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Title
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The Food Web Game
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Type
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Primary: Laboratory
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Operation
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Resilient Planet
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Mission:
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Mission 1: Invaders
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Print Page
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19
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Subjects
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Science | Life science | Ecosystems | Energy transfer | Food web | Science as inquiry | Science process skills | Analyzing data | Asking questions | Communicating | Interpreting data | Modeling
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Grades
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5 | 6 | 7 | 8
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Keywords
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food, web, game, biodiversity, ecosystem, energy, matter, model, lake, Michigan, organism, Russell Cuhel, trophic, level, predator, prey, migration, reproduction
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Duration
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00:45:00 (HH:MM:SS)
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Audience
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Teachers | Elementary Grades | Junior High
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Created On
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4/20/2008
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Copyright
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FWS
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From: Resilient Planet Mission 1: Invaders (pp: 19) |
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The Food Web Game Students will be able to become part of a model and assume a role within an ecosystem to observe how actions affect and define the transfer of energy and matter. |
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Lake Michigan supports a rich biodiversity. As in most ecosystems, the living organisms here depend upon each other to meet their needs for survival through the transfer of energy and matter. Ecologists, like Russell Cuhel, can represent these transfers using illustrations or models.
In this activity, you will have the opportunity to become part of a model. You will assume a role within an ecosystem and observe how actions affect and define the transfer of energy and matter.
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| Materials |
- Lab 3 Data Sheet
- "energy units" - beans, sunflower seeds, etc.
- clear plastic sandwich bags
- classroom set of football flags and belts
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| Lab Prep |
Download the Lab 3 Data Sheet from the JMC. Familiarize yourself with the rules of the game. Then, after playing the game, answer the following questions: - What strategies (such as leadership and cooperation) did herbivores and carnivores use to collect energy units?
- What additional strategies could have been used?
- What factors affected the model? (Consider location, distribution, and physical characteristics of energy units.)
- What are the limitations of this model?
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| Make Observations |
- Think about how you could make the model more accurate by including representations of other interactions found in a healthy ecosystem, such as migration and reproduction. Consider the following:
- Your original model assumed a 50% energy transfer, but scientists think it is much less. How would you change the rules to model a more accurate energy transfer? Explain.
- Try adding a rule to account for the energy expended for all other actions and interactions seen in an ecosystem.
- Try adding a rule to accommodate a higher trophic level predator, so that the original predator is now a prey for the new predator.
- As a class, create a new set of rules that includes representations of these actions and interactions.
- Test your new rules. Evaluate the changes you implemented.
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| Extension |
Over time, through many generations, certain physical and behavioral changes prove to be successful and are therefore more commonly seen in the offspring of the survivors. Based upon the rules that you made in the second version of this game, describe the characteristics of future generations.
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Journal Question
Why do ecologists use models in addition to observations and direct measurements? How would data collected through models be useful to ecologists?
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