Session Guide Grade 7: Living Things And Their Environment Session Title: Interactions (Module 5) Prepared by: Michael

Anthony B. Mantala Introduction This session guide provides a rundown of Module 5, Living Things and Their Environment and shows how the lesson on Interactions will be facilitated using the Teaching Guide. The first part of the module deals with interactions that take place between organisms and their physical environment; the second part deals with interactions among organisms also invariably called ecological relationships or feeding relationships. It takes about eight hours to cover the entire module in the regular classroom setting. Part of this time duration includes preparation of mini aquaria with varying components and subjected to different lighting conditions. For this session, only Activity 2, Housemates? Ecomates! will be used to model interactions in the environment. Objectives of the Session At the end of the session, the participants should be able to: 1. relate the lesson in Module 5, Interactions to the lessons covered in the four other modules for Living Things And Their Environment; 2. describe the interactions that take place in the environment; and 3. infer interrelationships among organisms and their physical environment. Content of the Session Activity 2: Housemates? Ecomates! (Refer to Module 5, Interactions) Points to emphasize in Activity 2:

Session Guide Grade 7: Living Things And Their Environment o At the start of the activity, draw from the participants the idea that the environment is

Session Guide Grade 7: Living Things And Their Environment

TEACHING GUIDE

MODULE

5
Overview

INTERACTIONS

In the lower grades, learners were introduced to the living and nonliving things that make up the environment. They have also been introduced to the different interactions that take place among organisms and between organisms and their environment; they prey on other organisms for food, they have structures that help them look for food and meet their basic needs, and they live in places where they can be safe from bigger animals. Some interactions are beneficial; others are harmful. There are also interactions in which populations of organisms are neither benefitted nor harmed. All these interactions take place in ecosystems. All these interactions involve energy and its transformation through trophic levels. Producers like plants convert radiant energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis. This energy is transformed to other forms in the environment as one organism feeds on another organism. In this module, the students will discover that there are levels of organization that are beyond the level of the organism. Key questions for this module

How do organisms interact with each other and with their environment? How is energy transferred from one organism to the other?

Grade 7 Science: Living Things and Their Environment Interactions

Session Guide Grade 7: Living Things And Their Environment o o composed of living and nonliving things. During the processing part, the participants should be made to realize that organisms interact with each other and with their environment The last three activities of Module 5 deal with ecological relationships. During this part, draw the idea that energy is transformed to other forms in the environment as one organism feeds on another organism The term, community as used in ecology is sometimes interchanged with the term, population. Point out that a community is formed when populations of organisms interact with each other in a given habitat. Lastly, interaction does not take place among organisms only. Interaction also takes place between organisms and their physical environment.

Summing Up This session covers Module 5: Interactions. It deals with the different components of the environment, interactions, and ecological relationships. Activity 2 of Module 5 seeks to answer the essential questions: How do organisms interact with each other? How is energy transferred from one organism to the other? Organisms need to interact with each other and their environment to meet their basic needs and survive. These interactions form levels of organization beyond the organism: population, community, and ecosystem. In Activity 2, an aquarium was used to demonstrate ecological interactions and relationships; more complex interactions take place in bigger habitats. Indeed, in ecosystems, everything is connected to everything else.