TEKS Addressed: 6.1A, 6.2A, 6.2C, 6.2E, 6.3B, 6.3C, 6.4A, 6.5B, 6.12E, 6.12F

Introduction

This unit bundles Student Expectations that address the interdependence between organisms and their environments and the levels of organization within an ecosystem.

Prior to this Unit

• Grade 3

  • 3.9B – Identify and describe the flow of energy in a food chain and predict how changes in a food chain affect the ecosystem such as removal of frogs from a pond or bees from a field.

  • 3.10A – Explore how structures and functions of plants and animals allow them to survive in a particular environment.

• Grade 4

  • 4.9A – Investigate that most producers need sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make their own food, while consumers are dependent on other organisms for food.

  • 4.9B – Describe the flow of energy through food webs, beginning with the Sun, and predict how changes in the ecosystem affect the food web.

  • 4.10A – Explore how structures and functions enable organisms to survive in their environment.

  • 4.10B – Explore and describe examples of traits that are inherited from parents to offspring such as eye color and shapes of leaves and behaviors that are learned such as reading a book and a wolf pack teaching their pups to hunt effectively.

• Grade 5

  • 5.9B – Describe the flow of energy through food webs, beginning with the Sun, and predict how changes in the ecosystem affect the food web.

  • 5.10A – Compare the structures and functions of different species that help them live and survive in a specific environment such as hooves on prairie animals or webbed feet in aquatic animals.

  • 5.10B – Differentiate between inherited traits of plants and animals such as spines on a cactus or shape of a beak and learned behaviors such as an animal learning tricks or a child riding a bicycle.

• Grade 6

  • 6.12D – Identify the basic characteristics of organisms, including prokaryotic or eukaryotic, unicellular or multicellular, autotrophic or heterotrophic, and mode of reproduction, that further classify them in the currently recognized Kingdoms.

During this Unit

Students use scientific practices and a variety of tools to investigate and describe biotic and abiotic factors of an ecosystem in which organisms interact. They must be able to identify which components of an ecosystem are biotic or abiotic. Students also study and diagram the levels of organization within an ecosystem, including organism, population, community, and ecosystem. When presented with a scenario or diagram, students must be able to identify which level of organization is represented. Moreover, students recognize that a limited number of the many known elements comprise the largest portion of living matter and the oceans. Additionally, students communicate and discuss their observations and record and organize data in their notebooks. Furthermore, students analyze and interpret information to construct reasonable explanations based on evidence from their investigations and communicate valid conclusions (supported by collected data). Students continue to demonstrate safe practices as outlined in the Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards and consider environmentally appropriate and ethical practices with resources during investigations.

After this Unit

In Grade 7, students will observe and describe how different environments support different varieties of organisms and how biodiversity contributes to sustainability in ecosystems.