Who Saw the Strongest Migration?
Migration Rate Math Activity
(Teaching Suggestions)

Each of the observers below saw migrating monarchs. Where was the migration the strongest? It's hard to tell at first when you read the comments. However, if you calculate the migration rate it's easy to compare the observations. Practice calculating the migration rate yourself, and put the sightings in order. When you're done, check our answers.

Observer
Comments from the Observer

Migration Rate
(Monarchs per
hour)

Order
(1st, 2nd, 3rd..)
Sample "I saw 15 Monarchs at a softball game. I was counting and watching for 30 minutes." 30  3rd
1 "We saw 9 monarchs today. We were outside watching all day from 9 am until 6 pm. . .
2 "I saw 3 Monarchs during a ten minute drive during my lunch hour." . .
3 "I saw 10 Monarchs in 15 minutes. It was not windy." . .
4 "I noticed five Monarchs between 11:00 am and 12:15 pm." .  .
5 "From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. we saw 135 monarchs migrating south or southwest." . .
6 "On a one hour drive over the same 60 miles of road I saw 20 monarch. That's twice as many as I saw the previous week." . .
7 "I counted an average of 25 monarchs in 5 minutes." . .