Today in class, students took part in The Candy Fishing Lab. The goal was simple: survive until the end of the game so you get to eat your candy. But accomplishing that goal was not so simple.
Each round students would walk up to their group’s “fish pond” and take a few “fish” (candy). What they didn’t know was that their pond worked just like one in nature; the more fish they took, the fewer were left behind to reproduce. On the first attempt, most groups fished their ponds to extinction. No fish for you!
However, after they were educated about how the fish reproduce, most groups got it right the second time around. Taking just one fish each day, students were able to survive while allowing the fish in their pond to repopulate. Needless to say, there were a lot more smiling faces afterward.
The lesson was clear, using resources sustainably requires education and teamwork. This lesson can also be applied to real-world problems like over-fishing, littering, the overuse of antibiotics, and deforestation.
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