Create An Ecosystem: An Ecology Project

Make ecology come to life by having students create their own fictional ecosystem.

Students will demonstrate their understanding of ecology by creating a fictional ecosystem complete with plants and animals. They will show how plants and animals have adapted to their ecosystem, how they interact with one another (symbiosis), which organisms eat which (food chains and food webs), how their ecosystem formed over time (ecological succession), and how mater travels through their ecosystem (biogeochemical cycles)

This project is intended to be done over a period of 5-7 class periods. The way I have used it in class has been to introduce a topic and then allow students to work on a portion of the project that corresponds with what we just covered. For instance, after I introduce symbiotic relationships and discuss real world examples I ask students to create symbiotic relationships amongst organisms on the islands they create.

The goal is to give students a way of showing their understanding of ecological concepts without regurgitating what is told in class. I typically have students work in groups. Minimum of three students per group. It is a lot of work to accomplish solo, but a driven student could do it alone.

The step by step instructions and a project outline will guide students through each concept whilst helping them create their own understanding. In my experience some students want to get started without too many details. For those students I have a quick start. I always remind students to check the rubric before submitting. The rubric is very thorough, feel free to change as needed.

A link to make a copy in your Google Drive is included. A word document of the rubric is also included for quick adjustments.

Happy Teaching,

Biologicool