Science at key stage 3 (Year 7)

Unit 7C: Environment and feeding relationships
Section 8: a. What do food webs tell us?

Objectives

Children should learn:

to make careful observations of plants and animals and sources of evidence about animals' food
to link organisms together in food webs
that some plants have adaptations to deter animals from feeding on them
to interpret evidence about food sources and draw conclusions from it

Activities		Outcomes
		Children:
Ask pupils to suggest likely places to find plants and animals in the locality of the school, what species they think they might find and how the plants and animals might be linked in food webs. Encourage pupils to consider what evidence we use to find out what animals eat, eg owl pellets, remains near lairs and nests, thrush anvils, observations, teeth marks, bird droppings showing coloured berries have been eaten. Show pupils how to use simple equipment and techniques, eg direct observation, pooters, tree beating, and ask them to find, identify and record as many species of plants and animals as possible within the school locality. Ask pupils to record any observations which help to identify a food source, eg a greenfly found on a rose bush, woodlice found under decaying wood, fly entangled in a spider's web, and to note plant features which may deter animals from feeding on them, eg prickles on holly, thistles, sting on nettles. If appropriate, extend this work using secondary sources. Help the pupils to use the information gathered to construct a database using a data-handling programme.		identify plants and animals found in the immediate locality state that a wide variety of organisms is found in quite small habitats describe and explain what might provide evidence about animals' food identify features of plants which may deter animals from feeding on them interpret evidence about food sources, eg the bird droppings are purple, so they could have eaten blackberries

Points to note

This exercise can be done in very small-scale habitats, eg flower bed, grass verge. It needs to be clear that the focus of the activities is identification of food webs, because pupils may have visited an area local to their school in key stage 2 to identify organisms, using keys, and to identify food chains.
Pupils are likely to be familiar with using keys to identify living things from their work at key stage 2. Some may need more practice.
It is not necessary to quantify species at this stage, but it may be useful to count the number of species identified and the number of individuals of different feeding types for possible use in year 8.
If any animals are brought into the classroom, ensure that they are treated with respect, their needs are met and that they are returned to their habitat as soon as possible.

Safety

all off-site visits must be carried out in accordance with school/LEA guidelines
pupils should wash their hands after handling animals and soil. Particular pupils may have allergies and these should be taken into account. Disinfect pooter mouthpieces

Sections in this unit

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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.


	1. How does the environment influence the animals and plants living in a habitat?
	2. a. How do environments vary?
	3. b. How do environments vary?
	4. c. How do environments vary?
	5. Checking progress
	6. a. What is a feeding relationship?
	7. b. What is a feeding relationship?
	8. a. What do food webs tell us?
	9. b. What do food webs tell us?
	10. c. What do food webs tell us?
	11. Reviewing work

Science at key stage 3 (Year 7)

Objectives

Activities

Outcomes

Points to note

Sections in this unit