Script: Welcome back to Ingenia! Last time, you helped us learn about safety signals and created some new safety signals we can use to keep the people of Ingenia safe. Thank you!
Did you know that animals use signals to communicate about safety, too? Think about it, porcupines are covered in quills. Why? [wait for student response] To send a signal and protect them from other animals that may try to attack or harm them. And snakes often use colors to signal that they are poisonous if eaten by another animal. What other animal signals can you think of? [wait for student response].
Today, you’ll be helping us learn about and design signals inspired by animals. As an Animal Behaviorist, you’ll study how different animals behave and use signals to protect themselves and others. Animal Behaviorists study how animals behave to help people better understand the needs and wants of the animals we interact with. There is a lot we can learn from animals. Can you help? Great! We can’t wait to try out some of the animal-inspired signals you design!
Engage students in the game Simon Says. Explain to students how this game uses signals they can hear, or auditory signals.
*For further instructions and ideas for variations or modifications, see the Playworks webpage.
Students will learn about different ways animals signal or hide to protect themselves and others from danger.
Materials: for the class
15 min Script:
Just like people, animals have ways to protect themselves and others from danger.
Animals use many different methods to keep themselves safe. One way they do this is through color. [display animal image slides 5-7: octopus, chameleon; poison dart frog]
These animals all use bright colors and patterns to scare away dangerous predators or signal that they are poisonous.
Another way animals stay safe is to hide by blending into the environment around them. This is called camouflage. [display animal image slides 8-10: decorator crab; great horned owl; pepper moth]
Some animals have both of those abilities. They can change their color to either warn off predators or blend in. [display animal images 11-12: octopus; oakleaf butterfly]
Other animals have parts that will harm a predator. [display animal images 9-11: porcupine; elephant; deer]
Animals have a lot of different ways to warn off danger or hide from it.
5 min Watch: Masters of Disguise: Masters of Disguise | PBS LearningMedia (© 2003 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved.)
5 min Discuss: Lead a group discussion about camouflage:
5 min Watch: Warning Colors in the Animal Kingdom: Warning Colors in the Animal World (https://www.amnh.org/)
5 min Discuss: Lead a group discussion about warning coloration:
Students will use the examples of signals and camouflage learned in the previous section as inspiration as they replicate an animal design.
5 min Script: Now that we’ve learned about some ways animals signal and protect themselves from danger, you are going to select an animal design to replicate. First, you’ll select the animal whose signal you’d like to create. Then, you’ll use any of the materials here (display materials) to reproduce that animal design.
5 min Demonstrate how students will replicate the design and not the whole animal. It might be helpful to have them think of how cameras can zoom in to look at one part of a larger image. They will be reproducing one part of the animal’s warning signal. Select an animal yourself and do a quick sketch/craft to model how.
25 min Dismiss students to reproduce an animal design of their choice.
5 min Gather students together with their animal design reproductions. Have students turn and talk using the following questions:
5 min Script: We’ve been learning a lot about how animals in the wild use signals to protect themselves from danger, but what about the animals we have at home? Think about the pet cats, dogs, lizards, fish, birds, and more that people keep as pets. What behaviors do they do to signal to their owners about things they like or dislike? [wait for student response: twitching tail, hissing, barking, purring, hiding, etc.] When you are around pets, how do you behave to help make them comfortable? [wait for student response]. Let’s hear from a veterinarian who uses what she knows about animal behavior to get animals to trust her:
5 min Watch: CareerGirls profile - Araba Oglesby
Discuss:
Tip: If time allows, explore some of the other videos in Araba Oglesby’s profile with your students.
Students can observe a live animal or a video of an animal at home. Have them observe closely for ways the animal might be signaling how it feels using its behavior or coloration. Encourage families to discuss animal behavior and signals with their children. Students can write and draw about one animal they observed and a signal or signals that animal uses.
