Overview and Background

Animal Adaptations

Students will be tasked with understanding how the environment affects adaptations of animals over a period of time. After learning how adaptations for survival can arise based upon changes in environments, students will be given a simple tinkercad model of "Adam Adaptation" an animal with a simple bod and a simple head. From here they will come up with an environment and imagine what adaptations their animal would need to possess in order to compete in this environment.

Lesson Plan and Activity

Adam Adaptation Environmental Adaptations

Students will research how environments can cause adaptations to organisms in this environment.
The students will watch "Alien Planet" to understand how environments can help develop amazing organisms.
Students will select an environment (desert, ocean, swamp, forest, etc) and research which adaptations are found in organisms competing in these environments.
Students will design (with paper/pencil) a new organism which will have all the adaptations necessary to survive in their chosen environment.
Students will create a list of their adaptations and describe what they are and why their animal has adapted in this way.
Students will take these understandings and begin to adopt the generic "Adam Adaptation" with their selected adaptations of their environment.
Students will then "screencast" their tinkercad product using Screencastify, and explain what their animal is, which environment it was from, and why it has the adaptations it does.
Students will upload this screencast to a Grid on Flipgrid for other students to view.

Materials Needed

Paper/pencil
Tinkercad
Makerbot 3D Printer

Skills Learned

Adaptations
Critical Thinking
Communication

Duration of Lesson

2-4 hours