Matter and Energy in Ecosystems Phenomena Poster Set

Help students investigate how matter and energy move through ecosystems with this engaging Matter and Energy in Ecosystems phenomena resource.

This six-poster collection uses visually rich science phenomena to encourage students to observe food relationships, analyze patterns, ask questions, and develop explanations about how organisms obtain matter and energy and how those resources move through ecological systems.

Students move beyond simply identifying producers, consumers, and decomposers and begin thinking about how matter cycles and how energy flows through living systems.

What’s Included

This resource includes six individual full-color portrait phenomena posters.

Each poster includes:

A high-interest phenomenon question

A detailed science visual, model, or ecosystem scene

“What do you notice?” observation prompts

“What do you wonder?” discussion questions

Key science vocabulary

A “Try This Thinking” activity or challenge

A CER Starter for Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning practice

A concise science statement reinforcing the main concept

Explore How Organisms Get Matter and Energy

Students investigate how organisms obtain the matter and energy they need to survive, grow, and reproduce.

The phenomena provide opportunities to examine relationships among plants, animals, decomposers, and their environments.

Students can consider where food comes from, how energy enters an ecosystem, and how matter moves from one organism to another.

Investigate Food Chains and Food Webs

Students can use visual models to examine feeding relationships within ecosystems.

They can consider questions such as:

Where does the energy in this ecosystem begin?

Which organisms are producers?

Which organisms are consumers?

How are organisms connected in a food web?

What might happen if one population changes?

Where does matter go after an organism dies?

These questions help students develop a more complete understanding of ecosystem relationships.

Follow Energy Through an Ecosystem

Students explore the important idea that energy flows through ecosystems.

They can trace energy from the sun to producers and then through consumers as organisms eat one another.

The visual phenomena help students see that energy moves through a system in a particular direction and that organisms depend on these energy relationships.

Explore How Matter Cycles

Unlike energy, matter can be reused and recycled within ecosystems.

Students can investigate how matter moves among organisms and the environment through feeding, waste, decomposition, and other processes.

This helps students distinguish between the flow of energy and the cycling of matter.

Understand the Role of Decomposers

Decomposers play an essential role in ecosystem systems.

The posters provide opportunities for students to consider what happens to dead organisms and waste and how decomposers help return matter to the environment.

Students begin seeing decomposition as an important part of the movement of matter rather than simply something disappearing.

Build Systems Thinking

Ecosystems contain many interacting parts.

Students are encouraged to consider how producers, consumers, decomposers, resources, matter, and energy are connected.

A change in one population can affect many other parts of the system, helping students develop a stronger understanding of ecological relationships.

Develop Observation and Questioning Skills

Each poster includes structured Notice and Wonder prompts that encourage students to investigate before receiving an explanation.

Students can:

Identify organisms and their roles

Trace food relationships

Look for patterns

Compare energy pathways

Follow the movement of matter

Generate scientific questions

Make predictions

Develop and revise explanations

These routines support meaningful classroom discussion and inquiry-based science learning.

Strengthen Science Vocabulary

Important science vocabulary is embedded within meaningful phenomena.

Students encounter concepts related to matter, energy, ecosystem, producer, consumer, decomposer, food chain, food web, photosynthesis, transfer, cycle, and organism while actively using those terms to explain what they observe.

Displaying the posters throughout the unit provides students with an ongoing visual science vocabulary reference.

Support CER Practice

Each poster includes a student-friendly CER Starter.

Students practice making a Claim, identifying Evidence from the phenomenon or model, and using Reasoning to explain how that evidence supports their scientific explanation.

Repeated CER opportunities help students develop stronger explanations about how matter and energy move through ecosystems.

Connect Organisms Within a Larger System

The phenomena encourage students to recognize that organisms do not exist independently.

Plants, animals, decomposers, and environmental resources are connected through the movement of matter and energy.

Students can use these relationships to explain how changes in one part of an ecosystem may affect other organisms.

Great for Classroom Use

Use these posters for:

Whole-group science instruction

Phenomenon launches

Science focus walls

Notice and Wonder routines

Small-group instruction

Science centers

Science notebook responses

Vocabulary development

CER practice

Food web modeling

Energy flow investigations

Matter cycling discussions

Partner conversations

Ecology review

Unit introductions

Classroom displays

Revisit the Phenomena Throughout the Unit

Introduce each phenomenon before students have developed a complete explanation and collect their initial ideas.

As students investigate food webs, energy flow, and matter cycling, return to the posters and ask them to revise their thinking.

Students can identify additional connections, incorporate new vocabulary, and use evidence to develop more complete explanations.

Make Ecosystem Connections Easier to See

The movement of matter and energy can involve many organisms and processes, making these relationships difficult to understand through text alone.

These posters provide concrete visual models that help students trace connections, identify patterns, and explain how ecosystems function.

By combining engaging phenomena with structured questioning, systems thinking, vocabulary development, and CER practice, this resource provides meaningful support throughout a Matter and Energy in Ecosystems unit.

Important Disclaimer

This resource is independently created and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or produced by Amplify Education. The use of “Amplify” in the product title is intended only to help educators identify the curriculum topic with which this supplemental resource may be used. Amplify Education owns its respective trademarks and curriculum materials.