ScienceOcean LifeAges 7–9

Ocean Food Webs

Understand ocean food webs: multiple interconnected food chains where energy flows from phytoplankton (producers) through zooplankton, small fish, and large predators, and that removing one species affects the whole web

Lesson

Set out your lesson

Trace two energy paths in a food web and explain a possible indirect effect.

Before teaching

Activity

Can discuss the supplied example in an accessible mode; adapt directions without supplying the target answer.

Policy

Check the learner can follow the model with support before moving on. Source prerequisite ordering is not learner mastery; return to prerequisite work when needed.

Printer, credit, and teaching notes

The links are a simplified stipulated ocean model, not a complete surveyed ecosystem. Open S first, G together, then T alone; put S and G away before T. Keys stay adult-only. No purchase or printing is required; an unavailable physical observation remains pending, not passed.

Materials are ready in each step. Use them on screen or print just the current step. Put teaching examples aside before the learner tries.

Next: Show

Adult extras

What this lesson covers and its limits

These are bounded opportunities, not learner attainment. Partial and blocked source requirements remain so.

partial: Understand ocean food webs: multiple interconnected food chains where energy flows from phytoplankton (producers) through zooplankton, small fish, and large predators, and that removing one species affects the whole web
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.
partial: Distinguish a food web from a simple food chain
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.
partial: Trace at least two paths of energy through an ocean food web
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.
partial: Explain what could happen if one species in the web were removed
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.
partial: Can {{name}} explain why catching too many of one type of fish doesn't just affect that fish — it affects the whole food web, including the animals that eat it and the things it eats?
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.

Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.

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Entire curriculum

1858 concepts · 9 subjects

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Teaching approaches

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Trace two energy paths in a food web and explain a possible indirect effect.

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Learning resources

Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.

NASA Climate Kids · Practice link — not the full lesson

Ocean

Open practice(new tab)

Before you open · source notes

Ocean supports Ocean Food Webs. An adult previews and guides; this is a learning page, not a scored quiz.

Free educational page, no sign-in required for the tested path.

Before you open

Ask the learner one fact they learned and one question they still have.

Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.

Source, access and review notes

Public NASA Climate Kids page. An anonymous GET on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt for this URL. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. An adult should preview and guide the learner.

NASA Climate Kids. “Ocean.” External page; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute materials.

Unknown — link only

Check understanding

Distinguish a food web from a simple food chain
Trace at least two paths of energy through an ocean food web
Explain what could happen if one species in the web were removed

“Can your child explain why catching too many of one type of fish doesn't just affect that fish — it affects the whole food web, including the animals that eat it and the things it eats?”

Curriculum record

Type: Conceptual
Subject: Science
Domain: Ocean Life
Age range: Ages 7–9