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Predator and Prey Interactions

Level A: Up and Down in the Wild: Predator and Prey

This lesson allows students to explore the interactions of two animal populations (wolves and moose) within an ecosystem. One animal in the simulation is a predator. The other animal is its prey. Their populations rise and fall (oscillate) over time as they interact and impact one another.

 

Learning goals:

  • Match predators with corresponding prey animals.
  • Explore a population simulation with two interacting
    populations.
  • Represent and interpret data on a line graph.
  • Tell the story of how and why two populations go up
    and down (oscillate) over time.
  • Identify predator/prey animals in ecosystems.

Student Challenge:

  • Determine which animal population grows most quickly versus least quickly and be able to explain what created these two results.

Curricular Connections:

  • Science: Populations, ecosystems, scientific method
  • Representing and interpreting data (Common Core Math)
  • Describing connections among ideas (Common Core Reading)

Simulation: Predator and Prey Relationships

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