Unit Plan 10 (Grade 7 Science): Ecosystems Basics
Grade 7 unit where students analyze data to explain how limited resources like food or water drive population growth, decline, and competition in ecosystems.
Focus: Analyze how resource availability (food, water, space, light, shelter) affects organisms and populations in ecosystems using data, graphs, and models.
Grade Level: 7
Subject Area: Science (Life Science — Ecosystems & Interactions)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, students shift from cells and systems inside organisms to how those organisms interact in ecosystems. They explore how resources like food, water, space, light, and shelter are limited, and how changes in resource availability affect individual organisms and population sizes. Through data sets, graphs, and simple simulations, students analyze and interpret evidence aligned to MS-LS2-1, describing patterns such as population growth, decline, competition, and stability when resources change.
Essential Questions
- What are resources in an ecosystem, and why are they often limited?
- How does a change in resource availability (more or less food, water, space, etc.) affect individual organisms and populations?
- How can we use data, graphs, and simple models to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability?
- What patterns help us predict when a population might grow, shrink, or stabilize in an ecosystem?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Identify key resources (food, water, space, light, shelter, mates) that organisms need to survive, grow, and reproduce.
- Explain why resources in ecosystems are often limited, leading to competition among organisms.
- Analyze and interpret data tables, line graphs, and/or simulation results showing how changes in resource availability affect population sizes over time.
- Describe patterns (e.g., increase, decrease, leveling off) in population data and connect these patterns to resource availability.
- Construct a written or visual explanation that uses data-based evidence to support claims about how changes in resources impact organisms and populations, meeting MS-LS2-1.
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 of organisms in an ecosystem.
- Students use data sets, graphs, and simulations to show how more/less of a resource changes population size or health.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can name and describe important resources that organisms need to survive and reproduce.
- I can explain why resources are often limited and how this leads to competition.
- I can read and interpret graphs and tables showing how populations change when resources change.
- I can identify patterns (increase, decrease, stable) in population data and link them to resource availability.
- I can write or present a data-based explanation that uses evidence and reasoning to show how resource availability affects organisms and populations.