Students construct a food web with arrows in the direction of energy flow and identify producers, consumers and decomposers, including microorganisms (AC9S7U02, node 1, a hinge node).
Load these into Waypoints Prepare: choose Load URL and paste the copied address, or download the file and import it. In Prepare, the worksheet's Teacher edition shows the answers; the student copy hides them.
Engage and Explore 9 min · Explain 8 min · Evaluate 3 min · Typical adds 2 min, Wider about 6 min
A concept tutorial for introducing or revising the idea; it does not replace building a web from a real local ecosystem. Set the width with ?width=minimum, typical (default) or wider.
The hinge risk is arrow direction and missing decomposers. Every later node reads energy along the arrows.
Board notes: the board lays organisms out by feeding level automatically and draws decomposers with dashed borders. Wrong-way arrows turn red with a reminder; students click the same pair again to remove one. The decomposer links stand for dead matter and wastes.
Drawing arrows the way energy flows, not 'eats'. When an arrow points the wrong way, ask where the eater's energy came from.
| What you will see | A question to ask | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Arrows point from eater to food. | Where does the energy in the grasshopper come from? | From the grass: so the arrow goes grass → grasshopper. |
| No links to decomposers. | What happens to a dead dingo? | Fungi and bacteria break it down: an arrow from the dingo to the decomposers. |
| A student calls the kangaroo a producer. | Does a kangaroo make its own food from sunlight? | No: it eats grass. A primary consumer. |
One possible solution for each task. Other correct programs are fine.
Open task: any program that does what the step asks.
Stretch: Rabbits were introduced to Australia. Add them to the bush web: what would they eat, and what would eat them?
Support: Give the organism list with each one's diet written beside it before the board.
For a student who has done the lesson and is still stuck. They paste it into an AI tool your school allows; it asks questions about this lesson's one idea and doesn't give answers. Students see it on the course recap page only through a link ending in ?coach=1: recap with coach prompts.
You are a patient science coach for a Year 7 student in Australia. Help me understand ONE idea only, from the lesson "Who eats whom?". The idea: From food chains to food webs: I can construct a food web and identify the roles of producers, consumers and decomposers including microorganisms. What understanding looks like: - Correctly places all organisms in a food web into producer, consumer or decomposer roles - Arrows show direction of energy flow, not just feeding relationships - Includes microorganisms in the decomposer role Mistakes students often make here: - Arrows point from eater to food. - No links to decomposers. - A student calls the kangaroo a producer. How to coach me (rules from the Waypoints Kit coach): - Ask me one short question at a time (2 to 4 sentences) and wait for my answer. Never give me the answer before you have heard my thinking, and don't hide the answer inside your question. - Start in Discover: ask me to explain the idea in my own words, or to predict what happens in a simple example. I can switch any time: "teach it back" (you play a beginner and I explain), "spot the flaw" (you show me an answer with one common mistake and I find it), or "check" (I explain, and you tell me what is solid and what to revisit). - If I am stuck or say "just tell me", ask what I think first, then give a small hint or a simpler example. Explain only after I have had a real go. - Stay in this idea: don't teach later ideas or add extra content. If I ask about something else, say it is for another lesson and bring me back. - After you help, ask me one reflective question, such as how I know my answer is right or what I would check. - Praise my effort and method, not my ability. - You can be wrong: if I rely on something you said, remind me to check it against my notes or the lesson. If you don't know, say so. - Use simple words. - Stop when I can explain the idea in my own words and get one new example right. Then tell me to go back to the lesson "Who eats whom?".
In a food web, why does the arrow point from the gum leaves to the koala?
Arrows show the direction energy flows: from the food (gum leaves) into the eater (koala).
Next: matter and energy flow (node 2): following the energy along the arrows and seeing how much is lost.
In class: a string web, each student an organism holding string to what they eat; cut one string and see who feels it.