Partnerships Implementing Engineering Education
Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Worcester Public Schools
Supported by: National Science Foundation
Life Sciences: 4.E.3
Animal and Plant Adaptation
_________________________________________________________________
Grade Level
4
Sessions
Seasonality
Instructional Mode(s)
Team Size
WPS Benchmarks
1 hour
N/A
Whole class
Half the Class
04.SC.LS.03
04.SC.LS.05
04.SC.LS.06
3-5.LS.6
Adaptation, Survival, Evolution
MA Frameworks
Key Words
Summary
The teacher will first present the students with transparencies and give a short lecture
on adaptation. After the teacher will split the classes in to two teams and play “The
Adaptation Game”, which is played much like the game charades.
Learning Objectives
2002 Worcester Public Schools (WPS) Benchmarks for Grade 4
04.SC.LS.03 Differentiate between observed characteristics of plants and animals that
are fully inherited (e.g., color of flower, shape of leaves, color of eyes, number of
appendages) and characteristics that are affected by the climate or environment (e.g,
browning of leaves due to too much sun, biorhythms).
04.SC.LS.05 Give examples of how inherited characteristics may change over time as
adaptations to changes in the environment that enable organisms to survive (e.g., shape
of beak or feet, placement of eyes on head, length of neck, shape of teeth, color).
04.SC.LS.06 Investigate how invasive species out-compete native plants (e.g.,
phragmites and purple loose-strife). Discuss how some native plants die as a result
Additional Learning Objectives
1. Give examples of how inherited characteristics may change over time as
adaptations to changes in the environment that enable organisms to survive, e.g.,
shape of beak or feet, placement of eyes on head, length of neck, shape of teeth,
color.
1 of 8
Partnerships Implementing Engineering Education
Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Worcester Public Schools
Supported by: National Science Foundation
Required Background Knowledge
None
Essential Questions
1. What is adaptation?
2. Can you name an animal that has adapted to an environment in order to survive?
How about a plant?
Introduction / Motivation
Ask the students the following questions:
-
Why do animals need to adapt?
o You should get the following responses (or lead the students to the
following answers):
§ Weather
§ Food
§ Protection from predators
-
If I were to move you to the North Pole, what would you need to do in order to
survive?
Have the class read the Penguin Overhead out loud and then ask them what it means
and how they can relate it to adaptation. Show the students the overhead with the
different animals and plants (Transparencies 1 & 2) and ask the students what
important traits they have that are a form of adaptation and what it is used for.
Procedure
The instructor will:
1. Split the students up into 2 large groups naming them Team A and Team B. One
student will be the spokesperson.
2. Place the Adaptation Cards into a bag, hat, or a bowl.
3. One student from Team A will come up and pick a card then they will have 1
minute to draw a picture of the adaptation (In bold on the card) on the board.
Team A (excluding the teammate drawing) will have to conference their answer
within the minute that the picture is drawn. At the end of the minute, one student
will give an answer of the picture and an animal/plant that exhibits this
2 of 8
Partnerships Implementing Engineering Education
Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Worcester Public Schools
Supported by: National Science Foundation
adaptation. If they are right, they will earn 2 points. They can earn an extra point
if they can say why the animal/plant needs this adaptation.
4. If Team A does not have the right answer, then Team B will have the chance for
a “steal”. Team B will have to give an immediate answer so they must be
conferencing while the picture is being drawn. They can earn up to one point for
the steal and an extra point if they can say why the animal/plant needs this
adaptation. If both teams do not have a correct answer, then no points will be
awarded.
5. The teams will alternate the picture drawings.
Materials List
Materials per class
Adaptation cards
Amount
Location
15
See Attached
Vocabulary with Definitions
1. Adaptation – An alteration or adjustment in structure or habits, often hereditary,
by which a species or individual improves its condition in relationship to its
environment.
2. Survival – a natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms’ best adapted
to the environment.
3. Evolution - A gradual process in which something changes into a different and
usually more complex or better form.
