Micaela Johnson

EDUC 224 (Introduction to Scientific Inquiry)

Dr. Clinton Bowers
Lab Activity
Black: From another source
Red: My contribution
Title of the Activity: How Many Bears Can Live in This Forest?
Goals/Objectives: Students will be able explain the definition of a limiting factor, and they will
be able to explain and discuss how limiting factors affect animal populations in the wild.
Safety Concerns: There are no safety concerns for this lab activity.
Estimated Time: 5 minutes for set-up, 5 minutes for clean-up, 25 minutes for activity
Supplies Needed: Six colors of construction paper (one sheet each of red, yellow, green, blue,
purple, and orange), envelopes (one per student), pencils, paper
Instructions:
Before class session, the teacher should complete the following:
1. Make a set of 2 x 2 cards from the colored construction paper. Refer to the following chart
to determine how many cards you will need:
Number of Cards
Paper
Color

Label

Represent
s

Orang
e
Orang
e
Purple

N-20

Purple

B-10

Yellow

I-12

Yellow

I-6

Red

M-8

Red

M-4

Nuts, 20
lbs
Nuts, 10
lbs
Berries,
20 lbs
Berries,
10 lbs
Insects, 12
lbs
Insects, 6
lbs
Meat, 8
lbs
Meat, 4

N-10
B-20

Number of Students in Group

10-15
2

16-20
3

21-25
3

26-30
4

31-35
5

36-40
6

41-45
7

13

17

21

25

29

33

13

17

21

25

29

33

13

17

21

25

29

33

13

17

21

25

29

33

Green

P-20

Green

P-10

lbs
Plants, 20
lbs
Plants, 10
lbs

13

17

21

25

29

33

As the chart shows, each color determines a type of food:

Orange: nuts (acorns, pecans, walnuts, hickory nuts)
Purple: berries and fruit (blackberries, elderberries, raspberries, wild berries)
Yellow: insects (grub worms, larvae, ants, termites)
Red: meat (mice, rodents, peccaries, beavers, muskrats, young deer)
Green: plants (leaves, grasses, herbs)
The number on each card represents the number of pounds of food that it will provide.
The following is an estimate of how many total pounds of food that one bear will need to
survive for 10 days:
Nuts
Berries and Fruits
Insects
Meat
Plants
Total:

20 pounds
20 pounds
12 pounds
8 pounds
20 pounds
80 pounds

(25%)
(25%)
(15%)
(10%)
(25%)
(100%)

If you follow the table when making the cards, there will be less than 80 pounds of food
per student, so there wont be enough food for all of the bears to survive.
We will also be including water as a habitat component. To calculate how many blue
water cards you will need, multiply the number of students by 1.25. Then divide the cards into
five equal piles and label the cards with the following labels: R, L, ST, SP, and M. These letters
represent rivers, lakes, streams, springs, and marshes.
During the class session, the following will occur in order to carry out the activity:
1. In a large area, scatter the cards.
2. DO NOT tell the students what the colors, and labels stand for. Only tell them that the cards
represent all kinds of bear food. Encourage them to gather different colored squares.
3. Each student will receive an envelope. This will be their den site. Students may choose any
location around the room to station their den site. Once they choose their location, their den must
remain there for the entire activity. Before distributing the envelopes, place index cards with
disabilities in several of the envelopes. For example, a bear can have a broken limb, be a mother
bear who needs to gather more food, or a bear can be blind.
4. Students will stand at their den site. The teacher will present the following instructions: You
are all now black bears living in Arizona. All bears are different just like all people are different.
Ask students to look inside their envelope. Several students will find a special card that explains
the challenge that they have.

5. Tell the students that they must walk into the forest. When they find a colored card, they
should pick it up (one at a time) and return it to their den.
6. When the colored squares have been picked up, the gathering period is over. Students should
pick up their den envelope and return to their seats.
7. Each student will receive an inventory sheet (attached). On this sheet, they will record their
totals for each type of food and water source. Each student will need to have picked up one water
source card in order to survive.
8. On the chalkboard, list the disabilities that several of the bears had and then list the healthy
bears. Then ask each student to disclose the total amount of food that they gathered. At this time,
explain to the students that in order to survive, they will have needed to gather 80 pounds of
food. Also list the typical bears diet on the board, so that students can compare their diets to that
of an average bear.
9. As a class, discuss the reflection questions that are listed on the follow-up sheet. (Attached).

References
Project WILD. (2001). Ecological Knowledge. In Project WILD K-12 Curriculum and Activity
Guide (Vol. 1, p. 82). Houston: Project WILD National Office.

Food Inventory Worksheet

Name: ____________________________________
Below, please record the results of your gathering time.
_______Orange
_______Orange
*_______Total

N-20
N-10

_______Purple
_______Purple
*_______Total

B-20
B-10

_______Yellow
_______Yellow
*_______Total

I-12
I-6

_______Red
_______Red
*_______Total

M-8
M-4

_______Green
_______Green
*_______Total

P-20
P-10

**_______Total Pounds of Food

_______Blue
_______Total

Reflection Questions
1. How many bears in the class survived?
2. Based on this activity, would you say that overcrowding is a problem in our habitat?
3. Analyze the amount of each type of food that you gathered. Based on this information and the
diet of a typical black bear, do you think that your bear is receiving the proper nutrition?
4. Did the bear with the broken leg and the mother bear with two cubs have a hard time meeting
their nutritional needs? Why?
5. What is a limiting factor?
6. Name one environmental factor or event that could decrease the bears food supply even more.