Energy and Matter in Ecosystems introduces Grade 5 students to the scientific concept that energy and matter flow through an ecosystem to individual organisms and back to the ecosystem in a continuous cycle. Students will learn that every organism on Earth needs energy to live. Both energy and matter cycle through an ecosystem. Life on Earth derives its energy from the sun.

Plants and algae take in the energy of sunlight and transform it into the chemical energy of food. When animals eat plants, the chemical energy of food moves into the bodies of animals, so the energy that animals use originally came from the sun.

An ongoing theme of this unit’s activities is an exploration the principles and practices of engineering design, using knowledge of ecosystems and the flow of matter to design solutions that help society.