A. Plants and animals, including humans, interact with and depend upon each other and their environment to satisfy their basic needs.
B. Both human activities and natural events can have major impacts on the environment.
C. Energy flows from the sun through producers to consumers.
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STEM Lessons - Model Eliciting Activity
In this Model-Eliciting activity (MEA), students will get a request from a client asking them to pick the best new breed for hunting moles.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
Students will explore how animal adaptations and habitats are related when extraterrestrials from an Earth-like planet send the Earth a gift of animals from their planet and the animals must be placed in a zoo. Students will use the characteristics of the animals to figure out the habitat the animals are best adapted to.
In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will use real-world problem-solving skills and collaborative skills to partner with a local university in its efforts to raise awareness to help protect and restore the Florida Panther's habitat. The Florida panther is Florida's official state animal.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will be presented a non-profit group that helps start school gardens. This client is looking to switch to a tomato seed that is adapted to increased moisture in the soil due to precipitation and is versatile and great tasting. The engineering team will examine the seeds presented and develop a procedural method to rank the seeds based on the client's needs. The engineering team will reach a decision as to the best choice of seed for the client.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
Original Student Tutorials Science - Grades K-8
Learn how adaptations can help animals survive in their environments in this interactive tutorial.
Student Resources
Original Student Tutorials
Explore the major climate zones on Earth and learn about the related weather patterns with this interactive research page.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how adaptations can help animals survive in their environments in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Educational Game
Students have an opportunity to discover plants from around the world that are housed at the New York Botanical Gardens. Students learn about the kinds of plants and then try seven different Plant Challenges where they show their knowledge about plant leaves, plants we eat, plants we use in our lives, how plants reproduce, how plants have evolved, plants and pollinators and plants in specific biomes.
Type: Educational Game
Image/Photograph
This website uses images of many insects to illustrate various forms of coloration or patterning for camouflage, mating, communication, mimicry, and other purposes. Examples for entomological use include walking sticks, katydids, moths, ambush bugs, and many others.
Type: Image/Photograph
Presentation/Slideshow
This is an accessible, easy-to-read book about some of the adaptations animals make in order to survive and thrive. It can be downloaded in Power Point, Impress, and Flash formats. For struggling or non-readers the book can be read aloud in a variety of voices. All of the book on the Tarheel Reader site can be used with an Intellikeys keyboard and a custom overlay, a touch screen, and up to three switches. The text and background colors can be modified for students with visual impairments.
Type: Presentation/Slideshow
Text Resource
This is an informational resource for teachers and students. It contains descriptions and pictures of different biomes, examples of some of the plants that live there, and some of the adaptations those plants have. This resource only covers plant adaptation not animals.
Type: Text Resource
Video/Audio/Animations
Cocos Island, a remote volcanic summit in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, serves as a beacon for hungry predators, including thousands of hammerhead sharks that travel here each year in search of prey. This video segment from NOVA: "Island of Sharks" depicts some of the common predator-prey interactions that take place in the nutrient-rich waters surrounding the island and focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of one behavioral adaptation common among prey fishes: schooling.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
This video segment from NOVA: "A Desert Place" details the behaviors and habitats of some of the Sonoran Desert's creatures, focusing on the adaptations they use to survive in one of the most extreme environments in the world.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
This video segment from ZOOM compares and contrasts some of the more interesting climatic and ecological characteristics of the Death Valley desert with those found in the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. Adapatations used by plants and animals in these climates are discussed and further highlighted in the background essay.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
The beaver is often referred to as nature's own engineer. This video segment focuses on the beaver's ability to transform its environment to suit itself. The beaver does so with an innate ability to construct dams -- a feat no creature, save humans, is able to achieve.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
This video segment explores the world of camouflage, including some of the methods and benefits of this important evolutionary strategy. Footage from NOVA: "Animal Impostors."
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
Parent Resources
Presentation/Slideshow
This is an accessible, easy-to-read book about some of the adaptations animals make in order to survive and thrive. It can be downloaded in Power Point, Impress, and Flash formats. For struggling or non-readers the book can be read aloud in a variety of voices. All of the book on the Tarheel Reader site can be used with an Intellikeys keyboard and a custom overlay, a touch screen, and up to three switches. The text and background colors can be modified for students with visual impairments.
Type: Presentation/Slideshow
Teaching Ideas
In this hands-on and web interactive design challenge, students will learn about cephalopod camouflage techniques and how this animal adaptation helps it to survive. Students explore how cephalopods are able to rapidly change color by designing a model pigment sac from basic materials.
Type: Teaching Idea
In this video, students will learn from a researcher about adaptations algae have developed to enable them to withstand water forces in their habitat.
Type: Teaching Idea
Text Resource
This is an informational resource for teachers and students. It contains descriptions and pictures of different biomes, examples of some of the plants that live there, and some of the adaptations those plants have. This resource only covers plant adaptation not animals.
Type: Text Resource