Nature Jigsaw

The children will study life science concepts: symbiosis, food web, food chain, energy pyramid, photosynthesis, and life processes. They will then take the research on these topics outside on our school grounds and take pictures and video of the standard in action in nature. They will debate different aspects of life processes of the food chain and symbiotic relationships as they explore a magic square area on our campus usually around an existing tree. The relationships will be discussed and video reviewed from several groups before they are put in puzzle form with written explaination of the pictures and action shoots. The children often have trouble with a worm in the larvae stage eating a leaf as a simple eating relationship on the food chain and not a parasitic relationship. They will believe at first the larvae while eating the tree will harm it. That leads to discussion of those parasitic organisms that eat on other living organisms until it dies. The children will then create a digital representation of their magic square that envelopes a tree and all the organisms around it. Students will pick a song to attach to the video file to enhance the organisms survival. They will type words in the title area of the flip video to describe why their picture or video explains how living organisms interact with their environment and compare their video to others and discuss comparisons and differences.