Lesson Plan: Adaptation: Investigations
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to explain and predict the survival advantage of being well adapted to eating the available food in a habitat and investigating this on birds’ beaks.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- explain that the animals best adapted to eating the available food in a habitat will have a survival advantage,
- name, identify, and describe different types of bird beaks,
- describe an experiment to test how different beaks are adapted to picking up different foods,
- make a prediction regarding which beak type is best adapted for which food,
- record data regarding the numbers of different foods picked up by each beak type in a table,
- identify the least and best adapted beak from the data,
- write a conclusion based on the data regarding which beak types are best adapted to which foods,
- apply the engineering design process to build a better-adapted bird's beak.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the parts of a bird,
- the use of beaks for eating,
- what an adaptation is,
- animal adaptations.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- the specific foods eaten by birds with each beak type.
