Grade 5
NSTA EQuIP Reviews
The EQuIP Rubric for Science provides criteria by which to measure how well lessons and units are designed for the NGSS. This page houses NSTAs EQuIP Rubric Reports for Grade 5. Learn more about the review process.
5.1 Ecosystems & Matter Cycling
How does a nurse log help other things live and grow?
Developer | Score | Report | Awarded |
---|---|---|---|
OpenSciEd | Total Score: 9 E: Example of | Download Report (PDF) | ![]() |
Unit Summary
Have you ever seen a fallen log in a forest? Have you wondered how plants could be growing on it or why animals might be visiting it? In this unit, students explore nurse logs to figure out just that. Students begin their exploration of nurse logs by considering how the plant life that grows on them gets the matter needed to grow. They plan, carry out, and evaluate investigations that provide them with evidence that plants get the matter they need to grow primarily from air and water and the energy they need to grow from the Sun. As students build their understanding of matter and energy transfer, they investigate how there are also many animals that live in, on, and around nurse logs. They model to explain the transfer of energy and matter between plants, animals, the nurse log, and the sun. Students figure out that decomposers are a vital component of the nurse log system. Finally, students consider how new species can disrupt that balance and flow of matter and energy, using the example of American bullfrogs that have been recently introduced to nurse log ecosystems.