EcoGEM

Generate an explanation. Test it in the lab. Use the evidence to modify your thinking.

Your investigation

Start with a question you can test. Follow the cycle below, then return to the lab with a revised explanation.

Investigating Our question

1. Generate

Before pressing Run, use the food web to make an explanation. Predict which populations could change, why, and what observation would challenge your idea.

2. Evaluate

Now test your explanation. Keep an unchanged baseline, change one variable, and compare the same model steps. Record exact values and connect the graph to the food web. For a mid-run disturbance, follow your teacher’s timing.

3. Modify

Return to your prediction. Explain what the evidence supports and what you would revise. Trace an indirect effect through the web, identify a model assumption, and propose the next test.

Notes stay on this device. Download a copy to keep or share them.

A revised explanation is a new starting point. Share it with another pair, agree on one next test, and begin the cycle again.