GRADE: Fourth

CONTENT STANDARDS: Earth and Space Science

CONTENT TOPIC: Oceanography

CONCEPT: Oceans are important to life on earth.

CONTENT OBJECTIVE: 4M2.00 To understand the relationship among ocean food chains

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES: The learner will:

2.01 make a simple ocean food chain.

I. Forms of life found at three ocean locations
II. Sea animals depend on one another and on plants for food
III. Ocean food chain

TN COMPONENT OF SCIENCE: Unifying Concepts of Science

TN GOAL:

To enable students to acquire scientific knowledge by applying concepts, theories, principles and laws from life/environmental, physical, and earth/space science.

2.2 FORM AND FUNCTION - Form may determine the function of a material or a system, and function may alter form.

2.2b Form tends to dictate function, thus an alteration of form may lead to a change in function.

BENCHMARK: Physical and biological systems are interactive. Changes of component forms may alter the function(s) of those systems.

TIME REQUIRED:

Two or three instructional periods

Cards for levels of ocean (three for each child), True False cards, duplication master for pyramid, chalkboard

Class, today we will learn how energy from food flows through living things. (Have all the students form a line and hold hands. The teacher will stand at the beginning of the line, representing the sun. A squeeze of the hand will represent energy. The teacher will squeeze the hand of the first student, who in turn will squeeze the hand of the next student, and so on down the line. Have the last student tell when the "flow of energy" reaches him/her. Begin again, this time remove a student from the line.) What happens to the flow of energy when some members of the chain are missing? (Flow is broken)

There are many tales about huge monsters living in the deep waters of he ocean. About 60 million years ago, large ocean animals lived in the ocean. Today there are animals in the ocean larger than some that lived long ago, but we don't think of them as monsters.

The ocean is also the home for small plants and animals, some so tiny that they can be seen only with a powerful microscope. All life in the sea is directly or indirectly dependent upon sunlight. Sunlight is converted Into food by plant-like floating organisms (Phytoplankton). This phytoplankton is eaten by animal-like plankton. The tiny floating plants make food from sunlight. This conversion of the sun's energy to food is the beginning of the ocean's first food chain.

Although life in the ocean comes in many shapes and sizes, most living things seem to be concentrated in three ocean areas. Thousands of tiny plants and animals float on the surface of the ocean. They are called plankton, and are so tiny they cannot be seen with the naked eye. They live on the ocean surface, where there is sunlight, rather than on the ocean bottom. Tiny shrimp-like animals called copepods eat plankton. Copepods are as small as the head of a pin. On the ocean bottom near the shore, there are many plants and animals. Here sunlight reaches the bottom and many plants are able to grow. Why do you think there is little plant growth in the deeper parts of the ocean? (No light)

A great variety of animals live in the water near the shore. Crabs, lobster and shrimp move along the ocean bottom looking for food. Fish also swim along the bottom. They all eat plankton that fall from the surface. They also eat parts of other ocean animals. The starfish uses its long arms to pry open clams and scallops. The sea anemone sits on the ocean bottom waiting for a fish to fall prey to its poisonous arms. It looks more like a plant than an animal.

Most fish live in the deep water, just below the ocean surface. Fish eat other fish to stay alive. Large fish eat smaller ones, which eat smaller ones, which eat still smaller ones. This eating pattern is called a food chain. This can be described as "who eats whom." This chain concept also resembles a pyramid. (I would probably draw a pyramid on the board to illustrate.) Each type of organism feeds on the organisms below it on the pyramid. Plankton would be found on the bottom of the pyramid and the whales would be found at the top.

(Make card strips for each student - one for each area of the ocean. Have a card for the surface, just below the surface and on the bottom near the shore. The teacher will name the following living things found In the ocean, and the student will hold up a response card showing the correct area. Use: plankton, copepods, fish, sea anemone, crabs, lobster, etc.)

True and False Cards. I am going to repeat some statement concerning life in the ocean. Hold up the correct answer.

1. Plant and animal life are linked together by food chains. (T)

2. The chain resembles a pyramid. (T)

3. Each type of organism feeds on the organisms above it on the pyramid. (F)

4. Forms of life are found at three ocean locations. (F)

5. Plankton are large plants and animals floating on the surface of the ocean. (F)

6. Tiny animals called copepods eat plankton. (T)

7. Sea anemone looks like a plant. (T)

(Run off drop sheet showing pyramid and pictures of ocean life. This drawing shows how living things in the ocean depend on each other for food. Write the following words on the board or on a chart and have students label the pyramid: plankton, fish, copepods, walrus, killer whale.)

Surviving Pelican Game:
1. Each student draws a pelican to use in the game.

2. Discard the jokers from a deck of cards. Label 30 cards as algae, 15 cards as little fish, 7 as big fish. (Disregard the numbers and suits of the cards, or make your own cards from poster board.)

3. Shuffle the deck and place it face down in the middle of the players. Four is a good number for a group.

4. The game is played according to who eats whom. Algae eat nothing. Little fish eat algae. Big fish eat little fish. Pelicans eat only big fish.

5. First player draws a card and turns it over. If the card is algae or little fish, it remains in front of the player. If it happens to be a big fish, the next player will not draw a card, but will use his turn by having his pelican eat the big fish (take it) and remove it from the game. (Put the big fish card aside.)

6. The next player turns over a card (if his pelican did not eat). If a little fish is drawn, it must take algae from any players. Stack the algae cards with the little fish on top in front of the players.

7. If a player turns over a big fish, it must eat all the little fish in front of the others players as well as the algae the little fish ate.

8. After a big fish has eaten, the next person's pelican must eat whatever fish are showing, including little fish and algae. These cards are taken from in front of the players and kept aside out of the game, by students whose pelican ate them.

9. After all cards are played and taken, each person counts how many doses of pesticide (how many cards) his pelican has eaten. The pelican who has eaten the most has to drop out of the game. Surviving pelicans shuffle the cards and play as many rounds as needed until there is a final survivor.

10. Each group plays for a final survivor. Play-offs can be held with the pelicans until one survivor is found.

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