Oh Deer!

Unit Details Subject: Science Learning Level: Intermediate Author(s): carter gregoire Submitted by:

Abstract This activity has groups of students participating in an simulation where they discover the importance of the basic elements of a habitat. Students are actively engaged in a game to track the population of deer over an extended period of time given that the basic elements do not remain stable. Students graph the fluctuations in population over time on a spreadsheet. Students then respond in writing to a prompt to examine the affect of limited resources on their own home. Invitation/fundamental Understandings 1. For an organism to survive within a babitat, an animal neeeds a balance of food, water, shelter, and available space. Changes with these elements will influence the ability of the species to survive. What basic elements are necessary for a animal to survive in a habitat? What were the effects on the animal when one of the basic elements was changed? What would it be like if you had 10 extra people in your house with the same amount of food, water and living space that you currently have? Standards National Standards Science Standard 7 Understands how species depend on one another on the environment for survival. Benchmark: Knows that changes in the environment can have different effects on different organisms (e.g. some organims move in, others mover out: some organisms survive and reproduce, others die) Objectives: Students will be able to define the four major elements. Workforce Competencies: Standard Title: CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKERS (3.4) Students use creative thinking skills to generate new ideas, make the best decisions, recognize and solve problems through reasoning, interpret symbolic data, and develop efficient techniques for lifelong learning Standard Title: CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKERS (3.4) Students use creative thinking skills to generate new ideas, make the best decisions, recognize and solve problems through reasoning, interpret symbolic data, and develop efficient techniques for lifelong learning Lesson/Unit of Practice Pre-requisite Skills Standard Title: CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKERS (3.4) Students use creative thinking skills to generate new ideas, make the best decisions, recognize and solve problems through reasoning, interpret symbolic data, and develop efficient techniques for lifelong learning Standard Title: CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKERS (3.4) Students use creative thinking skills to generate new ideas, make the best decisions, recognize and solve problems through reasoning, interpret symbolic data, and develop efficient techniques for lifelong learning Tools and Materials Tally sheet for surviving deer each year Space large enough for students to be at least 20 feet apart (can be gym, outside, in the woods) Overhead or chalk board Computer with Excel Spreadsheet. Interactions/Teacher Information Active Simulation Game with students interacting with each other and the teacher structuring and monitoring the progress of the game; facilitating discussion of data at the end of the lesson. Situations/Setting/Time 45 min. lesson for the Simulation Game: Space large enough for students to be at least 20 feet apart (can be gym, outside, in the woods) 45 min. to process the data with students in the classroom. Assessment Teacher observation of student interaction and discussion of critical elements. Student graphing and interpretation of data from the simulation. Student essay on the effect of changes in their habitat? Tasks/Student Activity 1. Assessing Prior Knowledge: Ask students to respond to the following prompt: You are going into the woods for two weeks. What do you need to survive? Have students and teacher discuss "essential needs" versus what is wanted or desired for survival. Overhead/board/paper 2. Review student's conceptual understanding of the basic elements needed for an organism to survive: food, water, shelter, and available space. 3. Introduce activity and purpose of Oh Deer! Provide Rules Overview -The purpose of this game is to help students understand how these basic elements influence the survival of a group of animals in a habitat. -Explain the rules for Oh Deer! Students will be split into two parallel lines 25 feet apart. Students in each line turns their back to the other line. Students in both lines choose one basic element (food = hands over the mouth; water = cupped hands under the chin; shelter is raised hands over head in the shape of a roof). The deer line chooses one basic element to look for. The basic element line chooses one element to be. Once the choice of elements is made the two lines turn to each other and the deer look to the basic elements line to see if a basic element meets their need. Upon a given signal, the deer run to the stationary basic element that they need (all the time holding that symbol for all to see). If there are no basic elements that match that deers needs or the deer is unable to get to a basic element before another deer gets to it, that deer dies and becomes a basic element in the next round. If a deer successfully gets a basic element then that deer takes the basic element back to the deer line and it becomes a deer (simulating that the deer successfully reproduced). The number of deer surviving for each round is tallied by the teacher. 6-8 rounds of the game are completed with total surviving deers tallied by the teacher. Conclude Oh Deer! activity - Have students describe how changes in the basic elements affected the deer population? Data is incorporated into an Excel speadsheet (either by teacher or students if students have been exposed to Excel speadsheet). Students in small groups or pairs practice inputting the data onto an excel spread sheet and creating both a bar and line graph for their group. Discussion of the graphing (Bar/line) results of deer population over time. Student Response to Prompt: What would it be like if you had 10 extra people in your house with the same amount of food, water and living space that you currently have? The Project Activities and Procedure(s): Students will collect pieces for ongoing assessment (i.e. graphs, essays) in a scrapbook. Enrichment/Alternate Activity: Student Response to Prompt: What would it be like if you had 10 extra people in your house with the same amount of food, water and living space that you currently have? Acknowledgements: The activity in this lesson is from Project Wild Additional Resources Main URL: Related Resources Related Units Copyright © 1997-2003 Career Connection to Teaching with Technology USDOE Technology Innovation Challenge Grant Marshall Ransom, Project Manager All rights reserved.