All lessons › Food Chain Clues › Lesson 1
Australian primary science · Years 3–4 · Lesson 1 of 1
Food Chain Clues
Inquiry question: What might happen when a link in a food chain changes?
Marked no materials needed
Analysing a supplied case file
What students learn
Use feeding evidence to build a food chain and make a cautious prediction.
Success criteria
- I can read the supplied evidence accurately.
- I can support an explanation using two details.
- I can identify a claim that goes beyond the evidence.
Preparation and materials
Before this lesson: Recall that plants make food and animals consume other organisms. Arrows point from food to eater.
- Charged iPad per individual or pair — One per student or pair
- Projector — One
Teacher setup
- Open the assigned lesson and present the slides.
- Show the lesson QR; students enter one or two names and start.
- Use the lesson timings: allow 45–55 minutes plus first-use sign-in time. Do not add copying to fill a full hour.
- All evidence is supplied in the lesson. No equipment, worksheets or external websites are necessary.
Safety and adaptations
- Screen-based evidence inquiry only. Do not perform physical experiments or imitate hazards described in the case files.
Review your school policies and curriculum requirements before teaching.
How to investigate
The lesson sequence should leave pupils with evidence to interpret, not only an activity to finish.
- Write a food chain starting with grass, using arrows from food to eater.
- Compare the grasshopper and frog counts.
- Predict one possible consequence if grasshoppers stay scarce.
- Explain why the hawk count does not have to fall.
- Name information needed to test your prediction.
Teacher modelling prompt
Draw grass → grasshopper and explain the arrow means 'is eaten by'. Then locate the frog and hawk food clues without predicting a certain outcome.
Record and explain evidence
Recording question: What might happen when a link in a food chain changes?
| Food link | Count clues | Possible effect |
|---|---|---|
| ________________ | ________________ | ________________ |
Example recording headings; record actual observations, including inconclusive results.
Discussion prompt
Which claim is more strongly supported? Quote evidence and explain why.
Provided example or reference data
Fictional grassland population observations
| Organism | First count | Later count | Food clue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grasshoppers | 40 | 12 | Eat grass |
| Frogs | 15 | 11 | Eat grasshoppers and other insects |
| Snakes | 5 | 4 | Eat frogs and other prey |
| Hawks | 3 | 3 | Eat snakes and mice |
Check the data source in the teacher lesson. Illustrative or fictional data are not measurements collected by your class.
Check understanding
What should pupils know? Which organism starts the given food chain?
Explain with evidence: What does frog → snake mean?
Apply the idea: Frogs can eat other insects too. Why might they not decline when grasshoppers decline?
Teacher answer guidance and saved classroom work are available through the main lesson experience where supported.