Students will launch the ecosystem investigation by examining Bernheim habitat clues, building shared vocabulary about living and nonliving parts of habitats, and recording first evidence-based ideas about how organisms survive in forests, wetlands, and grasslands. They will begin their investigation notebooks, generate questions they can study later, and complete an early checkpoint that shows they can sort habitat evidence and explain survival using observations.

Students will examine Bernheim habitat clues, generate and refine investigable questions, make evidence-based predictions about organism survival, and create a peer-reviewed plan for collecting observations during the upcoming ecosystem investigation.

Students will refine how they gather and record evidence for their ecosystem investigation, then use that routine during the Bernheim field experience to document habitat conditions, organism traits, animal groupings, and survival clues in ways they can analyze later.

Students will sort and verify Bernheim ecosystem evidence, check the quality of their observations against partner and teacher feedback, and begin building model pieces that connect traits, habitat needs, and group survival to clear claims. They will use notebooks, charts, sketches, and short revision cycles to strengthen how they explain which organisms survive in specific habitats and why.

Students will analyze Bernheim evidence, turn notes into simple visuals, test their interpretations with peers, revise their ecosystem models and explanations, and complete a scored conclusion checkpoint before preparing materials for the school library showcase.

Students will present their finalized Bernheim ecosystem models or slideshows to an authentic audience, answer questions with evidence from their investigation notes, and reflect on how their thinking about survival, traits, habitat fit, and environmental change developed across the project.