Oh' Deer

So I asked the students to bring a coat yesterday.  We are going outside and its kinda cold.  The lab we are going to do today is designed to observe how change in the number of organisms in a population can happen.  The students will be divided into three groups, resources, deer, and hunters.  The resources represent all the food, water, and shelter required for a deer to live.  The deer represent a moving population that will seek out the resources they need to survive.  The hunters are the top consumer and will kill deer to obtain the food they need to make more hunters.
The idea of the lab is that resources, when eaten by deer, can turn into other deer.  If the deer fails to get any resources then the deer will die and turn into resources.  The same is true with hunters.  If the hunter kills a deer then the deer turns into another hunter.  If the hunter fails to kill a deer then the hunter will die and turn into resources.
If the lab is followed then students will see how a change in any of the three groups can cause problems with the other groups.  In nature there is a balance between the resources, deer, and predators, and also there will be a balance in this lab. 
Once we have completed this lab, the students will asked to graph the data for a grade.  The graph will show how the populations of the three groups change over time.  From one month to the next, the students will see the groups populations fluxuate up and down.

Now for some artistic talent

This childish picture represents how my students will be arranged outside.  The resources don't move, the deer move across the field to get the resources while the hunters shoot over the field to get a deer.

The start up for today is "why do you think West Virginia allows hunters to kill deer?"