Activity 3 - Fish and Habitat Balance Mobiles

Purpose:  To explore the habitats of brown trout and American eel, and reproduce those habitats in the form of a mobile.

 

Outcomes:  Students will be able to manipulate form and shape to create a mobile illustrating the need to balance basic components in an ecosystem.

 

Subject:  Visual Arts, Science, Biology 
 

Group size:  Class; groups of 4 or 5

 

Site:  Classroom

 

Time:  60 minutes plus research time

 

Supplies:  visual images of contest fish in their habitat, and fish habitat components from any source; construction paper of several colours, found materials, scissors, glue, stiff wire or short sticks, 12 - 24 cm (5 - 10 in.) long, 6 - 8 or more per group.

 

References:  Existing art or photography showing habitat components, e.g.:

 

 

Brown Trout

 

 

American Eel

 

 

 

More web resources in Activity 2:  Resource 3- Web Resources

Habitat components from Activity 2, Resource 1 - Brown Trout and Resource 2 - American Eel, Distribution and Habitat sections

 

A QUICK LOOK


Students will further research the habitat requirements of either brown trout or American eel, and in groups create a habitat mobile that contains both specific habitat elements and their outline drawings from Activity 2.

 

READY, SET, GO!

fish habitat wire sculpture
Hold a general discussion with students about mobiles - moving works of art that are created by suspending and balancing shapes.  The first mobile was created by an American artist, Alexander Calder, who experimented with combinations of shapes and weights balancing each other.  Calder also discovered that the suspended objects move in a rotating fashion due to air currents. 


Explain that students will be creating "fish habitat" mobiles that incorporate important elements of their fish’s habitat.  Review the components of habitat - food, water, shelter and space (physical components such as rocks, logs, etc.).

 

Divide the class into groups of 4 or 5, making sure that all students in each group have drawn the same fish.

 

Review what they’ve already learned about the habitat of their fish from their research in Activity 2.  Determine whether additional research is necessary.  If so, allow students time to conduct it (individually or in their groups).

 

Point out that it might be difficult to visualize specific fish habitat and how all the parts fit together, since few of us spend much time looking around in it.  Provide copies of existing art or photography showing habitat for each fish, or post it on-screen if computers are immediately available.  Look for common components that indicate major or important habitat features, and how the preferred habitats of the two fish appear to differ.

 

flying fish mobile

Tell students that they will now create a physically well-balanced mobile to depict the specific habitat of their chosen fish.

Have each group create a common list of all the habitat components they wish to include in their mobile.  Distribute old fishing magazines, scissors, found materials and other drawing or sculpture materials.  Have each group use or create images to represent the varied items their fish needs to survive.  If necessary, mount items on poster board. 


Students should prepare their fish for the mobile by making a small hole near the dorsal fin.  Note that they need to place the hole carefully in order to get the balance right.  A second hole and a "triangle" of monofilament may be used to correct major imbalances. 

Brown trout are generally found within a couple feet of the bottom. Normally lake-run brown trout hang close to some sort of lake structure like points, breaks, rock piles and humps. Fish may be isolated, or loosely grouped. Browns in streams or rivers lounge behind boulders or tree trunks/roots waiting for food to pass by. American eel inhabit areas with rock piles, submerged logs, and other underwater structure, and are found generally on or near the bottom. During the day, they will likely be scattered in cracks, beneath overhangs, or buried in the bottom, coming out at night to feed. Eels may be isolated, or loosely grouped.

mobile

Have groups begin with the shorter lengths of wire or wood at the bottom of the mobile and progress to the longer lengths at the top.  Balance each section as it is assembled.  Each length can contain a single object at both ends, or a single object on one end balanced with a shorter balanced wire containing two objects on the other end.

 

When mobiles are completed, have students hang them where they can catch air currents.

 

Explain that the most important aspect of the habitat mobile is that it is well-balanced, just as healthy ecosystems must be well-balanced.  Ask students to describe what they think will happen if one element of the mobile is removed.  Ask them to describe how balance or imbalance of their habitat mobile relates to the health of ecosystems.

 

Students should now be able to complete their contest essays.

 

 

OTHER IDEAS

 

Make a class display of your habitat mobiles for the school.  Have your students explain their mobiles to younger classes.

 

Please send digital images of your best mobiles to us at jeff.standaert@ontario.ca . We will create a gallery of examples for future contests.

 

 

 

Special Initiatives

 

Kids' Fish Art Contest

 

What We Do

 

Contacts