Fish Math

How do you pronounce cichlid?

• kee-child

• click-lit

• sick-lid

• not explained in the article

Which sentence is the best summary of the article?

• Stingrays and cichlids will only perform math when given treats like earthworms, shrimp, or mussels.

• Zoologists determined that stingrays and cichlids can be trained to add and subtract.

• The University of Bonn in Germany conducted a very interesting study about fish.

• Stingrays and cichlids can only count up to the number 5.

In what part of an article are you most likely to find the main ideas?

• The first and last paragraphs

• The paragraph that has the most quotes from people

• The paragraph that is the most interesting

• Usually in the middle of the article

Which sentence best explains how the zoologists taught the fish to add?

• They gave the fish treats.

• They showed the fish a bunch of cards with little shapes and if it touched the card with the most shapes then the fish got shrimp or mussels or other treats.

• It was just like training a dog.

• The fish was given a treat when it touched the card that had more shapes on it than the last card.

If you only had a short time to explain the article, which detail would you include?

• "...they were given names such as Jennifer and Tiffany."

• "But scientists don’t know why they would need to add or subtract."

• “all the fish preferred addition."

• "the treats were food pellets for the cichlids and earthworms, shrimp or mussels for the stingrays."

How can you determine the main idea of a paragraph?

• It will always be in the first sentence of the paragraph

• The main idea is in quotation marks

• Most of the paragraph talks about that topic

• The last sentence talks about that topic

Which piece of information from the article is the least important when considering a summary?

• Fish use the concepts of "more" and "less" when judging food sources.

• About half of the fish in the study learned how to count.

• Most animals can only count up to 5 without focusing.

• Bees can add and subtract small numbers.

How do the zoologists who performed this study hope it will help humans?

• People will have more respect for fish and keep exploring what they can do.

• People will think, "Wow, fish are cool."

• People will be able to use fish to keep track of data.

• People will start training their pet fish to do math tricks.