Georgia S7L4.b
The Standard
Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and the flow of energy among biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem.
Georgia Standards of Excellence for Science · Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to examine the interdependence of organisms with one another and their environments.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students create and revise ecosystem models that include producers, consumers, decomposers, sunlight, water, air, and soil. They use labeled arrows to show energy moving through the system and matter being reused.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given an ecosystem, students can build an accurate model and explain every arrow. They show that decomposers return matter to the environment, while energy eventually leaves as heat.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often show energy cycling instead of flowing in one direction. They may think plants get food from soil or that decomposers make matter disappear.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Draw a model using the Sun, grass, rabbit, hawk, fungi, air, and soil. Label each arrow as matter, energy, or both.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups organism cards, abiotic cards, yarn, and colored tokens to build a forest model, then trace one carbon atom and one energy unit.
Write an explanation of what happens to matter and energy after a rabbit dies in a meadow.
Play an arrow-label relay where teams place matter or energy labels on an ecosystem diagram, then justify each placement.
Map the school compost system, tracing matter from lunch scraps to soil and garden plants, and energy from sunlight to food and heat.
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Printable S7L4.b Worksheet
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Related Standards
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- S4L1.d
Use printed and digital data to develop a model illustrating and describing changes to the flow of energy in an ecosystem when plants or animals become scarce, ...
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Construct an explanation for the patterns of interactions observed in different ecosystems in terms of the relationships among and between organisms and abiotic...
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