Ecosystems Curriculum

Section 1: Resources

Food Web Connections Game Teacher Preparation

Materials

• Food Web Cards (PDF: 935 KB)
• Interact! Cards (PDF: 248 KB)

Background

Students often have difficulty understanding the extended domino-like connections within a food web. Students think about the way in which one organism affects another directly without thinking about how events on one level can indirectly affect organisms on another level. They also tend to think about the connections in an ecosystem in a linear fashion, or a straight line, and therefore are more likely to envision a food chain. This game aims to reinforce the notion that organisms within an ecosystem are related in complex ways. This game also encourages players to think about the important role of producers and how organisms at the lower levels affect higher order consumers.

Goal

The goal of the Food Web Connections Game is to create a food web with at least five levels (decomposers, producers, and three levels of consumers) and the greatest number of connections.

Getting Started

Create the playing pieces:

1. Print out the Food Web Connections Cards. Make 2 copies of the first page, and 3 copies each of the second and third pages (a total of 64 cards) for each set of students.
2. Print out the Interact! Cards. Make 2 copies each of Interact! Cards (a total of 40 cards) for each set of students. Cut cards and laminate if possible.
3. Break your students up into groups of 4, or have 4 students work on this game as a separate activity.
4. Each group needs one set of Food Web cards and one set of Interact! cards.
5. Have your students find a space on the floor or a round table where they can place many cards.

Playing the Game

• See Food Web Connections Game Directions for instructions on how to play the game.

Strategy Questions

1. Is it important to have producers in your web? Why?
2. If you had a choice between choosing a card to place on a level where you already have many cards and a level where you only have one card, which should you choose? Why?
3. Is it better to extend your web to higher levels or make sure that you have enough cards at lower levels to support the ones above it? Why?

Follow-Up Questions

1. Do you think the food web members needed producers (plants) to be in the game? Why? Is this true of a real ecosystem?
2. Do you think the game could be played without decomposers? Why? Would that work in a real ecosystem?
3. Can you think of a way that mice and plants are connected in a food web? What about earthworms and owls?