Monarch Challenge Questions

From: Elizabeth Howard Journey North <ehoward@journeynorth.org>
Date: Mon Mar 06 2006 - 14:47:17 EST
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>
>Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:03:42 -0500
>Subject: Challenge Question #5
>From: Linda Thurber <lthurber@mac.com>
>
>Challenge Question #5
>"How many butterfly trees did you count in the colony pictured here?
>Describe the challenges you had. (For extra credit, name a few variables the
>scientists must control when estimating the size of the monarch population.
>Consider the butterflies, the forest, the weather, and even the
>scientists.)"
>
>We had different ways to approach this problem -
>
> Ruby took the picture and brought it into a drawing program on the
>computer. She made a grid and found that there were approximately 100 trees
>in one group on her grid. She made a box that was the same size as those 100
>trees and then she placed that box on all the trees.
> Her guess is about 1,700 trees in that photo.
>
> Tucker brought the picture into a drawing program as well. He made a box
>that was 9 trees x 13 trees. There were 117 trees in that box and he moved
>that box around the picture. He thinks that there are about 1,755 trees in
>that area.
>
> Phoebe and Joanna took the picture and printed it. Then they cut a
>square piece of paper that had about 100 trees and they moved it that
>around the picture. They made a grid on their picture. They think that there
>are about 1,300 trees in that picture.
>
> Amanda thinks that there are 9,900 trees, she just thinks that there are
>that many. She made a grid and guessed that in one grid there were about a
>1000 trees.
>
> We noticed that in some places on the pictures, the trees are clumped
>together more tightly than others. There were some areas on the picture that
>had no trees on them. We would think that there would be the same issue with
>butterflies on the trees. Some trees would hold more butterflies than other
>trees. So you just make as good of a guess as you can!
>
>Grade Four
>Ferrisburgh Central School

--Elizabeth Howard

Journey North
Engaging Students in a Global Study of Wildlife Migration and Seasonal Change
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
Received on Mon Mar 6 14:47:24 2006