Score: 9

Awarded the NGSS Design Badge

Science Discipline: Life Science, Physical Science

Length: Lesson

Year Reviewed: 2021

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.

Link to Materials

The following link will direct you to Carolina Biological Supply Company's "Matter Cycling and Energy Transfer in Lake Ecosystems" kit Overview Page: Carolina: Matter Cycling and Energy Transfer in Lake Ecosystems 

The NGSS Design badge is awarded only to the version of this lesson that was reviewed. If any modifications are made to this lesson for your use, the revised version cannot be promoted as having earned the badge.