Grade Level: 9-10

Subjects: English, Geography, Math, Science

Learner Outcomes: Students will be able to: 1) identify and describe food, water, and shelter as three essential components of habitat; 2) describe the importance of good habitat for animals; 3) define "limiting factors and give examples; and 4) recognize that some fluctuations in wildlife populations are natural as ecological systems undergo constant change.

Time Frame: 45-90 minutes

Materials: area--indoors or outdoors--large enough for students to run, such as gymnasium, multi-purpose room, tennis court, playing field; whistle; flip charts; writing materials

Technology Tools/Courseware: computers with spreadsheet and word processing programs

Teacher Notes:

• Advise students a day or two ahead to wear suitable clothing and shoes for this activity.
• Plan alternate/complimentary activity for those who are unable to participate because of physical challenges or absence.
• Notify office/get permission to conduct lesson outside assigned classroom.
• Reserve gym, multi-purpose, or playing field for this activity.
• Invite guests (administration, teachers on prep, counselors, librarian, support staff, parents) to observe/participate.

2. Tell students they are about to participate in an activity that emphasizes the essentials for species survival. Review the vital habitat components with students: food, water, shelter, and space in a suitable arrangement.While this activity emphasizes the first three, students should not forget the importance of animals having sufficient space in which to live, and that all the components must be in a suitable arrangement or the animals will die.

3. Ask students to count off in fours. All "ones" will go to a pre-assigned area. All others "twos", "threes", and "fours" will go together to another designated area. Mark or select two parallel lines on the ground or floor ten to twenty yards apart. Have the "ones" line up behind one line; the rest of the students line up behind the other.

4. The "ones" become "chimpanzees." All chimps need good habitat in order to survive. Ask students again to name the necessary components of habitat : food, water, shelter, and space in a suitable arrangement.

 Setting Up the Activity.
        1. Ask students to count off in fives. All "ones" will go to a pre-assigned area. All others ("twos", "threes", "fours", and "fives") will go together to another designated area. Mark or select two parallel lines on the ground or floor ten to twenty yards apart. Have the "ones" line up behind one line; the rest of the students line up behind the other. Designate a separate area near but not adjacent to these as the "Pool." It remains empty until the game is in progress.

        2. The "ones" become "chimpanzees." All chimps need good habitat in order to survive. Ask students again to name the necessary components of habitat : food, water, shelter, and space in a suitable arrangement. "Chimps" (the "ones") need to find these four elements so their species can continue. As they search, they will indicate the component sought:

• When a "chimp" is looking for food, it clamps its hands over its stomach;
• When it seeks water, it puts its hands over its mouth;
• When searching for shelter, it will put its hands together over its head;
• When needing space, a "chimp" will extend arms out to the side.

        3. The other students ("twos", "threes", "fours", and "fives") will each select at random which element of habitat they will become: food, water, shelter, and space in a suitable arrangement. They will depict which element they are in the same way the "chimp" shows what it is looking for; that is, hands on stomach, over mouth, etc.
They must keep this selection during a round, but may change for the next round.

    Beginning the Action.
        1. All players line up on their respective lines (the ones designated or drawn earlier by the teacher) with the "chimps" on one line and "habitat elements" on the other.
Students on each line will face away from the other line, turning their backs to the other students.

        2. The teacher begins the first round by asking all of the students to make their signs--each "chimp" deciding what it is looking for, each habitat component deciding what it is. Give students a few moments to get their hands in place--over stomachs, mouths, heads, or extended outward. (Teacher: as you look at the two lines of students, you will normally see a lot of variety. As the activity proceeds, sometimes the students confer with each other and all make the same sign. That's okay, but don't encourage it. For example, all the students in habitat might decide to be shelter, which could represent a drought year with no available food or water.)

