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Questions / instructions:
In this activity you will be working out what is eating what in a cabbage garden.

If you plant a vegetable garden, you will probably find that insects, bugs and birds visit and live in the garden. You might also discover living things eating other living things in the garden. Your team has a set of pictures of living things often found in a garden. You are to try to sort them out and put them into an order to show what eats what. After that you can show them as a diagram on the board. Work together with everyone helping to decide what will be the best way of showing this information on your diagram. You can blu-tack the pictures of the living things on to the board. Show what is eating what by drawing arrows with the marker pen.

Remember: some things may eat more than one type of food.

When everyone in the team agrees with your diagram, talk about what would happen if wire netting was put over the garden to keep the birds out.

What would happen to the insects?
What would happen to the cabbages?

Use the activity chart as a reminder of what your team should do.

Activity chart

1. As a group, plan a diagram of "what eats what" in a garden.
2. Use the pictures and draw arrows to make the diagram.
3. Check that every member of your team agrees with the diagram.
4. Discuss what might happen if you put wire netting over the garden.
        • What would happen to the insects?
        • What would happen to the cabbage?

Quality of diagram and collective argument

correct, complete and well justified
very good
good
fair
poor

Predictive

Insect population        increases
decreases
Cabbages                              grow
get eaten

Ratings of quality of collective argument

Good
Moderate
Poor