In this activity children will predict the behaviour of small creatures and suggest how influencing their behaviour may have a beneficial use.
Description
A robotic cockroach can act as a 'pied piper' to real cockroaches, persuading the real insects to hide in unusual places. European scientists wanted to see whether the robots would be accepted by the insects and whether they could influence their collective decision-making process. They are hoping this will lead to studies of human group behaviour.
Children will predict the behaviour of small creatures and make suggestions about how influencing their behaviour may have a beneficial use.
Learning Objective:
- the preferred habitat of small creatures such as cockroaches, woodlice
Children will learn:
- how to make a prediction and to test it in a realistic way.
These resources were initially developed in partnership with the Centre for Science Education, Sheffield Hallam University
Related content
