Hey Laura, sorry to be slow in reply. In regards to numbers, I generally plan for a class of 35 students. I also try to have students work in pairs - one student tallies what they are delivering (sun) or receiving (organisms), and they can switch halfway through. Perhaps 10 sun students delivering (great job for your energetic hyperactive students), perhaps 18 plant groups (8 pairs), perhaps 6 herbivores (3 groups), and then the teacher is the secondary consumer eating the herbivores. Might adjust a bit if you run the different scenarios that we run. If there is a plant disease or meteor strike blocking sunlight, you need far fewer herbivores. If plants are growing more than usual, perhaps more herbivores. We have a worksheet of discussion questions that we students think about - you are welcome to email me at the link above and I'll send you the labels / worksheets as you are interested (and feel free to modify)
I know you made this for your students, which I think is very clever because the instructions for this activity can be tricky. I see this is inspired by another activity I have seen. But I am very interested in your different scenarios. Would you be willing to share what these are or if you have a write-up to go along with this? I am a JR high science teacher in Ohio.
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Hey Laura, sorry to be slow in reply. In regards to numbers, I generally plan for a class of 35 students. I also try to have students work in pairs - one student tallies what they are delivering (sun) or receiving (organisms), and they can switch halfway through.
Perhaps 10 sun students delivering (great job for your energetic hyperactive students), perhaps 18 plant groups (8 pairs), perhaps 6 herbivores (3 groups), and then the teacher is the secondary consumer eating the herbivores.
Might adjust a bit if you run the different scenarios that we run. If there is a plant disease or meteor strike blocking sunlight, you need far fewer herbivores. If plants are growing more than usual, perhaps more herbivores.
We have a worksheet of discussion questions that we students think about - you are welcome to email me at the link above and I'll send you the labels / worksheets as you are interested (and feel free to modify)
I know you made this for your students, which I think is very clever because the instructions for this activity can be tricky. I see this is inspired by another activity I have seen. But I am very interested in your different scenarios. Would you be willing to share what these are or if you have a write-up to go along with this? I am a JR high science teacher in Ohio.