Energy Flow Reading

Summary

Students will become acquainted with the concepts of energy flow through an ecosystem. Students will practice pulling out important ideas from the text. They will do this by highlighting things they think are important to answer three questions.

Materials

• highlighters photocopied section of textbook
• list of journal or discussion questions (attached)

Background for Teachers

Time Needed: 1 class period with possible 20 minute discussion extension

Instructional Procedures

1. Photocopy section 3-2 from the Prentice Hall Biology book (pp 67-73) or the corresponding section in your own Biology book dealing with energy flow.
2. For a class of 30 you will need 40 copies.
3. Pass a photocopy to each student in the classroom
4. Instruct them to take 15 minutes and highlight the 15 most important sentences they find in the text that help them understand these core indicators:
   • How does energy flow through an ecosystem?
   • Arrange components of a food chain according to energy flow.
   • Compare the quantity of energy in the steps of an energy pyramid.
5. Encourage them to read through once and then highlight the second time through.
6. After 15 minutes divide the class in to groups of 3 students. Give them one more copy of the reading. This time as a group they must decide together, in 10 minutes, what they think the 15 most important sentences.
7. Have each group present what they highlighted and why.
8. Give other groups the opportunity to question their reasoning.
9. Finally have each student use a different colored highlighter and revise their original highlighting.
10. Ask students the questions on the page below to check for understanding.

Bibliography

Lesson Design by Jordan School District Teachers and Staff.