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12.2: Procedure

  • Page ID
    49722
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    Today, we will have two species: a predator (you) and prey (bean species). Every table will become a battleground between a population of prey and a population of predators.

    In all, there will be 4 predators (you and your neighbors) and 200 prey (different beans). In each round, you will “eat” beans by collecting them into your “stomach”. To catch beans, every predator will be assigned one (and only one) tool:

    • fork

    • knife

    • teaspoon

    • soup spoon

    Before the game starts, all varieties of prey should be equal. Therefore, there should be:

    • 50 white small beans, Navy or Great Northern beans (Phaseolus vulgaris, multiple cultivars)

    • 50 white large beans, Lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus)

    • 50 brown medium beans, kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris cv. ‘Red Kidney’)

    • 50 speckled medium beans, Pinto beans (Phaseolus vulgaris cv. ‘Pinto’)

    Rules:

    1. Every table becomes a team of players. Carefully read instructions, formulate hypotheses to answer question 1.

    2. Put all prey (200 beans, 50 of each variety) to the center of the table, mix them, place your dishes in each corner.

    3. Ready tools, remove all items from the table other than beans and dishes.

    4. Start the hunt: you have a given number of seconds to catch and “eat” as many beans as possible. The prey may be caught only with the designated tool in your non-dominant hand, everything else is forbidden!

      You are allowed to catch more than one bean at a time, but you cannot move your “stomach”! Try not to hinder your teammates’ progress. After the “stop” command, stop catching immediately. If you just caught the prey but did not put it into “stomach”, release it.

    5. Calculate the results for predators: the predator who caught most of prey will reproduce to replace the most unsuccessful predator. In other words, if the predator with fork caught the maximal number of prey, and the predator with teaspoon caught the minimal number of prey, the teaspoon will starve and be replaced by the fork.

    6. Prey reproduce: all surviving beans should be doubled. For example, if 15 Limas, 18 Navys/Great Northens, 28 Kidneys and 12 Pintos survived, add 15, 18, 28 and 12 beans of each variety, respectively.


    This page titled 12.2: Procedure is shared under a Public Domain license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Alexey Shipunov.

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