[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-191603-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":80,"doc-detail-191603-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","food-chain-checkers","Food Chain Checkers","","Students play Food Chain Checkers, a game modeling a simple ocean food chain to connect organisms within an ecosystem. Learners follow species roles for diatoms, copepods, herring, and orca whales, then capture prey by jumping and replacing pieces to reflect reproduction. The activity includes learning outcomes about population changes driven by food availability and the tendency for balanced ecosystems to stay fairly constant over time. Students use models to represent nature and improve rules to better match real conditions.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/paper-templates/","Paper Templates",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/food-chain-checkers/191603/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/food-chain-checkers/191603.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Jake","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-05","2026-09-03",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":33},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What learning outcomes does Food Chain Checkers target?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"Students learn that food chains connect organisms in an ecosystem, that food availability can change population size, and that balanced ecosystems tend to keep population sizes relatively constant over time. They also learn that models represent nature and can be improved for accuracy.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How do players move and capture in the game?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"On a turn, a player moves one piece to an adjacent open square (including diagonals) or jumps over adjacent prey. Capturing happens by jumping over a prey piece; the captured piece is removed and the player places a new piece from reserves to represent reproduction.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What happens when a prey is at the edge of the board?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"If jumping off the board is required, the jump is allowed and the moving piece is placed in any open space on the opposite edge. If there are no open spaces on the opposite edge, the jump cannot be made.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},191603,1790317456,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,88,93,98,103,108,113,118,122],{"id":84,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},11,"Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":89,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":94,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":99,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":104,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":109,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":114,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":119,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},21,5,"papers-templates",{"id":123,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":125},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":127},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":128,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":22,"category_id":119,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":33,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":135,"language":136,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":140,"read_time":30},962084928904,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","| Summary Students play a game that models dynamics of a simple food chain, then they improve the model by making their own rules that better account for the ways that food chains work. Source Windows to the Universe activity by Lisa Gardiner Grade Level 5-9 Time 15 minutes prep time\u003Cbr>One or two 50-minute class periods Student Learning Outcomes • Students will learn that food chains connect organisms within an ecosystem.\u003Cbr>• Students will learn that food availability can cause changes in population size.\u003Cbr>• Students will learn that the size of populations in a balanced ecosystem stay somewhat constant over time.\u003Cbr>• Students will learn that models can be used to represent the natural world and that improvements to models allow us to more accurately represent natural conditions. National Standards • 5-8 Content Standard C: Populations and Ecosystems\u003Cbr>• 9-12 Content Standard C: Interdependence of Organisms\u003Cbr>• Benchmarks: 5A/5 and 5E/2 | Materials\u003Cbr>(For each group of four)\u003Cbr>• Checkerboard\u003Cbr>• 24 Diatom game pieces\u003Cbr>• 24 Copepod game pieces\u003Cbr>• 24 Herring game pieces\u003Cbr>• 24 Whale game pieces\u003Cbr>• Food Chain Checkers worksheets for each student (double-sided)\u003Cbr>• Optional Graphing Populations over Time worksheet for each student (double-sided)\u003Cbr>• Colored pencils for optional graphing activity |\n| --- | --- |\n\n\n| \u003Cbr>100 microns wide | These producers are some of the most abundant in the world’s oceans. Diatoms area type of algae and are a part of the phytoplankton. They float through the oceansand make their own food by photosynthesis. |\n| --- | --- |\n\n\n| \u003Cbr>Copepods\u003Cbr>1 -2 mm long | These little animals are first-order consumers anda part of the zooplankton. They belong to a group of invertebrates called arthropods and are related to shrimp. Copepods are found in oceans worldwide. |\n| --- | --- |\n\n\n| \u003Cbr>Herring\u003Cbr>14 -35 cm long | These fish are secondorder consumers. They are common in the North Pacific and North Atlantic oceans. When eating, they swim with their mouths open to catch zooplankton like copepods from the ocean water. |\n| --- | --- |\n\n\n| \u003Cbr>Orca Whales\u003Cbr>8 - 10 meters long | Orca whales are third-order carnivores and the top of this food chain. They eat herring (and many other animals) . Because other animals do not eat them, Orcas would usually only die of natural causes (if they were not affected by humans.) |\n| --- | --- |\n\n| 􀀑\u003Cbr>/RCA | 􀀕􀀐􀀐􀀐(ERRING | 􀀓􀀒􀀌􀀕􀀐􀀐􀀌􀀐􀀐􀀐\\#OPEPODS | 􀀔􀀌􀀒􀀒􀀕􀀌􀀐􀀐􀀐􀀌􀀐􀀐􀀐􀀌􀀐􀀐􀀐\u003Cbr>$IATOMS |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n\n\n| Food Chain Checkers: Directions for Round 1 Objective: Capture your prey! You do this by jumping over it.\u003Cbr>To begin:\u003Cbr>• First decide which player will represent diatoms, copepods, herring, and whales. Record this at the right.\u003Cbr>• Each player puts six game pieces on the board in any squares he or she chooses. The diatom player gets to put his or her pieces on the board first, then the copepod player, then the herring player, and then the Orca player.\u003Cbr>To move:\u003Cbr>• During your turn, you can move ONE of your pieces to any adjacent open square (including diagonal ones) or jump over your prey in an adjacent square.\u003Cbr>• You can move in any direction on the board. (You are not trying to get to a specific location – just get your prey.)\u003Cbr>• You cannot jump pieces that are not your prey or move into a square if there is already someone there.\u003Cbr>To capture your prey:\u003Cbr>• Capture a prey piece by jumping it.\u003Cbr>• Capturing food allows your species to reproduce, so take the prey that you jumped off the board and replace it with a piece from your reserve.\u003Cbr>• Note: If your prey is at the edge of the board, and to jump over it your piece is moved off the edge of the board, you can make the jump and then place your piece in any open space on the opposite edge. If there are no open spaces on the opposite edge, you can not make the jump. | \u003Cbr>Record who is playing each species.\u003Cbr>Name:   Will be diatoms.\u003Cbr>(Put 6 pieces on the board 1st.)\u003Cbr>Name: |\n| --- | --","cbCaivBD6NNPexnV","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivBD6NNPexnV","pdf",2226307,8,"English","# Food Chain Checkers: Activity Overview\n## Student Learning Outcomes and Standards\n## Materials\n# Food Chain Checkers: Directions for Round 1\n## Setup and Player Representation\n## Movement and Capturing Rules\n## Edge-of-Board Jump Rule\n# Species Information and Tables\n## Diatoms, Copepods, Herring, Orca Whales\n## Population Over Time Templates","[{\"question\":\"What learning outcomes does Food Chain Checkers target?\",\"answer\":\"Students learn that food chains connect organisms in an ecosystem, that food availability can change population size, and that balanced ecosystems tend to keep population sizes relatively constant over time. They also learn that models represent nature and can be improved for accuracy.\"},{\"question\":\"How do players move and capture in the game?\",\"answer\":\"On a turn, a player moves one piece to an adjacent open square (including diagonals) or jumps over adjacent prey. Capturing happens by jumping over a prey piece; the captured piece is removed and the player places a new piece from reserves to represent reproduction.\"},{\"question\":\"What happens when a prey is at the edge of the board?\",\"answer\":\"If jumping off the board is required, the jump is allowed and the moving piece is placed in any open space on the opposite edge. If there are no open spaces on the opposite edge, the jump cannot be made.\"}]","Food Chain Checkers | PDF",1788409638]