7th Grade/Science
UNIT: Biology
Concept: Energy Flow
Generalizations
TEKS: 5
All living matter and energy flow through ecosystems.
The student knows that interactions occur between matter and energy.
7. 5A – Recognize that radiant energy from the sun is transformed into chemical energy through the process of
photosynthesis.
7. 5C – Diagram the flow of energy through living systems including food chains, food webs, and energy pyramids.
(Supporting Std)
DCAs, CCAs, Benchmarks, TAKS Grade 8
 Describe the energy conversion that occurs during photosynthesis
 Illustrate the process of photosynthesis
 Explain the energy roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in food webs and food chains
Follow the flow of energy from the sun to the top level of an energy pyramid and calculate the available energy
that gets transferred to each level of the pyramid.
 Create food webs, food chains, and energy pyramids.
MISCONCEPTIONS:
 Students may think that plants obtain their energy directly from the sun and don’t have to go through
photosynthesis. Plants have multiple sources of food (heterotrophic as well as autotrophic).
 Students may think that carbon dioxide, water, and minerals are food.
 Students may think that plants feed by absorbing food through their roots.
 Students may think that plants use heat from the sun as a source of energy for photosynthesis
 Students may think that sunlight is a food.
 Students may think that sunlight is composed of molecules.
 Students may think that sunlight is “consumed” in photosynthesis.
 Students may think that plants absorb water through their leaves.
 Students may think that plants produce oxygen for our benefit.
 Students may think that plants do not take in oxygen or give off carbon dioxide
 Students may think that air is all one thing (oxygen) and not a mixture of gases
Student Expectation:
Formal Assessment:
Clarification:
Notes to Teacher:
NOTES:
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Students may not be able to make the connection between first level consumers with herbivores, and second
level consumers, third level consumers with carnivores and omnivores.
Students may not understand how the arrows of a food web impact the path of energy through producers,
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7th Grade/Science
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Key Academic Vocabulary:
Food chain
Producers
Chlorophyll
Photosynthesis
consumers, and decomposers. In food chains, make sure you explain why the arrows in a food chain diagram
point from the organism being eaten to the organism doing the eating to show the flow of energy up through the
chain.
Students may not have enough background knowledge of plants and animals to classify them as consumers,
producers, decomposers, and scavengers or to place them in food chains and food webs
In energy pyramids, make certain that you stress that the most energy is available at the producer level. Also
stress that each organism in an energy pyramid uses 90% of the energy for its own life processes. Only 10% of the
energy is available to the next level consumer.
Make sure students realize that 10% of the original source of energy is passed on at each level.
Remember to emphasize that decomposers are often left out of food chain diagrams. But, remember that
decomposers, such as bacteria and fungi, are always the final link in a food chain.
Remember to express to your classes that most of the energy that enters an ecosystem comes from the sun.
(exception – bacteria at bottom of ocean)
Review composition of gases found in the atmosphere
Food web
Consumers (primary, secondary,
tertiary, etc.)
Omnivores
Chemical energy
Energy pyramids
Ecosystem
Decomposers
Herbivores
Radiant energy
Carnivores
Vertical Alignment:
6th Grade
6.12E Describe biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem in
which organisms interact.
6.12F Diagram the levels of organization within an
ecosystem including organism, population, community, and
ecosystem.
6.9A Investigate methods of thermal energy transfer
Before
After
8th Grade
8.11A Describe the producer/ consumer, predator/prey,
and parasite/host relationships that occur in food webs in
marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.
8.11B Investigate how organisms and populations in an
ecosystem depend on and compete for biotic and abiotic
factors such as quantity of light, water, range of
temperatures, or soil composition.
8.11C Explore how short and long- term environmental
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7th Grade/Science
including conduction, convection, and radiation.
Core Instruction:
Engage
Explore
Universal Generalization: Food Web Explore –
Outcomes influence how computer activity
things interact.
Drawing a Prairie Food Web
Sunkist Demo
Energy Pyramid GIZMO
(student) and (teacher)
Elodea lab - Influencing the
Rate of Photosynthesis
Mini-ponds
changes affect organisms and traits in subsequent
populations.
Explain
Students will explain what
they observed in the explore
activities
Elaborate
Drawing a Food Web
Evaluate
ESL Labeling food Chain
ESL Create a Food Chain
Picture It Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis Notes – for
Cornell notes
Food Chain Checkers
CATALYST Process of
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis ppt
Energy Pyramid PowerPoint
Analyze a food Web
Energy Pyramid Wkst
Ecosystem and Food
Web Analysis
Warm up to Photosynthesis #1 -
Food Web ppt
Warm up to Photosynthesis #2
Who’s Who in a Food Chain?
(PPT)
Catalyst #1 Producers/
Consumers/ Predators
Photosynthesis Poker Chip
Demo
Catalyst #2 Food Webs
Catalyst #3 Relationships in
ecosystems
Catalyst #4 – Changes effect
survival of species
On-Line Food Web Games
Food Web Quiz (ppt)
Food web labeling
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7th Grade/Science
Flow of Energy Test
Photosynthesis Food from Light
Energy Pyramid Practice
Problems
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