I love teaching population Ecology. At the most basic level, knowing something about birth rates and survival allows you to predict changes in population size. For people who care about conservation, it’s an important skill. However, it’s not really a skill you expect from a kindergartner.

Imagine my surprise when the girl explained to me (after seeing a dead squirrel)
Every animal has a number and if any of those animals get hit by a car and is dead then the number goes down. If the number goes down to one it’s in danger. If that one gets dead, then it’s extinct.

Not bad reasoning for a little girl!

Maybe next year, I will have her tutor my students.