Application
Level 2
(Skills)

Strategic Thinking
Level 3
(Reasoning)

Extended Thinking
Level 4
(Products/Performance)

4.2.A.6th a; 1.1.I 8th c
8th grade students will explain how energy flows in an ecosystem           
·         Create a food web showing the transfer of energy in an ecosystem
·         Identify the Sun as the ultimate source of energy 
·         Explain why only a portion of the energy stored in trophic level can be transferred to another level (10% rule)
·         Apply the 10% rule to an energy pyramid
·         Explain why the base of the food pyramid contains more biomass than the top

4.1.A.6th a; 4.1.B. 6th a, b; 4.2.A.6th a, b; 4.2.B.8th a, b
8th grade students will analyze how organisms interact with each other and their environment
·         Classify organism as consumers, producers, decomposers in a food web and describe how these roles determine how matter and energy flow through a food web
·         Classify components in an ecosystem as biotic or abiotic
·         Define organism, population, community and ecosystem
·         Identify populations within a community that are in competition with one another for resources  
·         Explain the interactions of organisms (predator-prey, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism)  
·         Describe the importance of the transport and exchange of oxygen & carbon dioxide to the survival of the organisms (CO2 & O2 cycle)

4.1.B.6th b, c; 4.1.D.6th b, c; 4.3.C. 6th a, b
8th grade students will be able to relate the characteristics of an ecosystem to its biodiversity
·         Compare the biodiversity of different ecosystems
·         Identify the factors that affect the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support (limiting factors)
·         Describe and predict the possible effects of biotic and abiotic changes on the biodiversity in an ecosystem
·         Describe possible solutions to potentially harmful environmental changes within an ecosystem  
·         Describe how organisms in a particular environment evolved by adapting to changes in their ecosystem
·         Predict how certain adaptations may offer a survival advantage to an organism in a particular environment

4.1.D.6th a; 4.1.C
8th grade students will examine the impact of human activity on the global environment   
·         Identify individual factors that influence an ecological footprint 
·         Summarize how biodiversity has been changed by human activity
·         Create a plan to reduce human impact on the environment