Lesson One: Introduction To The Various Types Of Vertebrates

This lesson, designed for a fifth-grade science class, will be used as an introduction to the world of vertebrates, and will be used to get children's knowledge activated for their main science project: A children's book which accurately depicts one or more classes of animals, along with their distinguishing characteristics. This lesson should not only help students remember the facts themselves, but should also aid students in figuring out what type of facts need to go into their books. In other words, students will know what types of information to look for when researching for their work. By the time this lesson is taught, the students will already have been given the assignment and the criteria which go along with it, and they have also gotten time to browse books of interest. This lesson, therefore, is mainly to give students direction in finding out what exactly they would like to cover in their books.

Objectives:

• Given a classroom discussion, students will demonstrate knowledge about different classes of animals by participating in the class conversation.
• Students will also demonstrate understanding of the distinguishing factors of various animal types by including those characteristics in their children's book projects.

Materials:

• Large butcher paper
• bright markers,
• an easel or stand.

Procedure:

The teacher will lead the students into a general discussion about the basic information people must have if they are reading a factual book about animals. Using student ideas, the teacher will construct a concept map (start with the word "ANIMALS (VERTEBRATES)" in the middle and group characteristics (i.e., senses, distinguishing characteristics, or exceptions to the rule).

It is important to remember that this first concept map only deals with general types of information on vertebrates, not actual information on specific classes of vertebrates. If students offer comments like, "Mammals feed their young," the teacher can encourage students to save their thoughts until the class discusses that particular vertebrate. Another option is to press the student further to find out what that fact fits under generally. (Raising young? Distinguishing features?)

Once the first map has been drawn, the teacher can put it to the side where it is still seen, and move on to discussing the five types of vertebrates. The class will construct concept maps of each class using the format of the first, more general one which they put together. (The teacher will start out with the type of animal circled in the middle and visually keep the same format of the first map. For example, if the "ANIMAL" concept map shows "exceptions to the rule" in the upper right hand corner, then the "BIRDS" concept map will list examples like "penguins and ostriches" in that same area.)

Evaluation:

Lesson Two: Vertebrate Game

Objectives:

• Given an animal guessing game, students will be able to identify both classes and various species of animals on the basis of distinguishing characteristics.

Materials:

• A list of various species of animals (a stack of about 20 3x5 cards which children select).

Procedure:

The teacher will model the game first. For example if the teacher is a "cat," then she will start off by saying, "I am warm blooded and I have hair." The students should be able to guess at that point that the teacher is a "mammal." At that point, the teacher may go on to more specific information. "I am cute and furry, and I like to chase mice."

The idea is to go from general to specific, so it is important that the students only give information about the animal type (reptile, mammal) first. Once the class has gotten the first part right, then the student may go on with more specific information about the animal. This rule is likely to be the most confusing for the students, so it is important that the teacher makes a clear distinction between describing the CLASS of the animal, and the features of the animal itself.

For the flow of the game, it is best to mix up the animal cards so that the different types are in the pile at random. It is advisable, however, to go from easier animals to more difficult ones. (For example, "dog" would go before "kiwi.")

Evaluation:

While the class is guessing, the teacher will not only look for correct answers, but will see if students can defend their guesses. (Ex., telling children, "Good guess. Can you tell me why?")

Lesson Three: Personification-An Extension Into Language Arts

Objectives:

• Given a class discussion, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of personification as the literary device by which authors assign human attributes to animals by explaining what it is.
• Given a story to read, the students will also demonstrate understanding of personification by pointing out places where the device is used, and by explaining how its use enhances literature.
• Given their own writing, the students will demonstrate understanding of personification by editing their stories to include personified animals in them.

Materials:

• A copy of the book Flossie and the Fox, by Patricia McKissack.

Procedure:

After eliciting student response, the teacher will introduce Flossie and the Fox to the students. Before reading it, the teacher should explain what her working definition of personification is. (A literary device by which authors assign human attributes to animals.) After providing a working definition of personification, the teacher will talk about the book. In order to prepare the students fully for listening to the book, the teacher should prompt the students as to what they should be looking for, and questions they can ask themselves to look for the use of personification.

For example, the teacher can say, "Can animals speak? Do four-legged animals walk like humans? You will want to look for any instances where animals do things that only humans can do."

Now that the teacher has prepared the students for how they will listen to the story, she can begin reading the book.

During the book, the teacher will want to ask questions like, "Would a fox really smile? Can a fox really talk or walk like that? What about the cat? Is she personified in the text?"

After reading the book, the teacher should go over it with the students, asking questions like, "Where did you see the author using personification?" Have students point out events or phrases where they could tell the author used personification.

Evaluation:

The teacher will also look to see that students have gone back to their writing journals and added personification to at least one of their stories.

Lesson Four: Animal Surveys-An Extension Into Mathematics

The potential of this lesson is amazing, as there are so many issues which are raised by the question of opinion surveys. The class can take this discussion in any direction; students might discuss how some surveys seem distorted or biased, or how the population sampled might affect the outcome of the survey. In addition, they might discuss how even the framing of the question or response pattern, or the method of interviewing will affect response. All of these topics are developmentally appropriate; I have just chosen one evaluation pattern here for the teacher to follow. It was also a good way to combine the subject of "vertebrates" here so that the students could be under the impression that they would gather factual knowledge.

Objectives:

• Students will demonstrate understanding of interviewing as a research tool by interviewing classmates to gather data.
• Students will demonstrate understanding of percent by calculating the statistics of their responses and explaining them to the class.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of computer database programs by graphing the results they got on the computer.
• Students will demonstrate evaluation of interviewing as a research tool by critically looking at what types of information surveys provide.

Materials:

• paper and pencils
• a procedure handout
• a computer with a database-graphing program.

Procedure:

The teacher will then explain that the class will be conducting surveys on various types of vertebrates. To model the concept, the teacher can informally interview a few children with the question, "What do you think of snakes?" Students will be able to respond to various one-word responses that the teacher has provided, such as gross, cool, slimy, scary or interesting. After getting student response, the teacher will compile the information on the board and calculate percentages of how many students said what.

After the teacher models the research design, the students divide up into groups to develop a topic about animals to gather data on, surveying class members, and compiling the data.

The teacher should hand out and read the following procedure:

1. The group should come up with a question that they can ask class members. The question should be provided with a list of one-word responses that cover a good range of possible responses.
2. The students need to interview at least 20 people for their data, and should keep a tally of how many people say each response.
3. Once the group has compiled all of its data, the students will then calculate percent response by category. Each member of the group should have a part in doing the calculations.
4. After the students have calculated their statistics, they will enter them in on a computer database, which will graph their results for them in a pie chart.

Teacher should work with class to achieve the understanding that although opinion surveys are a good way to find out what people think, there are better ways of getting factual data on animals, such as looking in the encyclopedia or interviewing someone who works with animals.

Evaluation: