Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Transfer of Energy through the Trophic Levels

Content Area: Life Science
Grade Level(s): 4th grade

Content Standard Addressed:

S4L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy
within an ecosystem.
b. Develop simple models to illustrate the flow of energy through a food web/food chain beginning with
sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Technology Standard Addressed:
Standard 2
2.9: Candidate uses digital tools and resources to ensure accessibility and relevance for all learners.
Selected Technology Tool:
https://create.piktochart.com/infographic/editor/172

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

https://www.discoveryeducation.com/
https://sciencetrends.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=v6ubvEJ3KGM
https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-energy-pyramid-of-a-tropical-rainforest.html
Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):
☐ Remembering ☐ Understanding ☐ Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☒ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Piktochart
• Allows students to express themselves and their ideas in a creative outlet using multiple online
resources.
• By using an easy to understand templets, online tutorial on how to use the tools, and the freedom
to customize their templet to their desires, allows them to express their thoughts.
• By using their online cloud save, students who require extended time on assignments are able to
come back to their work without losing any progress.
• This also allows students to work on assignments at home and outside school settings.
Discovery
• This allows audio, visual, and textual mediums of information for students who may need
information presented.
• With the games/ activities that are presented on the website as well it helps students engage with
material in a way that is more hands on.
Lesson idea implementation:
This project will be an end of the content area assessment. With that students should a minimal understand
ecosystems with minimal understanding of how trophic levels work. This lesson will cement this concept, so
students are able to understand predatory levels, the drop off of energy between the trophic levels, and the
types of producers/ consumers that are present in each level. These things will be addressed in the guidelines
the teacher will go over when the teacher introduces the assessment. By giving the resources to do the

Spring 2018_SJB
 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)
research on their own it allows the students to guide their learning but giving them guidelines to stay in helps
them stay on track with what I want them to get out of the lesson.

Teacher:
The teacher’s role in this lesson will be explaining what the students will be doing on Piktochart and showing
them a small example of how to use the tools. Once the teacher has finished with going over the tools the
website has, she will go in-depth over what their project will contain and what are good resources they are
allowed to use on it (Discovery Education, Brain Pop, class notes, school biology textbook). After this part the
teacher’s role is minimalized and should only be included with verifying information, checking material and
websites, and grading the final project.
Teacher/ Students:
The teacher and students will be going over the work completed by the students during checkups. While the
student is completing their work, the teacher should do check-ins throughout the week to see how progress is
coming along and to see if the students have any questions regarding material, or formatting. If the teacher
deems it necessary then a conference should be scheduled with the student regarding grading, however I
believe the use of a rubric with a comment section would suffice.
Students:
Students role in this project will include gathering information and presenting it in a neat and orderly fashion.
Once the students have the information then their last step will be putting the information into a neat page
on Piktochart.
Reflective Practice:
I think this was a big positive impact on their learning. Around this age the students should start to take
learning into their own hands, and I believe this instills a certain level of maturity with the students having
this freedom. I honestly wasn’t the biggest fan of the website, I thought it was very useful and a great tool for
the students, but a similar assignment could be given where the students create a physical copy where the
teacher could post out side her room or over the room so students could see their classmates work.

Spring 2018_SJB