Loading...

Food Chains and Food Webs

Ebooks

Grades9, 10, 11, 12, APBiology, English Language Arts

This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by Khan Academy
Open Resource

What it is

  • This resource details the ways in which food chains and food webs can represent the flow of energy and matter in ecosystems. 
  • Students will learn about autotrophs, heterotrophs, trophic levels, food webs, food chains, and decomposers. 

Teaching tips

Positives

  • This resource provides a high-level overview of many important aspects of food chains and food webs. 
  • The included graphics offer further clarification and understanding for visual learners. 

Additional Prerequisites

  • Students should be familiar with the concept and importance of ecosystems.

Differentiation

  • Cross-curricular connections can be made in language arts classes where students are working on non-fiction reading strategies.
  • This resource would lend itself well to a research-based jigsaw activity, where students do additional research on one of the sections of the resource to learn more about and present their learning to their classmates. 
  • Consider using the interactive assessment on the site about energy flow through ecosystems to gauge understanding and reading comprehension.
  • Connect this topic to climate change by using this video resource about natural climate solutions, this resource about the importance of biodiversity, and this resource about how climate change is impacting vital ecosystems on Earth.

From the scientist review

The term food chain is kind of a misnomer, as really we exist within a food web, with sources of fuel coming from many different areas. This lesson on Khan Academy is well cited and clearly explains the topic of food chains and food webs. This resource is recommended for teaching.
How we review resources

Ready to use it?

Hosted on khanacademy.org

Open Resource

Want this to fit your class?

Add your location for local examples, questions, and action ideas.

Related Teaching Resources