We have all seen ants mobbing a scrap of food on the side walk or in the yard. Have you ever stopped to think how many ants there were on that piece of food? If you have, how would you go about calculating the number of ants on a the scrap? Here are two different types of food scraps, an apple core and a pizza crust. Both are tasty morsels to ants. Develop a method to figure out the number of ants on each scrap of food. Write a brief explaination of how you figured out the number of ants on each piece of food. What are some of the things you considered when you calculated the number of ants on each piece. Was there any difference between the method you use for the apple and the pizza? If so, what were the differences? (use either a plastic toy ant or this drawing to represent the size of an ant.)


Extension assignment: If your pants were covered by ants, how many ants would that be?

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