THINK LIKE A SCIENTIST : Design a Model of a Food Web Due Date: Wednesday March 28,2017

Youve learned about some of the ways animals get energy from their environment through food chains and food webs. Now its your turn using your own research, you will
make and present a model of a food web for an environment / ecosystem of your choice. The food web should include at least 10 different kinds of animals.

1. Ask A Question.
How can you use a model to describe that energy in animals food was once energy from the sun?

2. Research An Environment.
First, pick an environment that you would like to learn about. Maybe, youre interested in distant places, such as the African savanna, the Arctic, the coral reef, or a rain forest.
Perhaps, you want to consider local habitats, such as parks or wildlife sanctuaries, ponds, or even your backyard.
Then use print and online reference materials to discover what kinds of plants and animals live in that environment. Your research must draw information from at least three
different print or digital sources. Be sure to record in your science notebook the source of all the information you find.
After you have collected some information, think about the organisms you have identified. Which are the producers? What consumers eat those producers? And what
consumers eat those consumers? Identify seven or more pathways that energy takes through the environment.

3. Assemble Your Model.

How will you make your model food chain? You might use index cards, clay models, plastic animals from the dollar store, photographs from magazines, stickers, or computer
slide-show presentation software get creative with it.
Include labels for each step in the food web (Energy Source, Producer, Primary Consumer, Secondary Consumer, Tertiary Consumer // producer, herbivore, omnivore,
carnivore). Your labels should also give a brief description of how each organism gets energy. (See Food Chain example in your Science Notebook.)
Double Check your Food Web Model: Does the model include the sun? Do the arrows show the path of energy among the organisms? Do the labels describe how each
organism gets its energy?

4. Science Notebook Check In Questions.

Answer the following questions in your Science Notebook to prepare for your Presentation.
1. What environment did you select and why?
2. What are the producers in your food web?
3. What are the first consumers in your food web? What are the second consumers?
4. What is the original source of energy for all of the organisms in your food web?
 5. Present Your Model.
When you have completed your model, you will present the food web you created for your environment to the class. Youll need to be able to point out how each organism in the
food web gets energy for life processes, as well as, use your model to explain how all food energy was once energy from the sun.
ARE YOU READY TO PRESENT?
Student Reflection : Complete a self - evaluation.
RUBRIC YES Not Yet
( I need to practice more )

1. I can identify an interaction to model.

2. I can design a model and gather materials.

3. I can label my model to explain the interactions it shows.

4. I can communicate and share my model, describing the cycle of energy from the sun through food to animals.

EXTRA CREDIT
Add a Decomposer (Fungi or Bacteria) to your Food Web. Be sure to label it and give a brief description of how this organism gets energy. Youll also need to be able to explain
why this decomposer is important / beneficial to your environment.

USEFUL RESOURCES
Search Words: Biomes + (ex: tundra, rainforest) Environment / Plants and Animals that line in ? / ecosystem / Food Webs

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/biomes/

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/ https://online.kidsdiscover.com/discover/biomes

http://climatekids.nasa.gov/10-things-ecosystems/ https://www.brainpop.com/science/ecologyandbehavior/foodchains/

http://www.bioexpedition.com/types-of-biomes-in-the-world/ http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/biomes.htm