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Synthetic Ecosystem Simulator

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Grades 6-875-90 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Teams code a simple predator-prey population simulation, then test whether it stays balanced or spirals into extinction and booms.

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Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Prep: 10 minActivity: 45 min1 session~$3/groupOne table or a clear section of floorBeginner-friendly

Setup

Print or hand-copy the essential prompt for Synthetic Ecosystem Simulator, then set out only paper, pencils, and the common or recycled items needed for one test. Use a tabletop representation whenever the original version mentions a room, specialized device, or digital tool; the learning comes from the decisions and evidence, not elaborate scenery.

Activity

  1. Define the central success test in Synthetic Ecosystem Simulator and make a paper planning sheet for the inputs, actions, and expected result.
  2. Represent the system without electronics by using labeled cards, paper controls, tokens, a ruler, or a student acting as the device; follow the same cause-and-effect rules described in the project.
  3. Run at least three cases, including one difficult or unexpected case, and record input examples, operating rules, predicted outputs, and actual outputs.
  4. Revise one rule, layout, mechanism, or decision after the failed case, repeat it, and explain with the recorded evidence whether the change worked.

Done when: The group has completed Synthetic Ecosystem Simulator when it can graph the final population trends and present what change stabilized the ecosystem and point to the observation, measurement, comparison, or trial that supports its conclusion.

Materials

laptop or tablet, free block-based coding app, graph paper, colored counters for predator/prey

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Disclosure: Materials links below go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Steps

  1. Study a real predator-prey population graph and predict what starting numbers will keep both populations stable over time.
  2. Code or hand-simulate a population model using the predicted starting values across several generations.
  3. Run the simulation forward, find one population crashes to extinction or booms out of control, and adjust the model's birth or death rate rules.
  4. Graph the final population trends and present what change stabilized the ecosystem.

Standards it satisfies

  • NGSS · MS-LS2-1

    Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.