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Activity 3
Adaptations
Students learn about the diversity of adaptations and their
importance for survival.
Activity available in PDF format
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Unit:
Fossils in Time
Guiding Questions:
What are adaptations?
What is diversity? How has life evolved on earth? How do
we classify life on earth?
Critical Content:
Adaptations are
critical to the survival of life on earth. Different
organisms have different adaptations, leading to diversity.
We use adaptations to classify life forms.
Grades: 4-8
Duration:
60
minutes
Group size:
individuals or in
groups of 2
Setting: classroom
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Before
You Begin: Students
should read
Hadrosaurs.
If the readings are too
difficult for younger students, explain the material to the class.
Background: Fossils help us to learn about
the adaptations of animals that have long since gone extinct.
By examining their adaptations, we can learn more about the
diversity of life and what the earth once looked like.
In this lesson,
students will learn about adaptations, what kinds of conclusions you
can draw from them, and how the diverse life forms are classified
using these adaptations.
Materials:
Hadrosaurs
Adaptations
Worksheet
Vocabulary:
-
Adaptations
Physical adaptation
Behavioral adaptation
Diversity
Evolution
Classification
Extinction
Procedures:
1. Students
split into groups of one or more.
2. Each
student or group should complete the Adaptations worksheet on
hadrosaurs
3. As
a class, review the Discussion Questions.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
List all of the structural adaptations the students wrote down.
How many different adaptations did they come up with. How did
their answers vary for how these adaptations helped them to survive?
2.
Compare the different answers to how the behavioral adaptations
helped the hadrosaurs to survive.
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