Middle School, grades 6 through 8
Middle School Algae and Ecosystem Lessons
Algae do more than half of Earth's photosynthesis. Bring them into your classroom.
Algae are responsible for more than half of the photosynthesis on Earth. When grazers like brine shrimp eat them, that photosynthetic biomass becomes animal biomass, which in turn feeds the fish, birds and whales above them. Almost every food web in the ocean starts here.
The key players
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Life Science
Each card is one NGSS standard. Open it to see how it can be taught. Pick your state and the codes update for Texas or Florida.
Grades 6-8
Cells and What They Do
Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.
Grades 6-8
Photosynthesis
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
Respiration: How Organisms Use Food
Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
Grades 6-8
Resources and Populations
Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
Grades 6-8
Interactions and Food Webs
Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
Cycling of Matter and Flow of Energy
Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
Changes to Ecosystems and Populations
Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Monitoring Human Impact
Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
Human Consumption and Earth's Systems
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.