Energy and Matter: Flows, Cycles, and Conservation |
| Tracking how energy and matter flow into, out of, and within systems helps one understand their system’s behavior. |
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Life in a Bottle Ecosystem
In this modeling exercise, students have the opportunity to observe the aquatic ecosystem and dive into different matter and energy cycles within the ecosystem to learn the cross-cutting concept “Energy and Matter”.
The usage of a self-made ecosphere bottle or the video about the shrimp colony in a jar could arouse students’ curiosity about the aquatic ecosystem built in the micro-space. Teachers could initially help students zoom out to observe and record the key elements inside the ecosystem (i.e., shrimp, water, air, algae, etc.) and outside the ecosystem (i.e., light, temperature). Students could be encouraged to make hypotheses about what support(s) the operation of the aquatic ecosystem. Then, teachers could support students in zooming in on the whole system and breaking it down into different matter cycles. Students could use modeling exercises to recognize and present matter cycling and energy flow in and out of different parts of an ecosystem. For example, students could model how matter and energy flow between abiotic (i.e., water) and biotic elements (i.e., shrimp) or between various biotic elements (i.e., between shrimp and algae). Next, teachers could encourage students to discuss their hypotheses with peers and extend their modeling by including more elements in the movement of matter and energy. A further step could be asking students to predict and model what will happen in the ecosystem if one or more parts are removed or cycling of matter stops.
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Suggested Modeling Elements: N/A or Review Library. This exercise incorporates models of real-life observations (self-made bottle or video). For teachers interested in customizing this exercise further into students' modeling-making, we encourage you to explore the visual library tool and choose the modeling elements that best fit your instructional plan, if applicable. Suggested Sensemaking Components: Flow of Matter, Flow of Energy, Movement/Motion, Temperature, Zoom See an illustration of this exercise in a vignette |
