Lets Review

What is an ecosystem? An ecosystem is made of 2 parts: a

biological community and it’s physical environment, both interacting together.

Ecosystems But does an ecosystem always look

like the food webs that we created?

For Example…

Is soil an ecosystem? In other words, if we remove all the worms,

insects, and plant parts from soil, is there still a community of organisms living there?

I. Define Problem:

We do not know if soil is an ecosystem.We do not know if there are living things in soil.

?

II. Focus Question:

- Is soil an ecosystem?- Are there living things in soil?

?

III. Prediction/Hypothesis:I think soil is/is not an ecosystem because…

IV. Share:Talk with your group, share your hypotheses

and record your group members predictions and reasons.

V. Plan of Action:

A: Materials- 4 clean test tubes- 4 test tube caps- 3 sets of soil (1 gram each)- 3 sets of sugar (1 gram each)- 4 sets of methylene blue (10 mL each)- CHOICE OF1g salt OR 1g fertilizer OR 10 ml of ethanol- Bunsen burner- burn screen- Triple beam balance- Graduated cylinder- Crucible- tongs

B. Procedure:1. Scrub up 4 test tubes and rinse well. Label A,B,C,D and put your

science period before each letter. (Example: 4A 4B 4C 4D)

2. Measure 1 gram of soil and cook it over the Bunsen Burner. Keep it cooking until instructed to quit.

3. Measure out 10 mL of MB and place 10 mL into each tube.

4. In Test tubes A, B, and C place 1 gram of sugar. Tube A is now done, cap and leave.

5. Over the sink cap and shake the test tubes until the sugar dissolves.

6. In test tube B and D place 1 gram of soil. Cap B, it is done.

7. At the end of the period when the teacher announces take a clean sheet of paper, fold it and gently pour the cooked dirt onto the paper and then carefully dump it into test tube C - it’s done.

8. Plan what to ADD to test tube D – salt or fertilizer.

9. Record color changes over the next few days in data table.

C: Independent Variable (What we CHANGE):

Soil, Sugar, Fertilizer, Salt, Heat

D: Control (What we KEEP THE SAME):

Test tube A (amounts of sugar,soil and MB)

E: Dependent Variable (What we MEASURE):

Color Change

VI. New Vocabulary: out of order

1. Define:

Ecosystem-Abiotic-Biotic-Aerobic-Anaerobic-

2. What is Methylene Blue and what is it used for?

VII. : Drawing:

VIII. Data Chart: tape in journalTest Tube Start Color End of the

PeriodDay One-24 hours Tuesday

Day Two-24 hours Wednesday

A: NO SOIL, MB, Sugar

BLUE

B: Soil, MB, sugar

BLUE

C. Cooked Soil, MB, Sugar

BLUE

D. Soil, MB, choice ingredient

BLUE

IX. Making Meaning:Discuss and record:- Observations - which tubes changed color? (All,

some or none list them)

- What does this mean?

- What effect did the different factors (sugar, extreme heat, etc.) have on our soil ecosystem?

- Why did we use Mb in our experiment?

- What were the abiotic factors in our experiment?

- What were the biotic factors in our experiment?

X. Claims and Evidence

I claim __________________________. I claim this because ________________.

Make 4 claims about your experiment (one for each test tube.)

XI. Conclusion/ReflectionA) Explanation- Why did we do this experiment? What did we find out? How did we find out?- Why was sugar added to the tubes?- Did sugar cause a color change? What evidence can

you point out in your data that shows this?- Did a change occur in test tube C (the heated soil)?

Why or why not?- Is the soil alone biotic? Explain.- What effect did your chosen ingredient for test tube D

have on the ecosystem?

XI. Conclusion/Reflection

B) My hypothesis was correct/incorrect because…

C) Possible biases and errors

XII. Questions and Further ThinkingWhat questions can you create to expand upon or change our lab? Write at least 5 questions.

UPDATE YOUR TABLE OF CONTENTS