Graduate School of Education UWA PST Sarah Tran

Lesson Information
Date: Class/Group: Time: 12:35-13:35pm
23/5/17 Year 9 (Miss Hannah Beccarelli) Room: Sci C
Topic: Relationships and interactions between organisms in an ecosystem
Main science idea: All living things are part of a food chain and food web, and the interactions or
relationships between these organisms can be classified as being: predation, parasitism, competition,
mutualism, and commensalism.

Australian Curriculum Science Links:

SU: ACSSU176 SHE: - SIS: -

Lesson Outcomes:

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Understand that there are five (5) main types of relationships/interactions between organisms
2. Describe predator/prey relationship
3. Give examples of predator/prey relationships
4. Describe and give examples of symbiotic relationships (mutualism, parasitism, commensalism)
5. Describe and give examples of a competitive interaction

Student Behavioural Outcomes:

It is expected that students will achieve the following during the lesson:

1. Show respect for themselves, other students, the teacher, the equipment, any organisms
handled, and the lesson topic
2. Work effectively as part of a pair/group in a discussion context
3. Work effectively as part of a group in a planning and performance context
4. Ask appropriate and relevant questions
5. Contribute effectively and positively to the lesson discussions

Prior Learning:

It is expected that students have a prior understanding of:

1. Plants being able to produce their own food through photosynthesis

2. Animals needing to eat food because they cannot produce their own food (heterotrophs)
3. The difference between and food chain and food web
4. How to construct basic food chains and food webs

Materials/Resources:

Pearson Science 9 S.B.

Laptop connected to projector/TV screen
PowerPoint presentation: Ecological relationships and interactions
Whiteboard + markers
YouTube video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGSUU3E9ZoM (0:00-2:08) Parasitic mind control
YouTube video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqa0OPbdvjw (0:00-4:20) All forms of symbiosis
with the oxpeckers
Graduate School of Education UWA PST Sarah Tran
Lesson Steps
Time Procedure Comment (5Es)
5 mins 1. Pre-lesson
a. Before class goes in, walk around and stick down post-it notes
with allocated interaction types for each group (there should be 10
groups all together)

b. Welcome and settle the class into routine

They will be expected to line up quietly outside class, and enter
quietly.

c. Call the roll (tick off on class list)

2 mins 2. Introduction to lesson

a. Outline what the lesson will consist of today:

- Locate this lesson within the context of everything the class has
learned in the past few lessons
- Yesterday looked at food chains today looking at different
names for the relationships between organisms in a chain
- Students charades competition at end of lesson

30 mins 3. Teacher input + student note-taking

(5 min) a. Quick think exercise: what is a food chain, and why is the Engage
directionality of the arrows important in a food chain/what do the
arrows indicate?

DO: write out this question on the whiteboard

DO: after time is up, ask students what they wrote and discuss
answers

SAY: so today, we will be linking what we know about food chains

and terms used to describe organisms e.g. producers, consumers,
decomposers, to more specific terms

b. ASK: who can just refresh the class on what the term
consumer means? What about secondary consumer?
(consumers are organisms that consumer producers or other
consumers; secondary consumers consume primary consumers)

ASK: who here has ever entered a competition before? Has

anyone won a competition before?

SAY: so today, we will be looking at several types of interactions

that organisms can have within an ecosystem. The fact that some
of you have entered a competition before/seen one before, and
know what a predator-prey relationship is, means that youre half
way there already with the lesson!

(15 min) c. Go through PPT on types of organism interaction Explain

SAY: you will need your notebooks to write down a few notes- not a Literacy
lot today though

d. Transition into the student activity after the videos

(3 min) e. Show YouTube video 1 + discuss why it has the hallmarks of a

parasitic interaction (2:08)

(7 mins) f. Show YouTube video 2 + discuss all the types of symbioses

spotted and justify with evidence (4:20)
Graduate School of Education UWA PST Sarah Tran
20 mins 4. Student activity
a. Students will get into their groups of 3 from yesterday, and work

as a team to plan out a performance of one type of organism
interaction theyve learned about today

b. SAY: ok so know youre all familiar with predator/prey,
competition, and symbioses examples and definitions, youre going
to plan and perform (charades style- so no talking or noises) an
interaction type for your classmates to guess

SAY: after all the performances, the best ones for each category of
interaction will win a prize- so youre experiencing first-hand what a
competitive interaction is!
Evaluate/Elaborate
c. SAY: DO NOT REVEAL YOUR ALLOCATED INTERACTION-
THIS IS IMPORTANT! In the groups you formed yesterday (3 per

group), there should be one of you who has the allocated
interaction stuck on a sticky note under your seat.

(5 mins) SAY: in your groups, you have 5 minutes only, to plan your
allocated interaction type. ALL YOUR MEMBERS MUST BE
INVOLVED IN THE PERFORMANCE

(15 min) c. For each group- tell them they can move to their nearest side
bench area to perform (1 min per group to perform)

~2 mins 5. Conclusion
a. Thank everyone for working so well and for their creativity, and
award the winning groups with prizes (pencils)

b. SAY: for tomorrow, I would like you to have a think about the
source of all of the energy in a food chain- is it really the
producers?

Student Assessment
Informal assessment
1. Student participation in note-taking during lesson
2. Observe students participating in planning of performance
3. Student willingness to cooperate in groups for performance