Food Chains & Energy Transfer

CONCEPTUAL

Science›Ecosystems & Habitats|Ages 8—9|ID: mt_oB-L8EVdIP

Construct and interpret food chains identifying producers, predators, and prey, and understand energy transfer between trophic levels

Mastery Evidence

Construct a food chain with at least four organisms, labelling producer, primary consumer, predator
Define producer, predator, and prey with examples
Interpret a given food chain to predict what happens if one organism is removed

Assessment Prompt

“Can [child] build a food chain for a woodland and point out which organisms are producers, which are predators, and which are prey?”

Curriculum Standards1 alignment

Y4.Sci.A.3The national curriculum in England

Food chains, producers, predators and prey

construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey

Science · Key Stage 2

Prerequisites5

Rainforest Food Webs
softAges 7—9
Animal Nutrition
softAges 7—8
Simple Food Chains
hardAges 6—7
Ecology Vocabulary
hardAges 8—10
Ocean Food Webs
softAges 7—9

Show full prerequisite tree

Rainforest Food Webs soft
Rainforest food webs enrich curriculum food chains topic (exploratory age 7 -> curriculum age 8)
- Rainforest Plants hard
  Must know rainforest plants (producers) before constructing food webs
  - Rainforest Layers hard
    Plants taught in context of layers (epiphytes in canopy, lianas climbing trunks)
    - What Is a Rainforest? hard
      Must know what a rainforest is before learning its four layers
- Rainforest Animals hard
  Must know rainforest animals before constructing food chains with them
  - Rainforest Layers hard
    Animals are taught in context of which layer they inhabit
    - What Is a Rainforest? hard
      Must know what a rainforest is before learning its four layers
Animal Nutrition soft
Nutrition knowledge supports understanding why animals occupy different trophic levels
- Herbivores, Carnivores & Omnivores soft
  Carnivore/herbivore/omnivore classification supports understanding nutrition differences
  - Naming Common Animals hard
    Must identify animal groups before classifying by diet
- What Living Things Need hard
  Must know basic survival needs before learning about nutrition types and food groups
  - Common Plants & Trees soft
    Knowing plants helps understand what they need
  - Living Things Vocabulary soft
    Describing what plants and animals need to survive uses life processes vocabulary: nutrition, growth, sensitivity
  - Naming Common Animals soft
    Knowing animals helps understand what they need
Simple Food Chains hard
Must understand simple food chains before constructing complex ones with producer/predator/prey terminology
- Herbivores, Carnivores & Omnivores hard
  Must know carnivore/herbivore/omnivore to understand food chains
  - Naming Common Animals hard
    Must identify animal groups before classifying by diet
- Habitats & Basic Needs hard
  Must know about habitats and interdependence before learning food chains
  - Where Are the Poles? soft
    Polar regions enrich the curriculum habitats topic (exploratory age 5 -> curriculum age 6)
  - Habitat Vocabulary hard
    Describing how habitats provide for basic needs requires habitat, environment, conditions, shelter vocabulary
  - What Is a Rainforest? soft
    Rainforest habitat knowledge enriches the curriculum habitats topic (exploratory age 5 -> curriculum age 6)
  - What Living Things Need hard
    Must know basic needs of organisms before understanding how habitats provide for those needs
    - Common Plants & Trees soft
      Knowing plants helps understand what they need
    - Living Things Vocabulary soft
      Describing what plants and animals need to survive uses life processes vocabulary: nutrition, growth, sensitivity
    - Naming Common Animals soft
      Knowing animals helps understand what they need
  - What Ocean Animals Need soft
    Ocean animal needs parallels curriculum habitats/basic needs concept
    - What Is the Ocean? soft
      Ocean animal needs are contextualised by knowing what the ocean is
  - Animal Homes soft
    Animal homes concept is enriched by curriculum habitats topic
    - Animals Everywhere hard
      Animal homes builds on knowing animals live everywhere
  - Living, Dead & Never Alive hard
    Must distinguish living from non-living before understanding habitats that support living things
    - Common Plants & Trees soft
      Knowing plant names helps distinguish living from non-living
    - Living Things Vocabulary hard
      Comparing living, dead, and never-been-alive things requires the life processes vocabulary to give reasons
    - Naming Common Animals soft
      Knowing animal groups helps distinguish living from non-living
  - Minibeast Habitats soft
    Exploratory micro-habitats knowledge enriches curriculum habitats topic
    - Common minibeasts: naming and recognising hard
      Must recognise common minibeasts before exploring where each type lives
      - What is a minibeast? hard
        Must understand what minibeasts are before learning to name specific ones
- Ocean Food Chains soft
  Ocean food chain parallels curriculum simple food chain concept
  - What Ocean Animals Need soft
    Food chains explain how animals meet their need for food
    - What Is the Ocean? soft
      Ocean animal needs are contextualised by knowing what the ocean is
  - Ocean Animal Variety soft
    Food chains benefit from knowing the variety of animals that eat each other
- Minibeasts in the food chain soft
  Garden minibeast food chains provide concrete examples for curriculum simple-food-chains
  - Common minibeasts: naming and recognising hard
    Must know common minibeasts before placing them in food chains
    - What is a minibeast? hard
      Must understand what minibeasts are before learning to name specific ones
- Rainforest Animals soft
  Rainforest animals provide rich examples for simple food chains (exploratory age 5 -> curriculum age 6)
  - Rainforest Layers hard
    Animals are taught in context of which layer they inhabit
    - What Is a Rainforest? hard
      Must know what a rainforest is before learning its four layers
Ecology Vocabulary hard
Constructing and interpreting food chains requires producer, consumer, predator, prey vocabulary
Ocean Food Webs soft
Ocean food webs build on curriculum food chains with trophic levels
- Classifying Ocean Animals soft
  Food webs benefit from knowing animal classification groups
  - Whales & Dolphins Are Mammals hard
    Classifying marine mammals vs fish builds on whale/dolphin are mammals concept
    - Ocean Animal Variety soft
      Mammals vs fish distinction benefits from knowing ocean animal variety
  - Ocean Animal Variety hard
    Classifying ocean animals builds on knowing the variety exists
- Ocean Food Chains hard
  Food webs extend simple food chains to interconnected networks
  - What Ocean Animals Need soft
    Food chains explain how animals meet their need for food
    - What Is the Ocean? soft
      Ocean animal needs are contextualised by knowing what the ocean is
  - Ocean Animal Variety soft
    Food chains benefit from knowing the variety of animals that eat each other

Unlocks3

Matter Cycling in Ecosystems
hardAges 10—11
Insects in ecosystems
softAges 9—11
Food Webs & Interdependence
hardAges 11—12