Ecosystems

Your students see firsthand a portion of the intricate web of interrelationships that link plants, animals, and the physical world.

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Your lessons on ecosystems and interdependence will literally come to life as students construct and observe their own terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here's what their ecosystems will include

Aquatic

  • Algae
  • Duckweed
  • Elodea
  • Snails
  • Mosquito Fish or Guppies

Terrestrial

  • Grass
  • Mustard
  • Alfalfa
  • Crickets
  • Isopod
After observing the systems separately, students connect the two into one system called an ecocolumn. By experimenting with their ecocolumn, students discover that their two ecosystems are intertwined.

You complete the unit by focusing on a much larger ecosystem-the Chesapeake Bay watershed. You'll discuss the Bay's complex problems, including pollution and population challenges, and students will discover that in a large ecosystem, as in their columns, altering one resource can impact others.

As a final activity, your classroom turns into a mini-conference where different students represent the conflicting interests of the boaters, dairy farmers, watermen, and general residents that make up the Chesapeake Bay watershed's population. Students experience the tradeoffs involved in environmental policy. They also discover that through sacrifices, all the groups with competing interests in a ecosystem can help to preserve it.