Lesson Plans

Rabbits and Wolves

Introduction :

Setup: none

The following lesson builds upon the already constructed java applet of Rabbits and Wolves. Please review the applet here. To start the lesson, the students should be introduced if they haven't already into the basic principles on probability. A good way to demonstrate it, is either with a die, coin or deck of cards. For a coin go over the probabilities, of getting heads in a certain amount of tosses. It helps if you go over several examples to give a more robust appeal.

Next, give a general outline of what the students will be doing. Feel free to show them the applet first, but try to do the outside activity first.

Outside Activity :

Setup: Nice weather, 'blue yellow and red' square pieces of paper, pen/pencils, and The Rabbits and Wolves Data Table

This outside activity is designed to mimic the actual applet the students will experiment with later on. Take the students outside, and select 2 people to record data. Each new game, 2 new people should be selected to record data. To start the game off designate 2 lines, a starting line and a finish line. Next choose one person to be the initial Wolf, the rest of the students are Rabbits.

Rules:

Object of the game is for all the rabbits to safely make it to the finish line
To begin each Rabbit and Wolf will start off with a blue square in their hand.
Wolves may capture rabbits only with the same color square as them.
Each round that a rabbit safely makes it to the finish line they will change the color of their square (from blue to yellow to red). Once they reach red, they will stay there.
Each round that a wolf captures a rabbit, he will move up in color as well. Once he/she reaches red, they will remain at red as well.
If a rabbit is caught, he/she becomes a wolf for the next round.
If a wolf does not capture anyone of his/her color square, then they become a rabbit for the next round.
At the end of each round the number of rabbits and wolves are recorded on to the data table.
Continue game till either all the rabbits are captured, or no more wolves remain.

After the game is run through a few times, bring the class back in to discuss the data that was recorded. Plot the data if need be by using Simple Plot. Talk about any trends that were noticed, or any patterns that can be inferred. Then move on to the applet lesson.

Rabbits and Wolves Applet :

Setup: Several computers, access to internet, paper, and pencil.

After completing the previous lessons, load and demonstrate how the Rabbits and Wolves applet works. Make sure pairs of students have paper and pencil to record results each run. Have the students experiment on the applet, in which they try to find a balance (i.e no rabbits are left). Have a student demonstrate their configuration that they think works on the projection computer to the class. Remember though, that the applet is random and may not give the same results each time it is run. If time allows, have students plot their gathered data onto the simple plot applet. Disscuss the data gathered, then compare and contrast it to the game played outside.

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