Hoop Toss BioBlitz

Teacher Card

How to use it

  • Solo: one student, about 10 minutes.
  • Partner: two students take turns. New species = 1 point to the finder.
  • Real Hoop Day: go outside with hula hoops and the printed tally sheet, then type your counts in.
  • Español button switches every student screen to Spanish. Read aloud uses the device's built-in voices.
  • Leer en español (on English screens): a Spanish voice reads while the English sentence lights up, and each science word glows as its Spanish twin is spoken. Spanish speakers hear it in Spanish and learn the English terms. To choose the Spanish voice, tap Español once and pick from the Voice menu; the device remembers it.

Scientist Mode (grades 8 and 9)

  • Uses the real terms: species richness (S), abundance (N), Simpson's Diversity Index (D).
  • Shows the formula D = 1 − Σ(nᵢ/N)² with a table of each species' share.
  • The line chart is labeled as a species accumulation curve.

Standards

  • MS-LS2-1: analyze data on how resources affect populations.
  • MS-LS2-5: evaluate design solutions for keeping biodiversity and ecosystem services.
  • High school stretch: HS-LS2-2, math representations of biodiversity.

Built from the Campus Ecosystem unit

  • Answers the unit's question "How can biodiversity be measured?" with real sampling.
  • Real Hoop Day replaces the unit's survey form with data kids can graph right away.
  • The parking lot choice brings in the unit's sustainability question.
  • Fills the unit's blank Student Misconceptions section (next box).

Misconceptions it busts

  • "More critters means more biodiversity." The lawn has more critters but fewer kinds.
  • "If I didn't see it, it isn't there." Rare species hide. A still-climbing curve means keep sampling.
  • "Throw all hoops in one spot." Spreading samples out finds more kinds.

Critter Games (NEW)

  • Critter Field Guide: every new species found in Solo or Partner hoops unlocks its card (saved on that device). Each card has a producer, consumer or decomposer quiz for a star. Find all 18 for the Junior Field Biologist badge. The box turtle is rare, so it is the last card most kids find.
  • Food Web Chain Reaction: 14 quick "where does it get its energy?" picks build the web, then 4 disasters (clover disease, snail bait, leaf blowing, invasive hammerhead flatworms). Kids predict who loses food, then watch the chain reaction. MS-LS2-2, MS-LS2-3.
  • Who Lives Where?: a timed sort of all 18 critters into Lawn, Both or Creek edge (keys 1, 2, 3), with streak bonuses and a habitat reason after every pick. MS-LS2-1.
  • The food web is a simplified model of real feeding links. Real animals eat more things than the game shows.

Science notes

  • Critters are common East Tennessee schoolyard and streamside organisms. Game counts are a model, not data from a real site.
  • The mix score is Simpson's index calculated with replacement (1 − Σp²), the version easiest to explain to kids.
  • Kids can name any organism in Real Hoop Day. "Unknown beetle A" is a fine scientist answer.
  • The two survey maps are painted with no critters on them. The game places each critter picture itself, so every count on screen matches the data.