Students learn what a food chain is and its purpose. Students learn about the various trophic levels within a food chain. Students learn about the roles that herbivores, carnivores, scavengers, and decomposers play within an ecosystem. Students learn the definition of predator and prey. Students learn about some of the other scavengers within the animal kingdom.
Students work in teams to prepare their decomposed fruit shish kebabs.
Students work in teams to observe, write in their journals, and photograph all changes that occur to their fruit shish kebabs. Students work in teams to mount their team's fruit shish kebab photos sequentially for days three through eight on large poster boards. Students write a brief summary of changes that occurred to their team's fruit shish kebab under each photo. Student teams display their findings to the entire class for discussion. Background An ecosystem is a unit of the environment that consists of interacting living and nonliving elements.