Students in sixth grade science have been studying population ecology by building a food web of the species in Wallcology, crafting claims with evidence they collect in our digital ecosystem, and defending their claims at regular Claim Summits. Wallcology is the product of a nine-year partnership with UIC’s Learning Sciences Research Institute and this week students entered the Biotic Experimentalist Phase!

The new phase empowers them to propose experiments to manipulate the ecosystems, then interpret new data in order to make continuously improved claims. Our Food Web Claims Summits are full of solid arguments and strong evidence––you don’t want to come unprepared to a discussion of what-eats-what in our Wallcology habitats!