The first unit I teach in Bio is Ecology. The kids learn how to make food chains and food webs. One sticking point is ecological or energy pyramids. Start with this label, color, cut, and glue Ecological Energy Pyramid (or here). BTW my teens make and label many models and graphics as study guides. We start with an Owl Pellet Dissection. The kids use the types of moles, birds, shrew, etc to create food chains and food webs.
N.B. Use toothpicks and paper plates for the owl pellet dissection. Print bone sorting charts. Below are pix with owl pellet prices. The large and jumbo pellets have more skulls—which are infinitely easier to identify than small vertebrae or other bones.
Take your owl pellet dissection to the next level and calculate the biomass. Carolina’s Biological has Owl Pellets Food Webs: A Model of Energy and Mass Transfer. There are teacher notes. You’ll need to dissect several large owl pellets to obtain decent data. This type of activity works well with a larger Co-op class. Here is a detailed description of the entire process. Read the teacher notes and the student notes to understand an owl’s diet and the biomass calculations. If you invest in owl pellets, it pays to get as much instruction as possible out of the lab.
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