These interactive Google slides are packed with activities including simulations, graphing activities, modeling activities, Google Earth & Google Maps activities, videos, writing responses, matching, labeling, sorting and MORE! This unit includes 3 different slide sets with each focusing on specific aspects of ecosystems. See preview video for closeup of some of the activities!
 
Lesson 1: Lionfish Investigation on Carrying Capacity & Biodiversity
In this set of Google Slides, students will:
-review biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem, specifically a coral reef
-use an interactive map to draw conclusions about lionfish population densities
-use information and data to predict how dense lionfish populations will affect ecosystems and disrupt food chains
-graph population densities of lionfish and analyze trends
-use a simulation to visualize how an overabundance of a particular species can disrupt an ecosystem by reaching the carrying capacity 
-understand that invasive species, like lionfish, can decimate populations of other organisms and ultimately change the biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem
-identify ways that humans can negatively and positively impact population densities of organisms in an ecosystem
-analyze data to determine how lionfish have affected population densities of other fish species
-construct an explanation based on data that dense lionfish populations are affecting biodiversity  
Lesson 2: Cycling of Matter & Energy in Ecosystems
In this set of Google Slides, students will:
-understand that certain elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen are present in living things as different molecules
-use models to create a few basic molecules found in living organisms
-recognize that molecules such as glucose and water can be broken and rearranged to make new molecules that the body can use to gain energy or expel as waste
-explain how matter and energy are transferred to and from organisms in a food chain or web
-use a food pyramid to understand trophic levels and how organisms are arranged in a food pyramid
-use mathematics to represent how energy is lost as heat when an organism eats another living thing
-use models to visualize how carbon based molecules move during photosynthesis & cellular respiration
-compare photosynthesis and cellular respiration as processes that transfer energy and move carbon to various spheres on earth
-create a model to show how carbon moves through earth’s spheres
Lesson 3: Stable and Changing Ecosystems
In this set of Google Slides, students will:
-differentiate between moderate and extreme conditions that can potentially change an ecosystem
-use the example of seasonal rains in the African savanna to identify changes in animal populations and behaviors, but recognize that population sizes remain relatively the same
-analyze California sea lion population trends to observe carrying capacity and how populations can remain stable when conditions remain the same 
-identify ways in which humans can directly impact population sizes of different species 
-interpret data regarding polar bear populations and make predictions about why some polar bear populations are increasing, some are stable, and some are decreasing
-use data, observations, and a simulation to identify that the Mt. St. Helen’s eruption was an extreme condition that ultimately produced a new ecosystem 
-use information from scientists regarding the Chernobyl disaster to make a claim that the nuclear radiation has changed the ecosystem in the surrounding area
NGSS Alignment:
HS-LS2-1  Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales.
HS-LS2-2  Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.
HS-LS2-3  Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
HS-LS2-4  Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.
HS-LS2-5  Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.
HS-LS2-6 Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
HS-LS2-8  Evaluate evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species’ chances to survive and reproduce.
 
NGSS Practices:
-Developing & using models
-Analyzing & interpreting data
-Using mathematics & computational thinking
-Engaging in argument from evidence
-Constructing explanations & designing solutions
-Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information