Material Detail

Bean Bugs

In this outdoor biology and math activity, learners estimate the size of a population of organisms too numerous to count. In a process similar to that used by real field biologists, learners count all the "organisms" (beans) scattered in a small, measured area known as a quadrat, then use that count as the basis for estimating the total population in the whole study site. Learners also examine sources of error while using this estimation...

Keywords:: Social Sciences, Plane Geometry, Plants, Error, Units of Measurement, Biological Science, NSDL, Reasoning and Proof, Ecology, Data, Average, Representation, Physics, Animals, Conducting Investigations, Census, Multiples and Factors, General, Data Representation, Data Analysis, Asking Questions, Science and Society, Forestry and Agriculture, Populations, Life Science, Geoscience, Communicating Results, Field Biology, Mathematics, Count, Organisms, Data Collection, Estimate, Size and Scale, Gathering Data, Multiply, General Science, Quadrat, Population, Sampling Plot, Rate, Education, Sampling, Formulating Explanations