Creating An Ecosystem

Summary

In this activity students will design hypothetical ecosystems based on the random drawing of abiotic factors. They will make a picture to display their information.

Materials

• slips of paper (attached) Eeach student will need 1 slip of each factor)
• Biology textbooks
• construction paper
• colored pencils

Student Prior Knowledge

Students should understand the words biotic and abiotic.

Instructional Procedures

1. Label four buckets: Soil, temperature, precipitation, elevation.
2. Have students draw randomly from the buckets as they walk into class.
3. Tell students that using the random abiotic factors they have selected, they should create an ecosystem that would contain these factors.
4. They should list the type of organisms that would live there, including plants, animals, decomposers and write a 2 paragraph explanation of how these factors interact.
5. Give students time to draw their pictures.

Assessment Plan

Scoring Guide:

Students listed populations that correctly fit their abiotic factors......15 pts
Paragraphs are well thought out and complete..........................20 pts
Picture of ecosystem correctly displays biotic and abiotic factors....10 pts
Student participated............................10 pts

Bibliography

Lesson Design by Jordan School District Teachers and Staff.