Energy Flow in the coral Reef Ecosystem

This video, available on ITunes in the Teacher's domain section of Itunes U was very interesting. However i was saddened to see that the video quality was not good. It was very grainy. This may be just the monitor but I highly doubt it. I can use this video (and this type of video) in my classroom because my students will be needing to learn in various ways. this is a way to teach them but also allow them the time to learn on their own through watching the lessons. some of my students will simply enjoy it because of the colors, shapes and calming effects the ocean has on their senses. This is a great advantage for me as a teacher as sensory skills are huge.

The video talked about coral reefs and how the reefs help feed the fish which in turn feed other fish. the video explains how the reefs grow and how the sun helps as well. The coral feeds on plankton (as do some fish such as the spiny Blinny (a coral fish. The video also introduces things such as sea cucumbers, ruffled sea slug, plant eater fish, spined sea urchin, barracudas, moray eels, yellow tail snapper, and others.

I liked how the video explained the ecosystem but did it in a way that was easy to follow as well as entertaining. The video was aimed for k-5Th grades but I think the content is too high for a lower elementary student. The images are age appropriate, but the content moves too fast and there is too much going on for the lower elementary students to get everything they would need to for this video to be used in an actual lesson. It would however, be a good compliment to the lesson.