Lesson Code (Course - Master Objective # - Benchmark # - Lesson # - #)
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Biology – 5-5-2-2
Title - Author
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Owl Pellets – Marcia Steeby
Benchmark/Expectation/Concept/Process/Skill
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Investigate and explain the transfer of energy in an ecosystem including food chains, food webs, and food pyramids.
Relevant Goals
Show-Me
Process
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1.6
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1.8
Show-Me
Science Content
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3
Missouri
Science G(C)LE(s)
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4.1.A.a
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4.1.A.b
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4.1.B.a
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6
SJSD
National
(5-8, 9-12)
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C
Learning Path
Previous Learning
4.1.B.a-c. in competition with one another for resources
Recognize the factors that affect the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support (e.g., food availability, abiotic factors such as quantity of light and water, temperature and temperature range, soil composition, disease, competitions from other organisms, predation)
Predict the possible effects of changes in the number and types of organisms in an ecosystem on the populations of other organisms within that ecosystem
4.2.A.a. Diagram and describe the transfer of energy in an aquatic food web and a land food web with reference to producers, consumers, decomposers, scavengers, and predator/prey relationships
Possible Misconceptions
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Targeted Learning
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4.1.A: a. Explain the nature of interactions between organisms in predator/prey relationships and different symbiotic relationships (i.e., mutualism, commensalisms, parasitism)
4.1.A: b. Explain how cooperative (e.g., symbiotic) and competitive (e.g., predator/prey) relationships help maintain balance within an ecosystem
4.1.B: a. Identify and explain the limiting factors (biotic and abiotic) that may affect the carrying capacity of a population within an ecosystem
Future Learning
4.1.A:c Explain why no two species can occupy the same niche in a community

Teacher Notes
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Materials
1.
owl pellets – order from Carolina Biological Supply
2.
tweezers
3.
dissecting needle
Engage: Engages the learner’s mind in the concept, process, or skill to be learned, and makes connections between prior experiences and the current learning goals.
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Have you ever been camping at night?
What sounds did you hear?
Were you afraid?
What do you know about owls?
What species of owls live in our area? What species live in North America?
These questions should lead to a lively discussion which will allow you to assess what the students already know about owls.
Ask students:
 Can you estimate the number of small mammals an owl might eat in one day? How about one week? Is an owl harmful or helpful to man? How?
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Formative Assessment(s):
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Explore: Provides or creates a common experience for all learners and helps the teacher identify the prior knowledge of each learning to build on. This stage allows time for the learner to explore their ideas. This stage should be concrete and meaningful to the learner.
Dissect owl pellets
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Formative Assessment(s):
Explain: Allows the learner to construct an explanation (claim
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evidence
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reasoning). The teacher provides information in common terms to increase the accuracy of the explanation.
Before students work with the owl pellets, they will conduct some research on owls to gain more knowledge about them. The following activity can be done by individuals or by students working in pairs.
Provide each student (or pair of students) with a copy of the student worksheet . Also, assign each student or pair a North American owl to research. The Owls of North America page on The Owl Pages website is useful to generate such a list. Bone identification page.
Recreating the skeleton of a small mammal from an owl pellet
Procedure:
1.
Instruct students to unwrap the pellet from the aluminum foil.
2.
Students should carefully tease the bones from the fur using toothpicks.
3.
Tell students to sort the bones into sections of egg cartons for safe storage and future classification. Make sure students label the top of the egg carton with the their names and period.
(Sorting may take 2-3 class periods, gluing and identification of bones 2-3 classes.)

4.
Students should use the vole skeleton model to arrange the bones on a large index card.
5.
Then, students should glue the bones in place and label them.
6.
Students may "trade" bones with other students to complete their skeleton.
7.
Any bones that may be missing can be drawn in using a fine tip black marker.
8. Students should turn in the completed skeleton for evaluation.
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Formative Assessment(s):
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Us the claim, evidence, reasoning model. Testable Question: Which type of organism was in your owl pellet. As a class which type of organism had the highest number of incidence?
Elaborate: Pushes learner understanding, building on current understanding to increase the depth and breadth of understanding. Allow the learner to extend and apply the concepts, processes, or skills. Allows learner to experience new situations to apply to their learning.
1.
Which animal was found the most overall?
2.
Give some reasons why this animal may be eaten more than some of the other’s listed. (Would this change if the owls were put in another location?
3. Use the following information to construct a food chain for any 2 of the prey species; you may pick which 2 you want to use.
The shrew is a carnivore and could consume insects, spiders, centipedes etc. Moles are carnivores that feed underground. Their diet includes earthworms, grubs, millipedes, etc. Rodents are mainly herbivores consuming leaves, grass, seeds, roots, etc. Birds are either carnivores or herbivores.
4. Have the students draw an energy pyramid and have them label the energy pyramid below with different plants or animals at each level. Use all of the words in the word bank: owl, mole, earthworm, rat, shrew, leaf litter, energy loss/used.
In each trophic level label:
A.
autotroph or heterotroph
B.
consumer or producer
5. As animals are higher on the food chain do you think they are able to more efficiently convert their food to energy or less efficiently convert their food to energy?
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Formative Assessment(s):
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Evaluate: Provides and opportunity for the learner to assess their own understanding and be able to demonstrate the depth and breadth of that understanding to others. Teacher assesses the
learner’s level of understanding and mastery.
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Summative Assessment(s):
Have students construct a food web for the ecosystem using words or pictures. You could also have students write a short response to the following scenario:

A farmer in New Jersey is trying to control the number of mice in his barn by using pesticide. He put four containers of pesticide in the corners of his barn. He waited one month and did not notice a huge difference in the number of mice running around in his barn. He gathered up the empty containers and disposed of them using a large black plastic bag, which he tossed in the garbage pile behind the barn. He decided to purchase two barn cats from the local pet rescue. His land borders on a local park, which is protected by law as a wildlife refuge. How might the Barn Owls in this ecosystem be effected over the next three months by the farmers attempt to solve his problem?
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Additional Resources:
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Text:
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Websites: http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?location=North+America
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Video:
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Attachments:
Teacher Review: Include date, course, and name of teacher.
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