ALEX Classroom Resource

  

Animal Adaptations

  Classroom Resource Information  

Title:

 Animal Adaptations

URL:

 http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/animal-adaptations/

Content Source:

 Science NetLinks
Type: Lesson/Unit Plan

Overview:

The purpose of this lesson is to expand students’ knowledge of animal features and behaviors that can help or hinder their survival in a particular habitat. Students will participate in classroom discussions and visit a website to learn more about animals and how well (or poorly) they’ve adapted to satisfying their needs in their natural habitats.

Content Standard(s):
Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 3
10 ) Investigate how variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing (e.g., plants having larger thorns being less likely to be eaten by predators, animals having better camouflage coloration being more likely to survive and bear offspring).

Insight Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Planning and Carrying out Investigations
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect
Disciplinary Core Idea: Unity and Diversity
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Identify given characteristics of a species (e.g., thorns on a plant).
  • Describe the patterns of variation of a given characteristic among individuals in a species (e.g., longer or shorter thorns on an individual plant).
  • Describe potential benefits of a given variation of a characteristic.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Investigate
  • Evidence
  • Explanation
  • Variation
  • Characteristics
  • Individuals
  • Species (plants and animals)
  • Advantages
  • Surviving
  • Finding mates
  • Reproducing
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Patterns of variation of a given characteristic among individuals in a species (e.g., longer or shorter thorns on individual plants, dark or light coloration of animals).
  • Potential benefits of a given variation of the characteristic (e.g. the light coloration of some moths makes them difficult to see on the bark of a tree).
  • Certain variations in characteristics makes it harder or easier for an animal to survive, find mates, and reproduce (e.g., longer thorns prevent predators more effectively and increase the likelihood of survival; light coloration of some moths provides camouflage in certain environments, making it more likely that they will live long enough to be able to mate and reproduce).
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Collaboratively investigate the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species.
  • Describe evidence needed to explain the cause-and-effect relationship between a specific variation in a characteristic and its effect on the individual to survive, find mates, and reproduce.
  • Use reasoning to connect the evidence to support the explanation
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Cause and effect relationships exist between a specific variation in a characteristic (e.g., longer thorns, coloration of moths) and its effect on the ability of the individual organism to survive and reproduce (e.g., plants with longer thorns are less likely to be eaten, darker moths are less likely to be seen and eaten on dark trees).
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Heredity and Diversity
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement:
L4.4: When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.

NAEP Statement:
L4.7: Different kinds of organisms have characteristics that enable them to survive in different environments. Individuals of the same kind differ in their characteristics, and sometimes the differences give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing.
Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 4
11 ) Investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses, process that information, and respond to it in different ways (e.g., skunks lifting tails and spraying an odor when threatened, dogs moving ears when reacting to sound, snakes coiling or striking when sensing vibrations).

Insight Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Planning and Carrying out Investigations
Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models
Disciplinary Core Idea: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses.
  • Investigate different ways animals process the information they receive and how they respond to it.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • investigate
  • evidence
  • transmit
  • perception
  • receptors
  • senses
  • sensory information
  • process
  • memories
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Different types of sense receptors detect specific types of information within the environment.
  • Sense receptors send information about the surroundings to the brain.
  • Information that is transmitted to the brain by sense receptors can be processed immediately as perceptions of the environment and/or stored as memories.
  • Immediate perceptions or memories processed by the brain influences an animal's actions or responses to features in the environment.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Identify different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
  • Identify evidence of different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information to be investigated.
  • Plan ways to Investigate different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
  • Collect and communicate data of different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Sensory input, the brain, and behavioral output are all parts of a system that allows animals to engage in appropriate behaviors.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Animal Studies
NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement:
L4.4: When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.
Tags: adaptation, animal, behavior, survival
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  This resource provided by:  
Author: Stephanie Carver