Adaptations Skit or Video Activity

Introduction

During our discussion on the first day of this lesson, we determined that all living organisms exhibit varying capabilities to survive during changing environmental conditions. These abilities to survive, or adaptations, enable an organism to obtain sufficient resources so that they might survive long enough to reproduce. Adaptations fall into the following three categories:

You were then allowed to come up with a list of the possible ways in which marine organisms might adapt within these three categories. Your task is to now research those adaptations and to produce a skit or a video to teach the class about your assigned adaptations.

Materials

Video camera Library/Internet resources

The possibilities are endless!!

Procedure

Divide into groups of four and determine your assigned organism adaptations. Begin to do research on your topics using your text and then by going to the library or to the Internet. Continue to do research on your own out of class. Make sure to address:

On the second day, begin to brainstorm as a group as to how you will present your material. Be fun, creative and original in your ideas! Turn in a rough outline to the teacher by the end of the hour to have your idea approved.

• You have two more class periods (and the weekend) to write and produce your skit or video. On Monday, you will present your work to the class, including a ONE PAGE typed handout summarizing your information.

Production requirements

Oral Presentations Evaluation Standards

(Oral reports/Skits/Videos)

PRESENTATION CONTENT, METHOD USED/VISUAL AIDE

 

Score 0 through 5 for each category

Score 0 through 5 for participation (from teacher observations)

Add total (out of a possible 20)

Multiply score times 2 for final grade (out of a possible 40)

Mammalian Adaptations to Diving

Introduction

Through our discussions and your skits or videos, we have learned that marine organisms employ a large number of different ways to be able to accommodate their environment in order to survive and to reproduce. One little understood area of adaptations applies to those of diving mammals. For example, Weddell seals are known to dive to 600m and remain submerged for over an hour. Northern elephant seals have been shown to surpass both the depth and duration limits of Weddell seals, and sperm whales hunt for giant squid at depths greater than 1000m for hours at a time. How do these organisms survive without breathing for such a long period of time and at such pressurized depths?

Materials

Pool complex with indoor (warm) and outdoor (cool) pools of varying depths

Stopwatches

Weight belts or sand bags

Tape measure

Procedure

• In a large group as a class, discuss the introduction paragraph and come up with a list on the board of the problems marine mammals might encounter when they dive for long periods of time at deep depths.
• Still as a large group, theorize as to what adaptations marine mammals might possess in order to overcome these problems.
• In your lab group, pick one of the problems and/or theories to solve using you as a "marine mammal" test subject. Come up with a hypothesis about mammalian diving adaptations.
• Design and carry out an experiment that will support or contradict your hypothesis. Write out the specific steps to a controlled experiment that we will perform on a pool field trip the next class period. (Provide your own stop watches and weight belts if possible). Have the experimental design approved before the end of class.
  
• You must fulfill the following requirements in a paper (to be turned in by each individual):



1. Present the problem and hypothesis.
2. The approved procedure, exactly as you did it on the field trip
3. Organize the data you collect into tables and the observations you make into coherent and concise descriptions. Graph your results. Make sure to label your graphs and tables.
4. Draw conclusions and summarize how marine mammals might adapt to deep, long diving.

• You will share your experiment, its results and conclusions with the rest of the class before the teacher lectures on mammalian diving and other adaptations.

• You will be evaluated according to the usual grading scale used for writing lab reports. Refer frequently to that grading scale to make sure that you are meeting the expectations.

Lab Reports Evaluation Standards

 

During this course, you are expected to keep an up-to-date lab notebook that reports and summarizes your findings for each lab session. You must provide a 9 ½" x 6" spiral. The purpose of this book is to help you organize and to keep track of all results and conclusions as we work. Writing down scientific observations helps to make you think and analyze about what you are working on. Your notebook will be turned in and graded after each lab session.

Reporting Rules

1) Each lab must be started on a new, clean page. Write on one side of the paper only.

2) When making observations, write down exactly what YOU see. Use adjectives to make accurate and useful descriptions. You may discuss observations among your lab partners before you write them down.

3) BE NEAT! Organize your information into sections. (See reporting format below). Don't get chemicals or water on your book. Use legible handwriting. DON'T scribble sketches--go for detail.

4) Use third person only. (NO me, we, you, I, us…)

5) Use the following format to formally report your hypothesis, procedure, data and conclusions.

Reporting Format

1) Title each new lab.

2) Each lab is divided into the following sections. Label each section as you go and write in paragraph style" the information required for each part.

A) PURPOSE:

What is the lab all about? What are the goals of the lab and why are they important? What will it help you to understand? What are you to be looking for? What is the hypothesis? What predictions did you make from that hypothesis?

B) PROCEDURE:

Summarize the experimental procedure you used, being specific to amounts used and to what types of observations were made. (If someone wanted to repeat your work, could they do it exactly as you did?)

C) DATA:

Organize data into labeled tables and graphs. Neatly make any required sketches, making sure to label when required. (Colored pencils are highly recommended). Written observations belong here also.

D) CONCLUSIONS:

Do your results confirm or contradict your hypothesis? Why or why not? How could you redo the experiment to make it better or reword the hypothesis? Also answer any required questions that the teacher has assigned.

3) Try to go above and beyond what is required above in order to get an "A+" grade. Don't try to just get away with the bare minimum. (Don’t try to add a bunch of nonsense filler just to get your lab to be longer. "Baloney" does not impress me—conciseness does). You will be assigned subjective "quality points" by the teacher for this.

Grading

Organization (5 points total)

• title (1 pt.)
• organized into required sections (1 pt.)
• use of third person only (up to 3 pts)

Purpose (10 points total)

• gave an idea of what lab is about (2 pts.)
• addressed goals of lab (2 pts.)
• said why goals were important (2 pts.)
• gave hypothesis (2 pts.)
• gave predictions (2 pts.)

Procedure (5 points total)

• gave specific step-by-step instructions (2 pts.)
• gave amounts used (2 pts.)
• told what to observe and/or measure (1 pt.)

Data (10 points total)

• data organized into labeled table (3 pts.)
• data plotted correctly on to labeled graph (3 pts.)
• detailed observations made, including sketches (3 pts.)
• correct units are used (1 pt.)

Conclusion (15 points total)

• addressed hypothesis (up to 5 pts.)
• gave alternate hypothesis/proposal to lab (up to 5 pts.)
• answered teacher questions (up to 5 pts.)

Quality Points (up to 5 points extra credit)

• went above and beyond the call of duty
• tables and graphs unusually done (typed, colored, etc.)
• extra diagrams, sketches

The grade is out of a possible 45 points.