A teaching game for applied hydrobiology

Details are given of a game based on real world hydrobiological data from the North West of England. The subject is the hypothetical river Sodde. Players work in competing groups and have to use the data to solve four problems. There is an economic dimension to the game since each unit of data has a cost. The winning group is the one which solves all the problems at the lowest cost. The first problem is to identify a source of pollution in a river system. Secondly, to measure current impacts and predict future impacts, given the nature of the river system. Thirdly, to predict the effect of abstraction on fish migration in the river. Fourthly, to identify discrepancies in the data. The latter were intentionally seeded into the data when the game was prepared. The game has been used at undergraduate and Master’s level and usually takes 3-4 hours for students who have learnt some hydrobiology. It could be used by higher level school students.