LS.4.1.2
Use models to explain that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information, and respond to the information in different ways.
Embedded Files
District Recommended Resources for 4th Grade Science
Animal Studies
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Science Phenomena Resources
Next Generation Science Standards YouTube Channel
Step 1: Lesson Standards & Learning Goals
Dimension 1:
SEP: Develop and Use Models:
Use a model to show cause and effect relationships or interactions concerning the functioning of a natural system (NSTA SEP Matrix).
Dimension 2:
CCC: Develop and Use Models
Dimension 3:
Disciplinary Core Ideas:
LS1.D Different sense receptors are specialized for particular kinds of information, which may then be processed and integrated by an animal’s brain, with some information stored as memories. Animals are able to use their perceptions and memories to guide their actions. Some responses to information are instinctive—that is, animals’ brains are organized so that they do not have to think about how to respond to certain stimuli (A Framework for K-12 Science Education).
Sample Essential Questions
Sample Essential Questions
Why do animals respond to stimuli? (i.e., to survive).
What are examples of stimuli in an environment that an animal would respond to? (e.g., light, sound, smell, movement, touch)
How do different animals rely on their senses? (ex. How might a snake's eyesight compare to an eagle's? How might a shark's sense of smell compare to an alligator's?)
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
adaptation
camouflage
characteristics
habitat
hibernation
instinct
migration
reproduction/reproduce
species
survival
variation
Students will be able to...
Students will be able to...
Explain - Constructing a cause-and-effect model of a system
Describe how different animals respond to changes in environmental conditions (e.g., light, temperature, danger).
Explain that sensory input, the brain, and behavioral responses are parts of a system that allow animals to engage in appropriate behaviors for survival (e.g., owls are excellent hunters as an owl’s face is shaped like a disk, allowing for sounds to hit the face and funnel to ear holes which is why an owl can hear a mouse on the forest floor).
Describe how information sent to the brain allows experiences and behaviors to be shaped (e.g., a black bear finds unsecured human trash cans an easy source of food, associating humans with food; a coyote that has been chased by a black bear will avoid that area in the future).
Develop and Use Models- Using a model, students summarize relevant information about the surroundings of the natural environment (sounds, light, smell, temperature; the brain receptors, animals’ responses) and describe how information in the environment interacts with animal behaviors (e.g.,the temperature warms and an eastern diamondback rattlesnake comes out of hibernation; a loud noise can make a white-tailed deer run away; some insects can see in infrared light which draws them to certain plants for pollination).
Students can describe components of their model (e.g., information received by each of the senses, information sent to the brain, animals’ responses to information).
Students will know...
Students will know...
Animals have behaviors in response to their environments and these behaviors help them survive (e.g., migration or hibernation helps an animal to stay alive when food is scarce).
Animals use their senses to help them survive.
Animals may respond to the same stimuli (sound, light, temperature, etc.) in different ways.
Step 2: Assessment
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessments
Mini Projects and Investigations
Create and Use a Model
Give students a scenario involving and an animal and a stimuli (ex. A rabbit hears a noise and runs away.).
Draw the parts of the system described in the scenario (e.g., The rabbit may have perked ears).
How do the parts of [organism described in the scenario] work together? (e.g., The rabbit uses its sense of hearing to interpret a sound. The information travels to the brain and signals the rabbit to run away.)
Explain what is happening in the model.
Writing Prompts
Describe a Day in the Life of an Animal:
Choose an animal and write a story from its perspective, describing how it uses its senses throughout the day. Include details on how it gathers information about its surroundings, processes this information, and responds to what it senses.
The Role of Senses in Survival:
Explain why the senses are critical for an animal's survival. Choose a specific sense (sight, hearing, smell, etc.) and discuss how it helps an animal find food, avoid predators, or communicate with others.
Culminating Activity
Develop and Use a Model to Compare
Compare how two different animals respond to similar stimuli (e.g. temperature - reptiles and mammals and internal temperature regulation). Reptiles (lizards, turtles, snakes) are ectotherms, meaning they cannot generate their own body heat but instead must move to a warm/sunny spot to absorb heat from the environment in order to have energy to digest food, etc. Mammals (humans, rabbits, dolphins/whales, bears, etc.) are endotherms, meaning they can generate their own body heat and do not have to warm up in order to digest food, etc. They may be active in colder temperatures than reptiles).
Develop and Use Models-
What animals will you use in the model?
What will the environmental stimuli be?
What senses will the animals use to detect the stimuli?
What are the responses?
How can a model explain/show these components?
How do their senses help them survive in their specific environments?
What are the similarities and differences in how they process and respond to sensory information?
Step 3: Lesson Instructions
Possible Activating Strategies
Possible Activating Strategies
Exploration:
Owl Hearing Experiment:
Materials: Blindfolds, sound-making devices (like small bells or rustling paper), a quiet room.
Procedure:
Blindfold a student and have them sit in the middle of the room.
Another student makes a sound from different locations around the room.
The blindfolded student points to the direction of the sound.
Compare the student’s ability to locate the sound to how owls use their hearing to hunt in the dark.
Discuss the adaptations in an owl's ear structure that enhance their hearing capabilities.
Exploration:
Insect Vision Models:
Materials: Colored cellophane, cardboard tubes, markers, paper.
Procedure:
Create models of insect compound eyes using cardboard tubes and colored cellophane.
Students look through the models to see how the world looks through an insect’s eyes.
Draw comparisons between human vision and insect vision.
Discuss how the unique vision of insects helps them find food, avoid predators, and navigate their environments.
Sensory Exploration (20 minutes):
At the Sight Station, they can observe and discuss the visual stimuli. (Ex. pictures of a habitat)
At the Hearing Station, they can listen to sounds and try to identify them. (Ex. Nature sounds)
At the Smell Station, they can sniff the containers and guess the scents. Avoid strong scents, powders, liquids, creams, or anything students might have an allergy to. Use lightly scented unlit candles or other solid items that are safe to handle.
At the Touch Station, they can feel and describe the textures. Use items such as twigs, leaves, rocks, feathers (store bought), sand paper, etc. for a variety of textures.
Additional Literacy Connections
Teacher Resources
Teacher Resources
Smithsonian Videos showing How Animals Use their senses to communicate
Livebinder Resource (Note: This is an old resource and some of the links no longer work. However, there are some good resource links still available through this Livebinder.)
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