Summary
This lesson guides students in using evidence and scientific reasoning to explain how adaptations impact the survival and reproduction of different species. Students determine which animals are best-suited to survive in various environments, analyze the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown on bird populations, and explore a variety of species' adaptations. To conclude the lesson, students create a model of a plant species, determine its characteristics, and examine how specialized structures influence an organism's ability to survive. Students then compare the advantages and disadvantages of their plants' specialized characteristics in different environments.
Essential Question(s)
How do specialized characteristics influence the growth and survival of organisms in their environments?
Learning Objectives
Explain how environmental influences affect the growth and reproduction of organisms
Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of specialized characteristics
Communicate how specialized structures enhance reproductive success in plants and animals of particular environments.
Snapshot
Engage
Students examine images of animals in various environments and determine whether or not each animal is placed in its preferred environment.
Explore
Students analyze the causes and effects of environmental factors’ impact on a species using the real-world example of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster’s impact on local bird populations.
Explain
Students watch a video about how adaptations increase an organism’s survival.
Extend
Students create a model of a plant species, including its different characteristics, and determine whether it would be able to survive in various environments.
Evaluate
Students summarize, compare, contrast, and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of specialized characteristics in specific environments.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Justified True or False handout (attached; one per student)
Chernobyl Card Sort handout (attached; one per 3–4 students)
Biomes and Animal Adaptations handout (attached; one per student)
The Great Plant Discovery handout (attached; one per student)
Plant vs. Biome handout (attached; one per student)
Caption This handout (optional; attached; one per student)
I Think, We Think handout (attached; one per student)
Easel paper (one paper per group)
Markers (one set per group)
Paper clips for envelopes for organizing the Card Sort cards
Preparation
Card Sort Preparation
Print one set of the attached Chernobyl Card Sort per each group of 3–4 students before the lesson. Cut the cards apart and store each set in an envelope or plastic bag for ease of distribution and future use. Consider printing the cards on cardstock or heavy paper for durability.
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Introduce the lesson using the attached Lesson Slides. Display slide 3 and read aloud the essential question, “How do specialized characteristics influence the growth and survival of organisms in their environments?” Display slide 4 to go over the lesson objectives. Review these slides with students to the extent you feel necessary.
Move to slide 5 and give each student one copy of the attached Justified True or False handout. Introduce the Justified True or False strategy.
Share with students that they should determine if the animals on each of the following slides belong in the environment they are pictured in. On their handouts, students should identify the animal and environment in the image, then determine whether the resulting statement is true or false. Students should justify their choice in complete sentences on the handout.
Display slide 6 and allow students a few minutes to complete the process for the first image. Repeat this process for slides 7–10. The animals and environments listed on the slides include:
Slide 6: penguin, rainforest
Slide 7: chimpanzee, Arctic
Slide 8: dolphin, ocean
Slide 9: walrus, grassland
Slide 10: camel, desert
After students have completed their responses individually, have them find an Elbow Partner and discuss their responses. Invite students to share out their responses. Then, review the correct responses on slides 11–15.
Explore
15 Minute(s)
Transition through slides 16–17 to introduce the events of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Display slide 18 to share an image of the Zone of Alienation. Share that this zone was a restricted, 30-kilometer area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that became largely uninhabitable due to dangerous radiation levels following the nuclear disaster.
Organize students into groups of 3–4 and give each group one copy of prepared Chernobyl Card Sort sets. Tell students not to open their set until you finish sharing the procedures for the activity.
Display slide 19 and introduce the Card Sort strategy. Tell students that the cards represent a simplified version of the environmental event that occurred in the area surrounding the Chernobyl plant. Share that this event impacted migrating birds that lived in that area. Ask students to organize the cards into two categories: characteristics of the bird population before the meltdown and characteristics of the bird population after the meltdown.
Allow students time to organize their cards. Transition through slides 20–23 to show students to correct card organization.
Display slide 24 and encourage students to reflect on the following prompts:
How did you decide the placement of the cards?
Because birds migrate, how do you think migrating birds from Chernobyl affected other bird populations?
Can environmental factors impact a population? How do you know?
Invite students to share out their thoughts and facilitate a whole-class discussion.
Explain
10 Minute(s)
Display slide 25 and give each student one copy of the attached Biomes and Animal Adaptations handout. Tell students that as they watch the video Biomes and Animal Adaptations, they should respond to the following three questions on the handout:
How do environmental factors affect where a species can survive?
What is an example from the video of a specialized characteristic that increases an organism’s change of survival?
Describe an example of a specialized characteristic that that was not shown in the video.
Play the video on slide 26 and have students quietly respond to the questions on the handout. After the video, allow students a moment to finish their responses, then invite volunteers to share out.
Extend
30 Minute(s)
Organize students into groups of four. Display slide 27 and give each student one copy of the attached The Great Plant Discovery handout. Inform students that they should act as a team of botanists who have encountered a new species of plant. Ask students to use the handout to determine the characteristics of their plants.
Give each group one sheet of easel paper. Tell students that they should add the name of their plant, a drawing, and label the characteristics of their plant to the paper.
Allow students time to complete their posters then have students display them around the room. Invite each group to share the characteristics of their plant with the whole class.
Leave the posters on display and pass out one copy of the attached Plant vs. Biome handout to each student. Display slide 28 and have students write the type of environment displayed on the slide in the left column of the handout. Then, have student groups discuss which group’s plant would best survive in this type of environment. Have them record the result of their discussion in the middle column of the handout along with a justification of their choice in the right column.
Repeat this process for slides 29–32.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Move to slide 33 and introduce the I Think / We Think strategy. Give each student one copy of the attached I Think, We Think handout. Have students first record their individual responses to the following questions on the slide in the left column of the handout:
How do the specialized characteristics of your organism influence its growth and survival in the shown environments?
What makes an organism successful?
Choose an environment your species wouldn’t normally survive in. What mutation would your organism have to develop for it to survive in that environment?
After students have individually responded to each question, display slide 34 and organize students into pairs. Start the 3-minute timer. Have pairs discuss their responses to the questions with each other and record their common responses in the right column. If time permits, invite each pair to share out their responses.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Caption this. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/82
K20 Center. (n.d.). Card sort. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/147
K20 Center. (n.d.). Elbow partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/116
K20 Center. (n.d.). I think / we think. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/141
K20 Center. (n.d.). Justified true or false. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/174
K20 Center. (2021, September 21). K20 Center 3 minute timer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISP02KPau0
Natural User Interface Technologies (NUITEQ) Chorus Educational K–12 Content. (2023, April 25). Biomes and animal adaptations [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImQz1dVscR0&t=194s