A Warming Gulf of Maine: Investigating Impacts on Predators and Prey
Lesson Plans
Grades6, 7, 8Biology, Earth and Space Sciences
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Provided by Gulf of Maine Research Institute
What it is
- In this 6-lesson module, students will explore food webs in the Gulf of Maine and how ocean warming affects them, adding to a model in SageModeler to demonstrate these relationships.
- Students will simulate a stomach-contents analysis, play a game to model the Gulf of Maine's food web, compare stomach-contents datasets in the fall and spring, analyze data to determine the impact of temperature on the habitat in the Gulf of Maine, adapt the game to model a food web in a warming Gulf of Maine, and write a claim, evidence, and reasoning statement to demonstrate their learning.
Teaching tips
Positives
- Though it requires additional materials and cleanup, the "messy" version of the stomach contents analysis activity will be engaging and memorable for students.
- Students will learn to use SageModeler, which is a great tool for modeling relationships that can be used outside of this module.
Prerequisites
- Before teaching this module, the resource recommends that students know about food webs, possibly through the module Models, Food Webs, and a Warming Gulf of Maine.
- Students should also understand the greenhouse effect and that it is warming the oceans.
- Teachers will need various materials for the labs, such as colored beads, envelopes, containers, spoons, and colored pencils.
- The stomach content analysis video and image in the Lesson 1 slides do show a fish being dissected.
Differentiation & Implementation
- To practice constructing graphs, students can turn their data collection table from the stomach contents analysis to make bar graphs or pie charts.
- Advanced students can design other modeling games to demonstrate the relationship between the warming Gulf of Maine and the species of fish.
- After this lesson, students can research how land-based ecosystems and food webs are impacted by climate change.
From the scientist review
This resource explores how rising temperatures in the Gulf of Maine impact the food web. Climate change is a central focus throughout, and the resource highlights how different species are impacted. All figures are well-cited, with most based on primary data from NOAA. A web-based model graphically maps relationships between species with warming waters. This resource is recommended for teaching.
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