This activity is a brief introduction to adaptations as the group observes a live organism together. Adaptations are inheritable structures and behaviors that help a group of organisms survive in their habitat. Students start out observing an organisms’ structures, trying to figure which might help it survive in its habitat and which are inheritable. Then, they do the same with behaviors: attempting to figure out which ones are behavioral adaptations. To build understanding of a complex concept like adaptations, students need multiple exposures to it, which is why this activity should be followed by other adaptations-focused activities.

An alternative introduction to the chapter "Adapting and Living Together" - explained with Vamipres! It sits within the Ecology and Environment topic of the virtual school GCSE Biology. Teachers can choose which engagement video is better for their own uses and students.

In this unit of study students learn about adaptations and how they help animals survive. They will apply this knowledge to design new technologies. This unit integrates nine STEM attributes and was developed as part of the South Metro-Salem STEM Partnership's Teacher Leadership Team. Any instructional materials are included within this unit of study.

Learn about how organisms adapt to their habitats. This video is part of The Virtual School's "Adapting and Living Together" chapter within our Ecology and Environment topic.

After learning about and exploring plant and animal adaptations, students research local organisms with interesting adaptations and share findings with their classmates. Students identify adaptations globally by analyzing a documentary.

Educators Guide for this unit:
http://education.eol.org/lesson_plans/2-5_Adaptations_LessonOverview.pdf

Lessons in this unit:
Adaptations Activity 1: Adapting to the Environment
Adaptations Activity 2: Physical Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 3: Behavioral Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 4: Go Adapt!
Adaptations Activity 5: Create a Creature

This lesson will tie into the Nebraska science standards below. Students will learn how to search Worldbook KIDS online to study different animals and plants, as a class and independently. With a teacher’s help, students will then learn about animal and plant adaptations that help them survive in their habitats in order to come up with a solution to a human problem. The standards in bold print are the ones that will be the classroom teacher’s focus, but the librarian’s goal will be to introduce students to Worldbook KIDS as a reference source.It can easily be adapted to be a whole unit. Please let me know if you would like to help/edit this lesson to enhance it!

Students learn about adaptations of the pink river dolphin through concept mapping, and then they compare pink river dolphins with marine dolphins.

An introduction to the chapter "Adapting and Living Together" within the Ecology and Environment topic of the virtual school GCSE Biology.

Finches on the Galapagos Islands have evolved to exploit almost every possible niche. This diagram shows the range of food sources available on the island and the different beak shapes adapted to exploit each of them.

In this lesson, students will participate in classroom discussions and visit a website to learn more about animals and how well (or poorly) theyve adapted to satisfying their needs in their natural habitats. This will help move them toward the goal, in later grades, of understanding ecosystems.The Kratts' Creatures website used in this lesson provides students with a simple, visual means for familiarizing themselves with basic world ecosystems as well as some examples of the animals that occupy them.

It takes a thick skin to withstand the hardships that life has to offer. This collection of images shows a variety of animals, each with a slightly different type of protective covering.

This lesson from Science NetLinks exposes children to a wide range of animals and guides them through observation of animal similarities, differences, and environmental adaptations. This lesson can be used as part of a study of plants and animals. Before doing the lesson, students should know the meanings of the terms: plant, animal, and living.

In this activity, students learn how an animal's sense of hearing is adapted to -- as well as affected by -- its environment. They begin by exploring how a shark's senses enable it to be an efficient predator. Students then compare a shark's senses to those of a land animal of their choice, and discover how each animal's senses are adapted to its particular environment. Next, they focus on the sense of hearing, and a common cause of hearing loss: continual exposure to loud noises. Students learn how a change in the way that an Arctic community hunts -- using rifles instead of harpoons -- has caused widespread hearing loss. Finally, students research noise levels in their environment and conduct a public awareness campaign about noise pollution and the associated hearing loss.

Students create four-legged walking robots and measure how far they travel across different types of surfaces. They design and create "shoes" to add to the robots' feet and observe the effect of their modifications on the net distance traveled across the various surface types. This activity illustrates how the specialized locomotive features of different species help them to survive or thrive in their habitat environments. The activity is best as an enrichment tool that follows a lesson that introduces the concept of biological adaptation to students.

This video segment from Wild Europe: "Wild Arctic" explores the struggle for survival in one of Earth's most extreme environments.

In this presentation, we talk about adaptation and evolution of bacteria. Furthermore, we will discuss how you can work with or against evolution, regarding the treatment of bacteria and biofilms.

This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores honeybee communication and navigation.

Students toss coins to determine what traits a set of mouse parents possess, such as fur color, body size, heat tolerance, and running speed. Then they use coin tossing to determine the traits a mouse pup born to these parents possesses. Then they compare these physical features to features that would be most adaptive in several different environmental conditions. Finally, students consider what would happen to the mouse offspring if those environmental conditions were to change: which mice would be most likely to survive and produce the next generation?

Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.