Format
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Decomposer, Detritivore, and Scavenger activity
3. Interaction with live animal observations
4. Questions and Conclusion
Objectives
-Understand how matter is recycled through the world’s ecosystems
-Identify at least 3 living things responsible for decomposition
-Understand the importance of detritivores and scavengers in a food web
Standards Alignment
National Standards
4-LS1-1: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
5-PS3-1: Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
5-LS1-1: Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
5-LS2-1: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
MS-LS2-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
MS-LS2-2: Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.