Science Lab #2

The Thursday lab sessions focused on ecosystems and food webs/chains. Because the teachers were covering the general concepts about ecosystems in the classroom, I decided to concentrate on food webs and chains in preparation for our owl pellet dissection next week. I planned three activities this week. The first group went into the computer lab with the classroom teacher and played a on-line game called Chain Reaction. The second group met with the science lab coordinator andwatched a movie on ecosystems from the Web site Brainpop.
I worked with the third group using cards to sort different living things into producers, consumers (herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores), and decomposers. We had just enough time to rotate each group through the three activities.







Again, the students were engaged and enjoyed the activities. However, because the ecosystem concepts are complex, I hope the teachers will continue exploring them in the classroom.