmo
Learning Objectives
Students will…
 The students will identify the levels of organisms in a food chain (producers, consumers,
and explain the role of each.
 The students will construct a food chain for a typical ecosystem.
Vocabulary
consumer, ecosystem, equilibrium, food chain, population, predator, prey, producer
Lesson Overview
The Food Chain Gizmo, shows a food chain with hawks, snakes, rabbits, and grass. In this
simulation, the hawks eat snakes, the snakes eat rabbits, and the rabbits eat grass. The
population of species is simulated over time and food chain levels at an equilibrium state can be
obtained.
Through this lesson, students will gain experience
using the Smarter Science inquiry framework;
following an investigative process that includes asking
questions, designing experiments, collecting and
analyzing observations, and discussing conclusions.
Materials
 Smarter Science “Initiate and Plan” 4 poster
series or handouts (Appendix A)
 Post-it note pads, 2 colors per group
 Hole-punched index cards
 String
Lesson Sequence
1. Prior to using the Gizmo
Before students are at the computers, assess student knowledge using the Student
Exploration Guide - Prior Knowledge questions.
a. What are some examples of producers?
b. What are some examples of consumers? What are the different types?
Discuss student answers as a class, but do not correctany misconceptions or
assumptions.
2. Initiate & Plan - Observe
Perform an activity with the class to create a food chain, divide the class into 4 groups,
give each student a blank index card and some string.
Each group will be given a category:
Producers
Primary
Consumers
Secondary
Consumers
Tertiary
Consumers
Have each student write down an example of the organism pertaining to their respective
category.
Examples of organisms
Producers - plants, grass, vegetables, seaweed, vines
PrimaryConsumers - herbivores, worms, insects, fish, mice
SecondaryConsumers - omnivores, rabbits, squirrels, whales
Tertiary Consumers - carnivores, tigers, sharks, snakes
Ask the class the following question:
What do all plants (or producers) need to grow and survive? Discussion should lead to:
the sun, and water.
Create anindex card with sun and water. If we
use the sun, then the card will serve as the
centre piece for the food chain. Ask students to
stand up and attach their organism to the food
chain. Each organism should be attached to
the organism that it eats and the organism that
eats it.
Start by asking who needs the sun to live?
Attach the string between the sun and those
students. Then ask who needs plants to live,
and then attach the string between those
organisms. Eventually, the entire class will be entangled into an intricate food web.
Ask the class what do they observe about this food web? Some prompts to help them
gain perspective:
a. What is the meaning of herbivore, omnivore, carnivore?
b. What would happen if the sun was not there?
c. What would happen if one of the organisms disappeared?
Have one of the students pull on the web to illustrate that their organism is disappearing,
what happens to the organisms attached to it? What could cause one of the species to
disappear? What happens to its food chain, and the food web?
Use post-it notes and the Smarter Science – Initiate & Plan - Step 1Observing poster to
record student responses.
Outcome might look like this:
3. Assign pairs of students to computers (if sufficient computers are available for all
students to have their own, still pair them up for discussion purposes). Afterwards,
introduce the Gizmo and describe what it does. Do not demonstrate how it works – allow
the students to discover the functionality. Note: simply by playing with the Gizmo will
build the context for inquiry to start. Have students expand on their observations and
generate questions from the observations in the Gizmo. They can make note of:
a. Pyramid shape - number of organisms decrease up the food chain
b. Identify producers and consumers
c. Disease population outcomes
4. Gather questions that students might be wondering about that could be tested with the
Gizmo. This works well if every student writes one question on a sticky note and shares
it on the poster. Sort the similar questions together. Some questions the teacher might
offer could include:
a. How does doubling the rabbit population affect the grass, snakes, and
hawks at first?
b. How does halving the rabbit population affect the grass, snakes, and
hawks at first?
c. How does the relationship between predator and prey affect each
other?
5. Identifying variables for scientific inquiry
 Using theSmarter Science – Initiate & Plan - Step 2 poster, have students identify
i. What can I measure or observe in this Gizmo?
ii. What can I change about the Gizmo that may affect what I can measure
or observe?


Note: it can be useful to also identify what is automatically controlled in the
Gizmo but could be a variable when conducting the actual experiment
Gather their input on post-it notes. Note: Use different color post-it notes for i.
and ii. above. Outcome might look like this:
6. Students are now set up to do many combinations of their own controlled experiments.
To start them off, conduct this challenge together:
A. Predict how changing the rabbit population will affect the other organisms at first.
Write “Increase” or “Decrease” next to each “Prediction” in the table.
Change
Grass
Snakes
Hawks
Doubling
rabbit
population
Prediction:
Prediction:
Prediction:
Result:
Result:
Result:
Halving
rabbit
population
Prediction:
Prediction:
Prediction:
Result:
Result:
Result:
B. Test: Add rabbits until the population is about twice as large as it was (200% of
balance). Click Play, and then Pause (
) after approximately ONE month. Next to
each “Result” line in the table, write “Increase” or “Decrease.” Click Reset and then
halve the rabbit population (50% of balance). Record the results for this experiment
in the table as well. Alternatively, students can also use the screen copy tool to copy
and paste graphs into a separate document.
A. How did doubling the rabbit population affect the grass, snakes, and hawks at
first?
B. How did halving the rabbit population affect the grass, snakes, and hawks at
first?
Students can use the snapshot tool to obtain graphs of their simulation that compare
population over time. Students should continue to make observations such as the
time to reach equilibrium and make inferences on the fluctuations of populations in
the 8 month period.
Once students are comfortable enough to do so, they may begin to conduct their
own simulations to answer their own questions. Ensure they plan their investigation
by having them use the Smarter Science – Initiate & Plan - Step 3 poster. Move the
appropriate independent, dependant and control variables to the Smarter Science –
Initiate & Plan - Step 3 poster. Outcome might look like this:
7. Explore and Experiment - Test additional questions and debrief summarizing the
observations.
A. Challenge students to generate and accurately simulate an event where a natural
disaster would eliminate half the population of one of the species before the
ecosystem reaches equilibrium. How long would it take for the ecosystem to stabilize?
What will happen to the population of the species' predators?
B. Have students explore the effect of a disease happening on one or more of the
species. How does it affect the outcome from a "healthy" case.
C. Can students create a simulation that causes total collapse of the ecosystem?
D. Can students create a simulation that causes near total collapse of the ecosystem,
but eventually recovers and reaches equilibrium?
8. Assessment
Check students' understanding by performing the assessment questions associated with
this Gizmo. Additionally, you may ask the students the following:
A. How would the food chain change if another species was added?
B. Compare this to the pre-Gizmo activity. How are food chains and food webs similar?
How are they different?
C. Illustrate a food chain in a different ecosystem than the one in the Gizmo. For example,
create a food chain that would exist in the hydrosphere. Use arrows to show the
predator-prey relationships that exist. What are the differences, if any, between your
food chain and the one in this Gizmo?
About the Author
This lesson plan was prepared by Mark Roxas, currently a teacher candidate at the University of
Toronto - Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.