Check How Much You Know About Food Chains, Webs and Interdependence

Learning objectives
Review ideas about:
iAll living things depend on the Sun for energy, which plants convert during photosynthesis.
iiEnergy is transferred through food chains and webs from producers to consumers.
iiiA change in the population of one species can affect the population of other species in the same food web.
ivEnergy can leave a food chain as it is transferred from one level to another. (Green only)
vToxins build up in the top levels of a food chain.
viEnergy transfer through a food chain can be represented by drawing a pyramid of numbers. (Red only)
Scientific enquiry
viiBe able to apply knowledge and understanding of interdependence to make conclusions from secondary data.
Suggested alternative starter activities (5–10 minutes)
Share learning objectives / Who’s right? / Key ideas map

Check how much you know about food chains, webs and interdependence.

Use ideas about interdependence to explain a range of situations.

/ Pupils say who in the concept cartoon is right, and justify their choice with explanations. / Give pupils a concept map about food chains and webs (Green), or food chains, webs and pyramids (Red), with some words in place. They add the words in the list to the map.
Suggested alternative main activities
Activity / Learning objectives see above / Description / Approx.
timing / Target group
C / H / E / S
Pupil book Booster 2 / i–vi / Teacher-led explanation and questioning
Or pupils work individually, in pairs or in small groups, through the in-text questions and then on to the end-of-spread questions if time allows. / 30 min / R/G / S
Activity Booster 2a Paper / i–vi / Chains and webs (Green)
Chains, webs and pyramids (Red)
Pupils complete a revision sheet about food chains and webs (Green), or food chains, webs and pyramids (Red). / 15 min / R/G
Activity Booster 2b Discussion / i–vi / Key facts
Pupils make key fact cards and use them in a variety of revision activities. / 20 min / R/G
Activity Booster 2c Discussion / i–vii / Interdependence challenge
Pupils use their knowledge to decide which arguments are right and explain their answers. / 20 min / R/G
Suggested alternative plenary activities (5–10 minutes)
Sharing responses / Group feedback
Pupils feed back ideas from the concept cartoon in the Starter. / Groups make presentations about their challenge cards from Activity Booster 2c.
Learning outcomes
Most pupils will … / Some pupils, making less progress, will … / Some pupils, making more progress, will …

draw a food chain to show energy flow, and a food web to show how energy flows through all the living things in a habitat
understand that all living things depend on the Sun's energy which enters a food web through the producers
explain what happens when the population size of one species in a food web changes
draw a food pyramid for a given food chain

describe how energy can be lost as it is transferred between levels of a food chain.

draw a food chain to show feeding relationships
understand that all living things depend on the Sun's energy which enters a food web through the producers

draw a food web to show how food chains are interlinked.

apply their knowledge of interdependence, relating food chains, food webs and food pyramids together

explain how toxin build-up can cause problems in the species at the top levels of the food chain.

Out-of-lesson learning
Homework Booster 2 Focus on interdependence
Make sure pupils know the meaning of all the key words in Booster 2
Pupils can draw their own memory map to help them remember the information in Booster 2.

This worksheet may have been altered from the original on the CD-ROM.