Assessment / Evaluation of Students
The instructor may assess the students in any/all of the following manners:
1. Graded on participation.
Lesson Extensions
None
Attachments
1. Penguin Overhead
2. Adaptation Cards
3. Adaptation Transparency 1
4. Adaptation Transparency 2
3 of 8
Partnerships Implementing Engineering Education
Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Worcester Public Schools
Supported by: National Science Foundation
Troubleshooting Tips
Children who appear to be having trouble grasping the concept may need some one on
one attention. Just sit with the student and explain to them how giraffes over a very long
process known as evolution developed a long neck to eat the tall leaves off the trees.
Try and paint a picture of how the giraffes with short necks wouldn’t get to eat so they
would not survive, but the long necked giraffes kept on reproducing and making the
necks longer. Giraffes are only one example the idea is to get the student to understand
the idea of the survival of the best suited for his environment.
Safety Issues
None
Additional Resources
None
Key Words
Adaptation, Survival, Evolution
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Penguin Adaptation
Figure 1: Penguin Classes
Penguins are designed for life in the sea. Some species spend as much as 75% of their
lives in the water. (They lay their eggs and to raise their chicks on land.) Heavy, solid bones act like a
diver's weight belt, allowing them to stay underwater. Their wings, shaped like flippers, help them "fly"
underwater at speeds up to 15 mph. A streamlined body, paddle-like feet, insulating blubber, and
watertight feathers all add to their efficiency and comfort underwater. They also have a remarkable deepdiving ability.
In addition to blubber for insulating warmth, penguins have stiff, tightly packed feathers (up to 70 per sq.
in.) that overlap to provide waterproofing. They coat their feathers with oil from a gland near the tail to
increase impermeability. Black and white counter shading makes them nearly invisible to predators from
above and below.
Like most birds, penguins have little or no sense of smell (a boon for those in a crowded penguin
rookery!) Like other birds, their sense of taste is also limited. Their vision appears to be better when they
are underwater. Scientists suspect they may be nearsighted on land.
Penguins are considered to be the most social of birds. Rookeries may contain thousands of individuals.
(As many as 24 million penguins visit the Antarctic continent!) Even at sea, they tend to swim and feed in
groups. Most species of penguins build nests, but the nests may consist only of a pile of rocks or scrapings
or hollows in the dirt. Emperor penguins build no nests; they hold the egg on top of their feet under a
loose fold of skin called the brood patch. http://octopus.gma.org/surfing/antarctica/penguin.html
Exoskeleton Stingers
Eyespots
Slimy Skin
(Shell)
For
protection
(on wings)
Frogs,
Salamanders Toads
Long Legs
Horns
Whiskers
Escape
predators.
Reach food
in high
places
Defense.
Mating
displays
Protection
from
enemies.
Protects
from drying
out.
Waterproof
Butterflies; to
Bees Wasps scare off
Protects from Protection
drying out
from
enemies
enemies
Large
Webbed
canine teeth feet
Dogs, cats;
Help to kill
prey
Poison
Glands
Thick Stems Seeds blow
in wind
Cactus; hold
Help to feel
environments in moisture in Dandelions,
(in the dark) the dry
Grass; help
climates
spreading
growth
Long
hair/fur
Ducks; used To keep
for
warm in cold
swimming
climates
and walking
in mud
Long sharp
claws
Bright
colors
Cats; help
climb trees.
Help to
escape
predators
Fish; used
for attracting
mates
Figure 2: Black Bear
http://estes.on-line.com/wildwatch/Bear.html
Figure 3: Heron
http://www.photo.net/photo/pcd1641/bird-fancy-grey-93.tcl
Figure 4: Cactus
http://www.life.umd.edu/cbmg/faculty/acaines/bsci124/extracreditplants.html
Figure 5: Snake
sfghed.ucsf.edu/ ClinicImages/Coral%20snake.jpg
Figure 6: Octopus
fusionanomaly.net/ octopus. jpg
Figure 7: Matured Dandelion
http://www.theherbspecialist.com/herbphotos/dandelion.jpg