Learning About Ecosystems

My son is learning about ecosystems in the first chapter of BJU Science 4, and it's been a fun study for him. He was, however, having a little trouble straightening out the different terms in his mind. To help him remember the terms and their meanings as well as better understand how it all works together, I got out my trusty markers, cardstock, and scissors to create 1) a Chart that helps him get the big idea and 2) Manipulative Pieces so he could "build" his own ecosystem.

Maybe you can use this idea. If so, don't worry if the drawings aren't perfect or the paper isn't nice. Maybe this would be a good activity to give the student to draw on their own. The point is to visually arrange information and manipulate it in a way that encourages discussion, thinking, understanding, and remembering!

Ecosystem Chart

I know - I should have had him write the information instead of me doing it, but we were very pressed for time, and I just did it myself. He did, however, find the info in the textbook and tell me what to write, and he arranged and glued the pieces into their correct places. The photos we added came from an online image search for "different ecosystems" which I just printed and cut out. Now we have a nice display to help him recall what he has learned.

Manipulative Ecosystems

There could have been so many more pieces to this and several more animal options, but this is the extent of what I managed to crank out before bed one night. I made sure I had several different pieces that represented parts of the environment, resources, and a selection of organisms to not only give him choices, but also to give us an opportunity to discuss why a particular organism may or may not be able to live in the environment he had built. This really helped solidify the difference between all the terms and he enjoyed rebuilding his paper ecosystem to support different living things. When we finished discussing and manipulating the pieces, we did not glue them down; I dropped all the pieces into a clear sleeve protector and set them aside for him to get out another time.

I'm thinking he's ready for his quiz! :)