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DISCUSS:
Why do you think a little algae is good for fish, but a lot of algae is bad for fish?
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DISCUSS:
Imagine you live in a lakeside town that’s having problems with harmful algae blooms.
How could the town fix this problem?
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Teachers: If you are short on time, this is a good stopping point.
Now that the game pieces are all set up, you can come back and play Bloom Busters next time.
If you’re continuing right now, advance to the next slide.
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In this lesson, students discover what happens in unbalanced ecosystems and how that can lead to an overabundance of algae and harmful algal blooms. In the activity, Bloom Busters, students play a game in which they obtain and combine science ideas in order to help a community respond to and prevent harmful algal blooms.
Preview activity| Bloom Busters Rules printout | Print 10 copies |
| Consequences printout | Print 10 copies |
| Map of Laketown printout | Print 10 copies |
| Prevent It! Projects printout | Print 10 copies |
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Progress Cards & Deck Mat printout
Needs to be prepped prior to lesson. |
Print 10 copies |
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Scissors
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30 pairs |
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1 Cup (8 oz) Container
Any cup, bowl, or small container will work.
|
Details
10 cups
|
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Paper Clips
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10 paper clips |
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Bingo Chips
You can use any color, but we prefer green to represent the green algae.
Any type of counters can be used.
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Details
600 chips
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Dice, 6-sided
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10 |
We suggest students play the game in groups of three.
Place 60 bingo chips into each cup. Each team of 3 students needs a cup with bingo chips.
Print out the four pages of Progress Cards and cut along all the dotted lines. If you have a paper cutter, this will make this task easy. Each group of three students needs a deck of cards, so you can place each deck into an envelope or secure together with a binder clip for easy distribution.
Once all the cards are prepared, each group of three students will need a Map of Laketown (2 pages), Prevent It projects (2 pages), Consequences, Bloom Busters Rules, the Deck Mat, and the deck of Progress Cards (52 cards total).
Once all paper game pieces are cut out and prepared, you can optionally laminate them for future use!
This lesson focuses on green algal blooms, but algae come in a variety of colors. So depending on where you live, you may be more familiar with different types of harmful algae blooms, such as “red tide”.
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