Introducing Ecology to Young Children

Young children have difficulty understanding the interrelationships between living things. To help them see these interrelationships a variety of methods must be used. The "what if" games ... See More

Young children have difficulty understanding the interrelationships between living things. To help them see these interrelationships a variety of methods must be used. The "what if" games modeled by the author help children understand cause-effect relationships. In addition to dialogue provided by the author and the suggested outdoor activities, the list of recommended resources is very helpful. Used together, all these methods help students to recognize the interdependence of living things with each other. While recommended for use with younger elementary school children, many of the techniques would also be appropriate for older elementary school children as well.

Great Article!

I really enjoyed reading this article. It gave me ideas for things that I could do in my own classroom to help students gain a concrete understanding of food webs and interdependence. I lo... See More

I really enjoyed reading this article. It gave me ideas for things that I could do in my own classroom to help students gain a concrete understanding of food webs and interdependence. I loved how the teacher was always aware of the things going on around her that she could use in her classroom to help teach the students. She made learning fun for this subject. I also loved how she stressed the importance of allowing “what ifs” and being flexible while teaching. All of the advice in this article I think would be great to take into the classroom and use. I would recommend this article to all teachers.