Web 2.

0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

Lesson Idea Name: Food Webs and Food Chains
Grade Level/Content Area: 3rd grade science

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. 

ISTE Technology Standard Addressed:  What would you like students to know and be
able to do by the end of this lesson?
Standard 1.1.a in the Empowered Learner Standard:  
Students articulate and set personal learning goals, Students will be able to develop a model to illustrate
develop strategies leveraging technology to achieve the flow of energy through a food chain with
them and reflect on the learning process itself to producers, consumers, and decomposers.  
improve learning outcomes.  
What is the student learning goal(s) for this lesson idea? 

I will be able to develop a model to illustrate the flow of energy through a food chain with producers,
consumers, and decomposers.  

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☒ Evaluating ☒

Creating

How do you plan to implement this lesson and integrate the technology? Check all that apply: 
 
☐ Teacher-led: There is no student voice and choice in the activities. Students are guided by
teacher direction and expectations. Learning activities are assigned to the
student and mostly practice based. 
    
X Student-Led: Students are given voice and choice in the activities. They may select the topic
of learning and/or determine the tool they will use to meet the learning goal. The
teacher facilitates the learning as the students direct their own learning processes. 
 
☐ Problem-based and/or Publishable: Students are solving problems
and completing projects to demonstrate their learning. Additionally, the projects can be shared
outside of the classroom. (Note: This objective could be reached by displaying the project on the
school’s morning newscast, posting the project to the classroom blog, presenting it to another
class, or publishing via an outside source.) 

Lesson idea implementation:

The students will begin this lesson by clicking the link to join the student-paced Pear Deck lesson.
They can also join through the Pear Dock code. The link can be accessed through the students’
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computers on the classroom page that students use to access grades and other content. Once they
have joined, they will immediately watch the BrainPOP that introduces the topic of food chains and
food webs. Throughout the BrainPOP, the video will pause for the students to answer questions in
order to check for understanding and keep the students’ attention on the video. This resource will
be used to activate prior knowledge and hook student interest to the topic. Once the video is over,
the students will click to go to the next page. On the next page, they will click on another link to play
a game where the students guess what animal belongs in the food chain. Below the game, there is
more information about food chains and food webs that the students will read to grow their
understanding. They will read this first, and then, play the game. The students will complete the
game until they reach 100 percent. Once they have reached 100 percent, they can see which parts of
the game they were not correct about. If time allows, the students can play the game again to do
better than they did the first time. This reiterates what they have learned thus far and gives the
students a chance to interact with the material at their own pace. After the students have played 1-2
rounds of this game, they will click to go to the next pages of the Pear Dock. Here, the students will
answer a combination of multiple choice and short answer response questions. This is a way for me
to check for understanding/assess what students know before they complete the main assessment.
The students also get to practice their knowledge about food webs and food chains. There are a
variety of questions and interaction for students within these questions which should motivate the
learners. Lastly, students will create their own food chain through either BrainPOP or drawing one
on a piece of paper. Once the students have drawn or created a food chain online, they will take a
picture of it either by screenshotting or using the camera to post it to a Padlet. The students will
share their food chains, so each student can comment on another student’s post. The students will
comment on a classmate’s post what parts of the food chain are producers, consumers, and
decomposers. They will get to communicate with each other this way. To conclude the lesson, the
students will answer one last question on Pear Dock by explaining the flow of energy in a food chain
presented to them. The very last slide of the Pear Dock asked students to circle the face that best
explains how they are feeling about the topic. In this way, I can check for how confident the students
feel about food chains and food webs. In summary, this lesson promotes hands-on experiences and
much higher order thinking skills. There are a wide range of activities that provide inclusivity for
students making this lesson engaging and universal for every student.
Managing student learning:
I believe the tools in this lesson will shift the behavior of students because the activities are varied
and promote higher order thinking skills. Because of this, students will be actively learning because
they will be engaging at their own pace to complete assignments that require the students to apply,
analyze, evaluate, and create. The students will show what they know through short answer,
true/false, multiple choice, and fill in the blank answers. Furthermore, the students will be active
social learners by creating their own food chain at the end of the lesson and communicating with
other peers on their food chains.

I will allow time-on-task and shift from passive to active learning by setting time limits for the certain
activities throughout this lesson such as the food chain game and the creation of the student’s own
food chain. I do not want students spending more than 10 minutes total on these assignments
individually unless stated in an IEP that more time can be provided. In this way, students will stay on
task and be aware that there is only so much time to get the work done. I will also be walking around
throughout the students engaging in the Pear Dock and have quick chat time with the students to
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have mini conferences with them to explain, engage, and support their learning.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

This learning experience will support engagement by optimizing individual choice and autonomy by
providing a student-paced lesson, by fostering collaboration and community by commenting on each
other’s Padlet posts, and by optimizing motivation through the variety of activities provided. This
experience also promotes expression through using multiple tools for construction and composition
by allowing the students to choose the way they want to create their food chains.

Reflective Practice:
I do believe this lesson will help students build understanding in a way they could not do with
traditional tools because students have opportunities to see other classmate’s work and comment
on this work in order to support understanding about a specific topic and foster collaboration among
the class. Students also have opportunities to watch videos, complete short assessments online, and
complete virtual games. Through all of this, the students will be learning at their own pace without
teacher guidance; therefore, students are provided with a unique learning experience learning
through their peers and on their own. I look forward to seeing what students will create during the
final assessment of this lesson. Seeing student creativity and seeing what students understand can
be so rewarding. I am excited to see how the students express themselves through science topics!

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