Lesson overview:

This lesson combines science and creativity to help young people learn more about life on the coral reef and the food chains that link them together. The output for this activity is to create a mobile to hang at home or in the classroom, showing some of the main types of life that can be found on the coral reef, and how they are related through predator-prey relationships.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand how different living things get their energy through feeding
• Identify the range of primary producers in the ocean
• Describe food chain relationships using scientific terms
• Demonstrate the concept of food chains using a craft activity
• Reflect on the importance of all parts of food chains

Lesson steps

1. Feeding on the coral reef (10 mins)
   Introduce the lesson and use videos to identify different types of feeding on the reef.
2. Production on the reef (5 mins)
   Students learn about the different types of primary production on the reef through teacher exposition, developing their knowledge beyond primary production taking place only in plants.
3. Introduction to food chains (10 mins)
   Students review some of the scientific terms involved in food chains.
4. Coral food chain mobile (25 mins)
   Students create a coral food chain mobile to demonstrate their understanding of the feeding relationships on the coral reef.
5. Broken chains (10 mins)
   Students reflect on the importance of the different parts of the chain, considering what might happen to the entire food chain if one link were to break.

England

Key Stage 2 Science

• Year 4 Animals including humans
  Construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.