Ecosystems - Food web

Year 7/8
Science

Suggested Duration: Two lessons

Summary

In this lesson, students will be guided through an analysis of the complex relationships between food sources important to many Australian Indigenous peoples who live on the east coast of Australia. Students will be asked to design a food web diagram.

Many of us still catch or gather traditional foods today: turtle, dugong, shellfish, magpie geese, grain, fruits, tubers, file snakes, oysters, mussels, duck, kangaroo, echidna, murnong (yam daisy), eels, salmon, whiting, abalone, mullet, shark and much more. Some foods, like dugong and turtle, are found only in the north, while others, like abalone and eels, are more common in the south of the country (The Little Red Yellow Black Book, p.36).

Learning outcomes

  • Students will demonstrate an understanding of complex relationships between food sources in the natural world by designing a food web diagram.
  • Students will be able to identify and discuss the relationships between food sources and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who live on the East Coast of Australia.
General capabilities Cross-curriculum priorities
Literacy Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
Critical and creative thinking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures organising ideas: 2, 6
Ethical Understanding  

Australian Curriculum content descriptions

Year 7 Science

Interactions between organisms, including the effects of human activities can be represented by food chains and food webs (ACSSU112).

Science knowledge can develop through collaboration across the disciplines of science and the contributions of people from a range of cultures (ACSHE223).

Communicate ideas, findings and evidence based solutions to problems using scientific language, and representations, using digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS133).

Year 8 Science

Science knowledge can develop through collaboration across the disciplines of science and the contributions of people from a range of cultures (ACSHE226).

Construct and use a range of representations, including graphs, keys and models to represent and analyse patterns or relationships in data using digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS144).

Provisions for differentiation

Learning support

Students with special learning needs could be given a simplified list for Task 4 of the Activity worksheet with fewer organisms to fit into the food web.

Extension

Students may like to develop a Prezi or PowerPoint presentation that digitally illustrates the complexities inherent in their food web design for Task 4 of the Activity Worksheet.

Resources

For teachers

Ensure that the guidance notes included in The Little Red Yellow Black Book teacher resource have been considered.

Vocabulary

  • Producers
  • Consumers
  • Decomposers

Preparation: Make copies of the Activity Worksheet - enough for one per student.

Step 1.

Present the material from the Teacher resource sheet using the whiteboard to write the key points and diagrams.

Step 2.

Distribute the Activity worksheet.

Step 3.

Guide students through the Activity worksheet, explaining the illustrative power of food webs in comparison to food chains. Show the examples of Food Webs from online sources.

Step 4.

Explain the requirements of the tasks on the Activity worksheet.

Step 5.

Assign 30 minutes for the students to complete the Activity worksheet, including the drawing task.

Assessment ideas

  • Completed worksheet
  • Rubric for Food Web

Answers

  1. Producers - make food; Consumers - eat or use food; Decomposers - break down food and waste products from producers and consumers.
  2. berries →  possum → dingo
  3. buffalo, cattle, camels, pigs, turtle, dugong, shellfish, magpie geese, grain, fruits, tubers, file snakes, oysters, mussels, duck, kangaroo, echidna, murnong (yam daisy), eels, salmon, whiting, abalone, mullet and shark.
  4. Answers will vary.
Last reviewed: 8 Nov 2019