 NOTE: If students switching symbols in the middle of a round is a problem, you can avoid that by having stacks of four different tokens or pieces of colored paper to represent food, water, shelter, and space for both groups, the "chimps" and the habitat components. At the start of each round, players choose one of the tokens before turning around to face the other group.

    3. When you can see that students are ready, count "one . . . two   . . . three." On the count of three, each "chimp" and each habitat component turn to face the opposite, continuing to display their symbols clearly.

  4. When "chimps" see the habitat component they need--and are displaying--they are to run to it to claim it. Each "chimp" must hold the sign of its searched-for component until getting to an appropriate habitat component person. When the needed component is found and claimed, the "chimp" takes it back across to the "chimp" side of the area. This represents the "chimp"successfully meeting its needs and successfully reproducing as a result. Any"chimp" failing to find its chosen/ designated component dies and becomes part of the habitat (going over to the habitat side to participate for the rest of the game) or is declared "endangered" and becomes part of the "Pool" of animals. The endangered "chimps" sit or stand on the sidelines and simply watch the others who still survive.
        NOTE: When more than one "chimp" reaches a habitat component, the one who gets there first survives. Habitat components stay in place on their line until a "chimp" finds and claims them. If no "chimp" needs a particular component during a round, that person just stays on the line in the habitat; he or she may change component signs when the next round begins.

    5. The teacher (or a student) keeps track of how many "chimps" there are at the beginning of the activity, and at the end of each round will record how many found their needs and survived. Continue the activity for approximately 15 rounds or until all "chimps" are in the "Pool" of endangered animals.Keep the pace brisk and the students will thoroughly enjoy it.

Processing the Action.
    1. After the final round, gather students together to discuss the activity. Encourage them to talk about what they experienced as well as what they saw and heard. For example, they saw a small group of primates (seven students in a class of 28) begin by finding more than enough of its habitat needs. The population of "chimps" expanded (as the captured habitat components went over to the "chimp" side of the area) until the habitat was depleted and the necessary resources to support the "chimp" society were used up. At this point, the "chimps" starved or died of thirst, or from lack of shelter or sufficient space and  were sent to the "Pool" or became part of the habitat.
    NOTE: In real life, large mammal populations might also experience higher infant mortality and reproductive rates.

    2. Using a flip chart pad or an available chalkboard, post the data recorded during the activity. The number of "chimps" in the community at the beginning of the activity and the number remaining at the end of each round represent the number of "chimps" in a series of years. That is, the beginning of the activity is year one; each round is an additional year. "Chimps" can be posted in increments of fives for convenience, if desired. For example:

Graph A (you need Excel to read this)
    If you would like to make your own graphs, click here for instructions or you can use Graph A and change the numbers as needed.
    Students will see this visual reminder of what they experienced during the activity: the "chimp" population fluctuated over a period of years. This is a natural process as long as the factors which limit the population do not become excessive or imbalanced to the degree that the animals cannot reproduce. Wild populations will tend to peak, decline, and rebuild, peak decline, and rebuild--as long as good habitat exists and sufficient numbers of animals survive to successfully reproduce.

    3. In discussion (or as a journal entry or classroom exit visa), ask students to summarize some of the things they have learned from this activity. What do animals need to survive? What are some of the "limiting factors" that affect their survival? Are wildlife populations static, or do they tend to fluctuate, as part of the overall "balance of nature?" Is nature ever really "in balance" or are ecological systems and populations in a process of constant change? Explain.

    4. In discussion (or as a journal entry or classroom exit visa) ask students to make connections between this activity and events or issues in Eva by Peter Dickinson. In what ways does this activity reflect the situation of human and chimpanzee populations depicted in the book? How are the problems of habitat addressed by society? by the main character? What ethical issues arise from these situations? If humans can save endangered animals whose habitat is depleted, where would we put them? How would this affect other species? What solutions do you propose? What long-term effects would these solutions have?
 (Activity adapted from Project WILD lesson titled "OH DEER!" pages 146-149.)

