Ecosystems- Roadrunners and Coyotes

Turn your students into an active ecosystem. This activity is similar to the classic Oh Deer simulation with a roadrunner and coyote twist. During investigations, students observe, classify, measure, and communicate by recording what they have seen or done. When students are asked to infer, predict, and hypothesize from the data they have collected, they are interpreting data. Interpreting data is essential for making sense of the data collected in an investigation. One way to organize the data collected is to construct a graph.
Lessons include teacher's guide, background information, student pages, rubrics for scoring, writing pages, an enhanced multiple choice test and science notes. It also addresses the following National standards and Texas TEKS.
Framework: Next Generation Science Standards
1. Scientific and Engineering Practices
1. Asking questions, 3. Planning and carrying out investigations, 4. Analyzing and interpreting data, 5. Using mathematics and computational thinking, 6. Constructing explanations, 7. Engaging in argument from evidence, 8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
2. Crosscutting Concepts 7. Stability and change
3. Disciplinary Core Ideas-Life Sciences: LS 2: Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics
Third Grade TEKS
3.9 Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms have characteristics that help them survive and can describe patterns, cycles, systems, and relationships within the environments. The student is expected to: A. observe and describe the physical characteristics of environments and how they support populations and communities within an ecosystem
Fourth grade TEKS:
4.10 Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms undergo similar life processes and structures that help them survive within their environments. The student is expected to: A. explore how adaptation enable organisms to survive in their environment such as comparing birds' beaks
5th grade TEKS:
5.9 Organisms and environments. The student knows that there are relationships, systems, and cycles within environments. The student is expected to: B describe how the flow of energy derived from the Sun used by producers to create their own food, is transferred through a food chain and food web to consumers and decomposers.
A slideshow of the entire lesson is available under the Life Science Tab at:
http://scienceandkidsactivities.com