Strong fit
Ecology teaching should help students recognise that organisms depend
on each other and that energy moves through relationships rather than isolated pairs.
How this handout aligns
The food-web builder replaces one straight chain with a system of linked roles. That makes
interdependence visible and teachable.
Interdependence
Energy flow
Ecology
Useful once students already know the word “ecosystem” but need a deeper model.
Strong fit
Students build stronger scientific explanations when they predict what
happens if one condition or population changes and justify the consequence using system logic.
How this handout aligns
The ripple-effect prompt requires causal explanation, not just diagram completion. That is the
strongest part of the task pedagogically.
Cause and effect
Disturbance
Reasoning
Use this question as the main evidence of understanding, not a bolt-on.
Aotearoa lens
In Aotearoa, food-web thinking is stronger when students connect
species relationships to habitat care, wetland restoration, and kaitiakitanga.
How to teach this well
Choose a local system if possible, then ask what actions would protect the whole web rather than
one visible species only.
Kaitiakitanga
Wetlands
Systems care
This keeps the work grounded in living places rather than abstract chains.