Unit Plan 16 (Grade 7 Science): Ecosystem Data & Modeling

Focus: Interpret ecosystem graphs, population curves, food webs, and data sets to explain resource availability, species interactions, energy flow, and population changes.

Grade Level: 7

Subject Area: Science (Life Science — Ecosystems & Data; Modeling & Argumentation)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session

I. Introduction

In this unit, students practice being “ecosystem data scientists” by reading and interpreting graphs, tables, and models about ecosystems. Building on earlier units on resource availability, interactions, food webs, and human impacts, they analyze population curves, bar graphs, and food web diagrams to explain what is happening in an ecosystem over time. Students then use these data to build or revise models of matter cycling and energy flow and to construct arguments about how changes to physical or biological components affect populations, aligned with MS-LS2-1–4.

Essential Questions

• How can graphs and data sets help us understand how resources affect organisms and populations?
• What patterns in data can show interactions like predation, competition, and mutualism in ecosystems?
• How do models such as food webs and ecosystem diagrams show the cycling of matter and flow of energy?
• How can we use evidence from data to argue that changes in physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Analyze and interpret ecosystem graphs and tables (e.g., population vs. time, resource level vs. population size) to describe how resource availability affects organisms and populations.
2. Use data to construct explanations about patterns of interactions (predator–prey, competition, mutualism) in ecosystems.
3. Develop and revise models (e.g., annotated food webs, flow diagrams) that describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
4. Construct arguments supported by empirical evidence from data sets that connect changes in physical or biological components (e.g., resource changes, species removal, disturbance) to population changes.
5. Create an Ecosystem Data & Modeling Portfolio that includes interpreted graphs, an ecosystem model, and a short written argument explaining ecosystem patterns and changes.

Standards Alignment — 7th Grade (NGSS-based custom)

• MS-LS2-1 — Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations.
  • Students interpret graphs/tables showing how resource changes affect population size.
• MS-LS2-2 — Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms in ecosystems.
  • Students infer interactions (predation, competition, mutualism) from data and explain them.
• MS-LS2-3 — Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
  • Students build or revise food web/energy flow diagrams using data and case descriptions.
• MS-LS2-4 — Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
  • Students use data to argue how a disturbance or change affects populations over time.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can read and interpret graphs or tables that show how resources and populations change over time.
• I can use data patterns to explain what kind of interaction (predation, competition, mutualism) might be happening in an ecosystem.
• I can create or revise a model (like a food web or diagram) that shows how matter cycles and energy flows through an ecosystem.
• I can write or present a science argument using data as evidence to show how changes in an ecosystem affect populations.
• I can put my work together into an Ecosystem Data & Modeling Portfolio that includes graphs, a model, and a written explanation.