 Modifications:
    Students with physical challenges may opt to participate on a limited basis with or without help from another class member (after all, wild communities do have members with similar challenges to their survival). Alternatively, this student may participate as the statistics person, observer/recorder, camera person to film/or photograph event.

Enrichment activities:
    For further work with habitat and species population, including predator complications and extension activities with hares, lynxes, and aquatic animals, and using more graphing, seeProject WILD

Evaluation/Assessment:
A.Observation and record of the activity by teacher or by designated student (see Modifications)
B. Processing activities 3 and 4 from Procedures above.
C. Evaluation quiz:
    1. Name the essential components of habitat.
    2. Define "limiting factors" for species survival. Give three examples.
    3. Enamine the graph. What factors may have caused the following population changes:
        a. between years 1 and 2?
        b. between years 3 and 4?
        c. between years 5 and 6?
        d. between years 7 and 8?
Graph B (if you would like to print your own graph)

D. Which of the following graphs represents the more typically balanced population?

Graph C(if you would like to print your own graph)

West Virginia Instructional Goals and Objectives (IGOs):
Social Studies:
    Civics: 9.11, 10.4,
    Economics: 9.16, 9.24, 10.14, 10.17
    Geography: 9.35, 10.25, 10.29, 10.35
    Computer/Technology: 9.53, 9. 56, 10.65, 10.68
English:
    Listening and Speaking: 9.1, 9.10, 9.11, 10.1, 10.8
    Reading Comprehension: 9.18, 9.19, 9.24, 10.19, 10.23, 10.24, 10.26, 10.27, 10.30, 10.31
    Reading Vocabulary: 9.36, 9.37, 10.36, 10.37
    Writing Skills: 9.39, 9.40, 9.47, 9.48, 9.49, 9.51, 9.52, 10.39, 10.40, 10.43, 10.45, 10.47, 10.48, 10.49, 10.50,   10.51, 10.52
    Language: 9.65, 9.68, 10.63, 10.64, 10.70
    Study Skills: 9.84, 10.85
    Computer Technology: 9.90, 9.92, 9.96, 10.81, 10.83, 10.85, 10.87
Math
    Applied Math – AM1.4, AM1.11, AM1.17, AM2.6, AM2.10, AM2.12, AM2.14, Am2.18, AM2.20
    Algebra  – A1.6, A1.17, A1.20, A2.11, A2.12, A2.14, A2.19, A2.20, A2.21
    Probability – PS.1, PS.2, PS.6, PS.9, PS.19, PS.20
Science
    Nature of Science 9.3, 9.4, 10.1, B.1
    Scientific Attitudes 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, B.5, B.6, B.7,
    Scientific Processes 9.8, 9.9, 9.10, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, B.8, B.9, B.10, B.12
    Laboratory Investigations 9.19, 10.19, 10.20, 10.26, 10.33, B.19, B.20
    Science Content and Themes 9.72, 9.79, 10.70, 10.80, B.28, B.31, B.33
    Science, Technology, and Society 9.96, 10.88, B.37, B.38
    Computer/Technology 9.103, 9.104, 9.105, 9.106, 10.94, 10.95, 10.96, 10.97, B.42, B.43, B.44, B.45, B.46,
    B.47
 
 
 

National Standards:
Social Studies: Behavioral Studies Standards - 1, 2, 3, 4
Math 1, 6, 9
Science 4, 5, 7, 9, 14, 15, 16
English 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
 

References
Dickinson, Peter. Eva. New York:Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers,1988.
Project Wild. Bethesda, MD:Western Regional Environmental Educational Council, Inc., 1993.
 

Created by:

Judy Gillian
Tracey Hall
Jeanie Robinson
Nitro High School
 

Lesson 1 Go Climb a Tree

Lesson 2 Going Ape!

Lesson 3 Information Safari

Lesson 4 INTLPop

Lesson 5 Bungle in the Jungle