Population Growth 6/10
Subject / Time / Grade / DateBiology / 55 min / 11 / April 1, 2015 /
Plo’s covered
C1
Students should already know
-How energy flows through an ecosystem
-The roles of producers, consumers and decomposers in the ecosystem
Swbat
-Determine how populations change compared to resources available
-Describe exponential growth vs logistic growth
-Define carrying capacity and steady state
materials needed
-25 pieces of white cloth pieces or headbands (indicators for rabbits)
-10 – 20 red cloth pieces or headbands (indicators for foxes
-Class set of Rabbit vs. the Environment Worksheets
-Teacher Chart of population growth
TIME / Teacher Guide / Student Guide5 min / Put up slides of exponential growth numbers to introduce population growth / Answer questions about exponential growth
5 min / Hand out Rabbit vs. the Environment worksheets and go over the instructions.
The purpose is to have students demonstrate exponential and then logistic growth models during role play.
Have the students put on jackets and go outside to a grass field or covered area if it is raining. / Review instructions, ask questions as needed
Follow teacher outside quietly and respectfully towards other classrooms
30 min / Select 2 students to start out as rabbits and give them white pieces of cloth.
Assign resources (shelter, food or water) to the Environment students
Have the “rabbits” turn around during this process and select a resource they will search for in the first generation.
The students indicate which resource they are (or want) by using the symbols on the instruction sheet.
The rabbits will start at one end of a roughly 30’ by 30’ play area while the resources are at the other side. When the teacher says go, she will start the timer. The “rabbits” have 5 seconds to find the resource of their choice. If a rabbit catches the resource, the resource will become a new rabbit, and should collect a piece of white cloth. If the rabbit does not find a resource, the rabbit dies and must “sit out” one generation before returning to the game as an Environment.
The teacher will record the number of rabbits at the start of each generation on a chart.
After 8 generations, a fox can be introduced. Choose 1 student to be a fox and give them a red cloth.
A fox needs to catch a rabbit in the same 5 seconds.
If the fox catches a rabbit, the rabbit will become a new fox and should collect a red cloth for the next generation.
If the fox does not catch a rabbit, he will die and sit out for one generation as a decomposer before rejoining the Environment.
The teacher will record 8 more generations with the fox, for a total number of generations of 16. / Participate in class activity, no slacking off or standing around not paying attention. If students are messing around, they can take a “time out” in the decomposers pile. If they want to return, they need to do so as an environment.
10 min / The students will return to the class and begin working on the questions on the back of the instruction sheet.
The teacher will input the numbered data onto the chart on the slide for the students to view. / Work on questions, ask teacher for assistance if needed.
5 min / What did we discuss today? (knowledge)
-Population growth
What was happening to the amount of resources as the rabbit population increased? (Understanding)
-Went down/decreased
What was introduced to control the rabbit population? (knowledge)
-Foxes
Do you think that introducing a species such as a fox may be a good idea to control population? For example, the amount of domestic rabbits that are released in areas such as Ladner and UBC, should we introduce foxes to control those populations? (Synthesis)
-Yes/keep populations down
-No/invasive species
(If many say yes) This actually does happen all the time, but it doesn’t always work. What may happen to the ecosystem if the foxes don’t eat the rabbits and end up eating a different species such as groundhogs? (evaluation)
-Mess up the ecosystem!
-Throw off the balance
-Rabbits will continue to multiply
- Reminder: Taxonomy Quiz tmrw!
Assessments / Resources / Notes
- Formative: Participation and understanding of activity and class discussion
- Summative: Follow up questions of activity
- Biology 11 (Miller/Levine)
- [Resource 3]
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