Cross-cutting Cause and Effect

Grade level
/subject

Context
description

Standards met

Concept
addressed

Objectives

9th Grade Biology

In class, students have had a very general discussion of matter and energy
in a system. This previous lesson provided a foundation for this lesson by
having the students engage in the idea of cycling of matter and how energy
moves from one organism to another. I gave my students an exit ticket for
my knowledge of whether students grasped the idea that energy in a
system cannot be created or destroyed but it can be changed from one
form to another. The prior experiences set a foundation for students to
explore a coral reef ecosystem and focus on how energy flows from one
tropic level to another. This builds connections between the previous
lesson by having the students think back to the discussion on energy and
bring that knowledge to show how energy flows in an ecosystem. Most
students have the ability and strength to use computers in the classroom.
This activity involves an online simulation that supports these strengths.
Students with weakness in technology use this as an opportunity to gain
experience and learn how to problem solve with this online activity. All
students are provided with a worksheet that guides them throughout the
gizmo.
OLSS.SC.BIO.3.2 Ecosystems
Content Statements:
Trophic interactions determine how energy and materials move
through the ecosystem
The cycling of matter and flow of energy occurs at all levels of
biological organization, from molecules to ecosystems
Organisms transform (flow of energy) and matter (cycles of energy)
as they survive and reproduce
The big idea for this lesson is to have students explain how abiotic factors
in the biosphere can have an effect on stable ecosystems. This lesson
provides students with knowledge about the flow of energy from one
trophic level to another. It also address how a disruption to the ecosystem
from an abiotic factor can disrupt this energy flow. Students will complete a
claim, evidence, and reasoning which will allow them to think of the effect
of an ecosystem has when an abiotic factor changes. The cross cutting
concept of Cause and Effect will allow students to make a connection
between the idea of energy flow and how this flow can change if an abiotic
factor changes in the ecosystem. Students need to understand the cause
in effect relationship because it provides a foundations to the real-world
effects humans are having on ecosystems.
The students will be able to:
1. Explain how a change in abiotic factors can effect an
ecosystem

Cross-cutting Cause and Effect

Academic
language
Learning
strategies
Materials needed

2. Draw a food web and food chain showing how energy

moves throughout an ecosystem.
Abiotic, Ecosystem, Producer, Consumer, Food chain, Food web
Online learning Students will be using gizmo in the class
Computers
Journals
Gizmo Handout
Instructional sequence:
Segment 1: Bell opener: What is the difference between Biotic and
Abiotic Factors (4 min attendance)
Transition 1: Put opener back in folder and hand out Gizmo
worksheet (1 min)
Segment 2: Students will complete Prior knowledge and Gizmo
warm-up (5 min)
Transition 2: Students will begin to work on the Gizmo Activities
Segment 3: Activity A: Fishing Regulation (15 min)

Instructional
outline

Transition 3: Checkpoint 1: Students will continue to work on the

worksheet
Segment 4: Activity B: Disease (10 min)
Transition 4: Checkpoint 2: Students will continue to work on the
worksheet
Segment 5: Activity C: Invasive Species (10 min)
Transition 5: Checkpoint 3: Students will continue to work on the
worksheet
Segment 6: Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (10 min)

Modifications/
Accommodations

Transition 6: Checkpoint 4. Clean up.

Students will IEPs will be provided the necessary accommodations or
modifications as stated by their needs. I will ask these students to focus on
one of the abiotic factors to do the CER.
Formative assessments:

Cross-cutting Cause and Effect

Assessments of
learning

Objective 1: Checkpoints throughout the class period will allow for teacher
gauge students learning
Objective 2: In activity A of this activity it requires students to draw a food
chain and a food web. I will be looking for students ability to show how
each of the species are connected together. In the food web I will explicitly
look for how students are representing the energy flow from one organism
to another.
Summative assessments:
Objective 1: Students will complete a Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning at
the end of this lesson. Students should be able to use the cross-cutting
concept of cause and effect to complete this activity. I will be looking for
students ability to explain how a change in the environmental conditions
would affect the coral reef ecosystem.
Students will be having an end of unit test. This test will assess students
understanding of both learning objective.