This study examines to what extent elementary students use feedback loop reasoning, a key component
of systems thinking, to reason about interactions among organisms in ecosystems. We conducted clinical
interviews with 44 elementary students (1st through 4th grades). We asked students to explain how populations
change in two contexts: a sustainable ecosystem and an ecosystem that is missing predators.
We used an iterative process to develop a learning progression for feedback loop reasoning, and used
the learning progression to code interview episodes. The study produces three findings. First, very few
students recognised the cyclical relationships among populations in a sustainable ecosystem (Level 7).
Second, very few students identified both reproduction and food as the factors affecting population in a
context missing predators (Level 4). Finally, students’ reasoning was inconsistent across the two
contexts. We also discuss the implication of these findings for teaching and learning of food webs at
elementary school

• A Learning Progression for Feedback Loop Reasoning at Lower Elementary Level

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