Positives

• This resource provides a thought-provoking and memorable experience for students, which will surely give them a great, age-appropriate, understanding of carrying capacity.
• This activity can be differentiated in many ways to accommodate learners at different levels or extend learning. 

Additional Prerequisites

• The resource calls for 200 paper cups, but 200 small scraps of paper, lids, rocks, beads, or other materials would also work.
• Students should have a basic understanding of the relationship between predators and prey in an ecosystem.

Differentiation

• This resource would work best when working on science or math topics, but could also be applied to social studies topics, such as the carrying capacity of humans that also allows for other species to survive. 
• Before completing the activity, have students predict what they think may happen and explain their ideas in writing or by a show of hands from a prompt.
• After completing the activity and discussion, have students write a reflection on their learning. 
• Older students could connect this activity to ecology, sustainability, civics, or ethics topics and discuss how changing habitats and climate conditions will affect population of animals and people.