Food Chain
Curriculum Expectation
Overall Expectation
B2. Demonstrate an understanding of interactions between and among biotic and abiotic elements in the environment
Specific Expectation
B2.4. Describe the transfer of energy in a food chain and explain the effects of the elimination of any part of the chain
Learning Objectives
Big Idea
Understanding how the energy transfers from a prey to a predator and the consequences when the population of prey and/or predator decreases.
Understand the relationship between plants/animals in a food chain.
Binogi Related Resources
Additional Resources
Planning Our Investigations:
Smarter Steps to Science Inquiry Framework:
Vocabulary
Nutrient Chain
The Concept Lists to the left include terms from Binogi’s Nutrient Chain Video in English, Arabic, Mandarin, Urdu, and Persian.
nutrient, photosynthesis, glucose, primary producer, autotroph, heterotroph, primary consumer, secondary consumer, carnivore, tertiary consumer, scavenger, nutrient chain, decomposer
Concept Lists' Posters
Check out the the Concept Lists Page for bilingual posters in many languages.
Food Chains and Food Webs
food chain, food web, trophic level, toxin, soluble, phytoplankton, zooplankton, bioaccumulation
Minds On Activity
Set up 4-Corners: each corner will have the following sign – “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree,” or “strongly disagree.”
Read out the following statements and students move to the corner that aligns best with their thinking; after each statement, students discuss with peers within the same corner and share what they discussed with the class.
- We can live without plants.
- Animals and plants are independent of each other.
- Climate does not influence animals and plants in a habitat.
- When animals and plants die, they are used by plants as energy.
Action Activity
Consolidation/Reflection
Small Group Discussion:
- How would you visually present the relationship between the aquatic fish, Mallard ducks, and humans?
- How would a food chain for an animal look like?
- What are some factors that disrupt a food chain?
Language Friendly Pedagogy
Ask students whether they can add new vocabulary to their Concept Detective document. You may print this or make a copy for each student on programs like Google Classroom. Students will be encouraged to use this document each class to identify new words, consider writing meaning or finding meanings with the help of peers, teachers and/ or parents.
Examples of concepts to add for this unit include:
- ecological pyramids
- limiting factors
- energy
- food chain
- producers, (primary, secondary, tertiary)
- consumers