Students explore the relationships that connect organisms in an ecosystem — mutualism, commensalism, parasitism, predation, and competition — and learn to classify who benefits and who is harmed.
Students will be able to…
A bee and a flower help each other; a tick harms a dog; a lion hunts a zebra. How do scientists classify the many ways living things interact?
Project this and tap each type of interaction. Have students note who benefits, who is harmed, and an example of each.
Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.
A bee + a flower, a tick + a dog — who benefits in each?
Students investigate.
Teacher explains.
Apply.
Three quick checks.
Aligned to Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core literacy. State-standard crosswalks available on request.
Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across ecosystems.
Analyze data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms.
Construct an argument that changes to an ecosystem affect populations.
Integrate visual information with text in a scientific model.
Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.
Have students research real symbiotic pairs (clownfish and anemone, remora and shark) and classify each relationship. A printable classification sheet is in the Science library.
Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.
A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.
A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.