Description
Students begin with the phenomenon of a fish kill that occurred in Lake Erie in late summer. Students strive to make sense of this phenomenon by gathering evidence through investigations, readings, and digital resources. As students move through the lesson, they conduct investigations where they use system models to collect evidence about the roles of producers and consumers in an ecosystem; they learn how abiotic factors, such as nutrient levels and temperature, can cause changes in the ecosystem; and they explore the relationships between ecosystem components. Throughout the investigations, students develop and revise their claim surrounding the causes of the fish kill. At the conclusion of the lesson students will use the evidence gathered to construct a final explanation for how changes in the lake ecosystem caused changes in matter cycling and energy transfer that, in turn, lead to the fish kill.
Kit materials equip 10 groups of students and include digital resources.
Note: Kit includes a voucher to request delivery of perishable materials later at your convenience. Contact Carolina to request delivery of perishables.
Time Requirement
Launching the Phenomenon: 50 minutes
Investigation 1: 150 minutes (requires the experiment to sit overnight)
Investigation 2: 50 minutes
Investigation 3: 150 minutes (requires the experiment to sit overnight)
Final Performance Task: 50 minutes
Reflection: 20 minutes
Digital Resources
Includes 1-year access to digital resources that support 3-dimensional instruction for NGSS. Digital resources may include a teacher manual and student guide, pre-lab activities and setup videos, phenomenon videos, simulations, and post-lab analysis and assessments.
Performance Expectation(s)
HS-LS2-3
HS-LS2-4
HS-LS2-5
Crosscutting Concepts
Systems and System Models
Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
Science and Engineering Practices
Asking Questions and Developing and Using Models
Learning Performance Expectations
- Ask questions to investigate the causes of changes in balance in a lake ecosystem that led to a fish kill.
- Develop a model that illustrates the interrelationships among biotic and abiotic components of a lake ecosystem, including boundaries, initial conditions, and inputs and outputs of matter and energy, as they move through the system.
- Develop, revise, and use a model, based on evidence, to illustrate how matter and energy flow through trophic levels in a lake ecosystem and how changes in abiotic and biotic components caused the system to become unbalanced and led to a fish kill.
- Plan and carry out an investigation to gather evidence for the causes of the changes in matter cycling and energy transfer in the lake ecosystem that led to a fish kill.
- Construct an explanation, based on evidence, for how changes in abiotic and biotic components of a lake ecosystem caused changes in matter cycling and energy transfer and led to a fish kill.
- Construct an explanation, based on evidence, for the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of matter and transfer of energy in the biosphere.
Prior Learning: Progression from Middle School
Crosscutting Concepts
Systems and System Models
Disciplinary Core Ideas
MS.LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
MS.PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes in Everyday Life
MS.LS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
Science and Engineering Practices
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations