Zoology

Discuss the similarities between two animals of the same class such as two mammals, two fish, two birds, etc. Talk about what is the same about both animals and what is different about them.

As a class generate one or more questions about zoology, then visit a link from the facts page of Science Trek – Zoology to try to obtain the answer.

Read about an unfamiliar animal such as one from another part of the world. Use library books, science texts, or the Internet to find out about this animal. Select new words and phrases from the text and determine the meaning based on context clues and/or word parts.

Classify and sort animals into different characteristics such as: furry, long or short tails, wings, habitat type, etc. (May use pictures of animals or videos of animals in habitats.)

Using this animal speed chart, create and solve word problems comparing the speed at which animals can run. 

Research and compile information about the speed of animals. Create a graph or chart about the information found there and then convert the measurements from miles per hour to another measurement form such as miles per second or meters per hour. 

All animals need food in order to live and grow. They obtain their food from plants or from other animals.

Young animals are very much, but not exactly like, their parents.

Individuals of the same kind of plant or animal are recognizable as similar but can also vary in many ways.

Examples of patterns could include features animals share.

Adult plants and animals can have young. In many kinds of animals, parents and the offspring themselves engage in behaviors that help the offspring to survive.

Examples of patterns of behaviors could include the signals that offspring make and the responses of the parents.

All organisms have external parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek and take in food.

Animals have body parts that capture and convey different kinds of information needed for growth and survival. Animals respond to these inputs with behaviors that help them survive.

Examples of human problems that can be solved by mimicking plant or animal solutions could include designing protective clothing or equipment by mimicking turtle shells or animal scales; stabilizing structures by mimicking animal tails, keeping out intruders by mimicking animal quills, and detecting intruders by mimicking specialized eyes and ears.

There are many different kinds of living things in any area, and they exist in different places on land and in water.

The emphasis is on the diversity of living things in each of a variety of different habitats.

Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the animals and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.

Many characteristics involve both inheritance and environment. Characteristics result from individuals' interactions with the environment, which can range from diet to learning.

The environment also affects the traits that an organism develops.

For example, a pet dog that is given too much food and little exercise may become overweight.

Many characteristics of animals are inherited from their parents.

Different organisms vary in how they look and function because they have different inherited information.

Patterns are the similarities and differences in traits shared between offspring and their parents.

Being part of a group helps animals obtain food, defend themselves, and cope with changes. Groups may serve different functions and vary dramatically in size.

Reproduction is essential to the continued existence of every kind of organism.

Changes animals go through during their life form a pattern.

Different sense receptors are specialized for particular kinds of information, which may be then processed by the animal's brain. Animals are able to use their perceptions and memories to guide their actions.

Animals have various body systems with specific functions for sustaining life: skeletal, circulatory. respiratory, muscular, digestive, etc.

Examples of structures could include heart, stomach, lung, brain, and skin.

When the environment changes in ways that affect a place's physical characteristics, temperature, or availability of food and water, some animals survive and reproduce, others move to new locations, yet others move into the transformed environment, and some die.

Populations live in a variety of habitats, and change in those habitats affects the organisms living there.

Populations of animals are classified by their characteristics.

An example of cause and effect relationships could be animals that have better camouflage coloration than other animals may be more likely to survive and therefore more likely to leave offspring.

The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life.

Natural selection leads to the predominance of certain traits in a population, and the suppression of others.

Emphasis is on using concepts of natural selection in animals, such as overproduction of offspring, passage of time, variation in a population, selection of favorable traits, and heritability of traits.

Scientific genus and species level names indicate a degree of relationship.

Emphasis is on inferring general patterns of relatedness among structures of different organisms by comparing diagrams, pictures, specimens, or fossils.

In multicellular organisms, the body is a system of multiple interacting subsystems. These subsystems are groups of cells that work together to form tissues and organs that are specialized for particular body functions.

Examples could include the interaction of subsystems within a system and the normal functioning of those systems.