The Pig Game
In the previous edition of mathemagica
I wrote about a hypothetical rabbit breeding programme. This can be used
as the basis of an exciting game for students. You can call it what you
like - I prefer the pig game - I can talk about endangered pig species
and then weave a story around breeding them - the story is your own.
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Ask two or three students to act as counters to estimate
the "pig" population over eight years or so. The number of years will depend
on how many students you have in your class. Classes at my high school
range from 24 to 28 - I can accommodate 21 (the 8th Fibonacci number) but
not 34 (the 9th Fibonacci number).
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Select one student to be the first breeding pair
or "pigs" and have the remaining students assemble in one corner of the
room - they are all unborn generations of "pigs". The first student
picks up a symbolic object to represent a set of genes (I use the empty
containers from Cadbury's Yowie toys - you can use any colourful object
eg batons used in relay races) and makes a lap of the room.
-
As s/he and subsequent student "pigs" complete a
circuit of the room and pass the counters their population is recorded.
Just after passing the counters the student/s pick up another symbolic
gene object. Of course, to breed, the "pair of pigs" represented by a student
needs two sets of genes and so the first "breeding pair" student must make
two laps of the room to pick up two sets of genes.
-
On the third circuit the student will pick up another
"set of genes" and because s/he already has two sets now passes the third
set on to a student in the pool of unborn "pigs" - and so gives birth -
and two
students now complete the third circuit (2 being the 3rd Fibonacci number).
On the 4th circuit the first "pair of pigs" will give birth again by picking
up and handing on a symbolic gene object but the second "pair" will only
be picking up gene object number 2. (3 pig pairs make the fourth circuit,
5 make the fifth, 8 make the 6th and so on).
-
When you run out of enough unborn pigs to complete
the next generation stop the game and ask your recorders to read out their
results which you display near your results for the exercise on plants.
The effect is tremendous as they read out
the Fibonacci sequence once again.
