Not only is population a base coverage of ecology and relations to the environment, but it is a special area that has both the ability to be modeled using real data and have direct implications students can see directly. Whether it is something as small as a tree in someones backyard, or the whole planet, the possibilities of Population Interactions is almost endless, giving a lot of room to explore what it means to be a part of an interconnected system.

Specifically, when it comes to starting any unit or lesson, I want students to get a tactile experience that they can draw on for reinforcement. My first lesson to start of the Population Unit is to play a Population Simulation game that I developed. While it is based off of the NGSS Life Science game below, I tweaked it so everyone could be active and to show more data then just prey influx within an environment.

While the idea of the population game I developed is a twist off of the NGSSLifeScience Predator Prey Lab, I did not like the fact that students who were athletic would have a natural advantage in their version. The other reason for creating my own game was the fact that, in the NGSS version, any student with an IEP or 504 could only help collect data. By reworking the game to be based off of this one while also taking away the "chasing" aspect, all students can participate. My version is linked here and embedded.

While there are many forms of "exit slips" within education, I like doing a Google form because it allows for each students response to be recorded digitally making it easier to sort, I can keep an archive of the students responses across classes for analysis, and I can read all of the responses.

Since I can't embed the NGSS site due to restrictions on their end, click the title or the image to be taken to their base cite.

Since I can't embed the Biology Corner site due to restrictions on their end, click the title or the image to be taken to their base cite.