Connected Ecosystems

Lesson Plan Overview

Students will play a game as a class to learn about living and non-living components of an ecosystem and natural cycles. By exploring the relationship between a coral reef seastar and the resources in its environment, students will begin to understand an animal’s reliance on its ecosystem and all its parts. A follow-up PowerPoint lesson is available on the MCR LTER education website to emphasize the concepts introduced in this lesson in a more formal format and bring in more ecosystem state standards.

Source: Moorea Coral Reef Education LTER
Subjects: Marine Biology
Grades: 3-5
Tags: Corals

Lesson Plans

Connected Ecosystems

Literacy Principles:

OLP#5: The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems.

Related Resources

Ocean Acidification Excites Boring Sponges

This orange boring sponge (Cliona varians) overgrows several coral species at Panama's Smithsonian Tropical Studies Institute.

The Big Five of the Ocean: Exploring the Waters of East Africa

A whale shark swims with a diver off the coast of East Africa.

Where the Shark and the Snapper Roam

Grey reef sharks are among the most versatile and tough predators on a Pacific coral reef, but they are also among the most vulnerable species, as they are threatened by wasteful fishing practices like shark finning.