We spent a lot of class time discussing animal adaptions, ranging from individual behavior to behavior of the group to physical changes. Some examples include (1) lizards in Florida moving to live in the tops of the trees when a larger species moved into the bushes where they had been living, (2) animals finding new food sources after their original food became scarce, and (3) animals, such as whales and dolphins, finding new hunting methods.
We watched several videos that explain these occurrences very well. Some of the clips were from the BBC Nova series Inside the Animal Mind, while others were clips from TED Talks and National Geographic shows.
Below are some pictures from an activity the students did about the results of an animal changing physically. "Food" (beans) was spread out on the floor. Each "animal" (student) was given an appendage: a fork, spoon, or knife. They were also given a cup to store their food. They were ONLY able to use the appendage to gather food. After the time was up, they counted up how much food they were able to obtain. We compared the totals for the various appendages each time, and found that the spoons consistently stored the most, followed closely by the forks, and the knives were far behind. This showed that the animals that were best adapted to gathering this type of food got the most food. Here are some pictures from both classes:
We watched several videos that explain these occurrences very well. Some of the clips were from the BBC Nova series Inside the Animal Mind, while others were clips from TED Talks and National Geographic shows.
Below are some pictures from an activity the students did about the results of an animal changing physically. "Food" (beans) was spread out on the floor. Each "animal" (student) was given an appendage: a fork, spoon, or knife. They were also given a cup to store their food. They were ONLY able to use the appendage to gather food. After the time was up, they counted up how much food they were able to obtain. We compared the totals for the various appendages each time, and found that the spoons consistently stored the most, followed closely by the forks, and the knives were far behind. This showed that the animals that were best adapted to gathering this type of food got the most food. Here are some pictures from both classes: