Welcome to the Teacher Pages   Conduct a Fish Survey in Your
Class   In this activity, students will simulate a fish survey
to determine the population of bluegills in a hypothetical lake
using tagging and a capture/recapture technique.  Objective:
Students will learn how to estimate the size of a fish
population in a lake.  Materials: Each pair of students will
need: 1 spoon and paper cup; small white beans (about 100 cup);
colored markers; calculators; student worksheet.     1. Divide
the class into pairs and distribute a cup half filled with white
beans (about 100) to each pair. Explain that the cup represents
a lake and the beans a bluegill population.   2. Without
disturbing (touching) the bluegills in any way, have students
guess the number of bluegills in their lakes and record their
guesses on the student worksheet at the end of this activity.
Discuss the difficulty of the task and the potential sources of
error.   3. Explain that your job as fish biologists is to gain
information about the number of