Biology+1+(Rachele,+Tom+and+Mary)

__**Google Wordle (Tagxedo/Tagul) Moodle Activity : Energy Transformations in Ecosystems**__


 * Content:**

Vocabulary:
 * biosphere
 * solar energy
 * heat energy
 * trophic level
 * primary producer (autotroph)
 * primary consumer (heterotroph)
 * secondary consumer (heterotroph)
 * tertiary consumer (heterotroph)
 * decomposer (heterotroph)
 * herbivore
 * carnivore
 * omnivore
 * detritivore
 * predator/prey
 * pyramid of biomass (numbers)
 * law of the conservation of matter & energy (energy transformations)
 * waste (fecal, gas)

Students will be able to...
 * As you are making field observations, what trends are you noticing about the of number of organisms as they are compared to other organisms. For example, as you look outside, is there more grass that insects?
 * Students will understand how energy moves through the biosphere.
 * Students will understand that there is a limit to the number of trophic levels.

__**Day 1**__

Part I. Field Component (15 minutes)
 * 1) Clipboards and vocabulary lists will be distributed to all students.
 * 2) Students will go outside and make observations related to the terminology in the vocabulary list. Describe the word and provide examples from the field on your data table.

Part II. Lab Component (15 minutes)
 * 1) Back in the lab, lab groups will enter their data into the google doc provided on the t teacher’s moodle page.
 * 2) The teacher will create a wordle from the class data.

__**Day 2**__

Google Forms: @https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en&hl=en&formkey=dGJCdk0wUVl3NkxmdTE3d1JBZloyN2c6MQ The teacher will use Wordle to compile a list of terms groups patterns/trends the students discovered in the field on the previous day a word document. This list will not include the terms given to them but the terms they recorded. Each group will create a Wordle and we will look at each as a class.
 * Technology:**


 * Assessment:**
 * 1) If you had to pick a shape that would best contain our words, considering their size, which shape would you pick?
 * 2) Why would you pick this shape?
 * 3) How can we apply what we have learned to the concept of energy transfer in an ecosystem?
 * 4) How might the amount of energy available to the organisms relate to the number of organisms?
 * 5) How would your data support this statement: “ Energy can not be created or destroyed, it can only be transformed.”
 * 6) If energy can’t created or destroyed and only transformed, where does it go or what does it become?
 * 7) Which shape would you pick and why?
 * 8) Why is the shape of our group of words a food pyramid, and not a circle or square?

__**Next Steps**__

What next steps will you take to implement this lesson?
 * Teachers should review and tweak the lesson to fit their own needs.
 * We hope that this will be a usable lesson for teachers to use during the ecology unit.

Timeline: When are you planning to implement the lesson?
 * We hope to use this lesson in the next few weeks.

Follow Ups: Any other questions or concerns?
 * A rubric needs to be created
 * Trying to decide which tool to use, Wordle, Tagxedo, Tagul