Using Snails to help students navigate the Experimental Design Template (HS-LS2-6)

Our classroom has a ten gallon aquarium (complete with snails, elodea, and lots of microscopic organisms) that has served as a useful system for introducing my Living Environment students to the Experimental Design Template. I introduced a question to them about how it might have been possible for the snails to survive the summer in the tank with no outside food sources. They immediately thought the snails ate the elodea... so it was the perfect opportunity to test their hypothesis. This template is available on our resources page. HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.