Investigation Sequence

Title

Communities

Written by:

Robert D. Sweetland                 Date 1981

Focus Questions

How do plants and animals interact?

Concepts

Content: Earth, Physical, & Life

Vocabulary

Seed, cotyledon, seed coat, embryo, leaf, root, living, community, environmental factor, light, heat, temperature, moisture, shelter, soil, nutrients, gravity, air, photosynthesis, terrarium, animal consumer, plant consumer, decomposer, mold, bateria, yeast, organism, food chain, food web, energy transfer, biome

Concepts

Cross cutting concepts

 

Science Practice

 

Personal, Social, Technology, Nature of Science, History

 

Background information

 

Activity Sequence

Exploration Activity

KWHL chart:
What are environmental factors?
What affect do they have on plants and animals?
What is a community?
Do plants and animals live in a community?
What would a plant and animal community be?
How do you get energy to live?
How do plants and animals get energy to live?

Invention Activities

Disect beans
Experiment to find parts of beans that grow
Review environmental factors
Grow plants in the dark and light
Grow plants without cotyledons
Build a terrarium
Find what crickets eat
Make energy triangle
Find how much a salamander eats
Make and energy triangle
Make food chains
Make community interaction model
Burial vial
Banana decomposition
Chart other biomes as community interaction models

Expansion Activity

Is there a Sim Garden?

Activity Descriptions

See links in directory.

Dr. Robert Sweetland's notes