• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Food webs and interdependence). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Pond food web: algae are eaten by tadpoles and water fleas. Tadpoles and water fleas are eaten by small fish. Small fish are eaten by herons. If the small fish died, what would happen to the herons? (They would eat algae / They would increase / Nothing / They would decrease or move away) → They would decrease or move awayPrompt: What do herons eat in this web?
2. Rabbits and sheep both eat grass in the same field. This is an example of… (photosynthesis / decomposition / competition / predation) → competitionPrompt: They both want the same limited resource.
3. Food webs: which statement is NOT true? (Animals often compete for food, water and space. / Removing one species can affect many others in a food web. / Removing a predator always helps every other species. / Predator and prey populations often rise and fall in cycles.) → Removing a predator always helps every other species.Prompt: Think about what happens when one population changes.

• Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
• Share the objective: Energy transfer and pyramids. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Producers in a field capture 20000 kJ of energy. About 10% of the energy passes to each next level. How much energy reaches the tertiary consumers, in kJ?
• Step 1: 20000 ÷ 1000 = 20
• Step 2: So the answer is: 20 kJ
• Answer: 20 kJ
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Producers in a field capture 10000 kJ of energy. About 10% of the energy passes to each next level. How much energy reaches the primary consumers, in kJ? → 1000 kJPrompt: 10% means divide by 10 at each step.
2. A level of a food chain contains 5000 kJ. The next level gets 750 kJ. What is the percentage efficiency of the energy transfer? → 15 %Prompt: efficiency = energy passed on ÷ energy available × 100

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Why is only about 10% of energy passed to the next level of a food chain? (Energy is destroyed at each level / Plants keep all the energy / Animals refuse to eat most of their food / Much is used for respiration and movement, or lost as heat and waste) → Much is used for respiration and movement, or lost as heat and wastePrompt: Energy is never destroyed. Where does it go instead?
2. Producers in a field capture 100000 kJ of energy. About 10% of the energy passes to each next level. How much energy reaches the tertiary consumers, in kJ? → 100 kJPrompt: 10% means divide by 10 at each step.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-7.