SCI-05.LS2.01 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants,
animals, decomposers, and the environment.
Clarification Statement: Examples of systems could include organisms, ecosystems (decay), and the Earth. Consider
teaching the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, and water cycle. Crop rotation is often due to the
amount of nitrogen in the soil. Soybeans and other legumes can pull nitrogen from the air and
convert it into a usable form. Disciplinary Core Ideas Organisms are related in food webs in which some
animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the
animals that eat plants. Decomposition eventually
restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. A
healthy ecosystem is a balanced ecosystem. Newly
introduced species can damage the balance of an
ecosystem.
Matter cycles between the air and soil and among
plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live
and die. Organisms obtain gases, and water, from the
environment, and release waste matter back into the
environment.
Proficiency Scale