Who Eats Whom in a Pond

Lab Brief #8

🎯 Your mission

Understand the idea. Then look for it everywhere.

⚡ The twist

Every species solves the same problem differently.

What you'll learn

A pond has plants that make their own food, small creatures that eat the plants, and bigger animals that eat those. Draw arrows from what is eaten to what eats it and you have made a food chain.

Key words

food chain
A line of arrows showing who eats whom, starting with a plant.
pond
A small body of still water where many plants and animals live together.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you watch: what do you think it'll do?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "food chain" and "pond" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Draw a pond food chain with four links: pondweed, water snail, small fish, heron. Point every arrow towards the animal that does the eating, then say out loud what would happen if the pondweed died.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

In a food chain the arrow points:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

What is at the start of almost every food chain?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🐙 An octopus has 9 brains and 3 hearts.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: Plants Make the Food Everything Else Eats All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This is why plants grow toward windows and why scabs form.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Watch a plant or pet for 5 minutes today and write down what you noticed.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “Tell me something you noticed about your own body today.”

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Who Eats Whom in a Pond

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