Polar bears and their adaptations

In this introductory activity, students will be introduced to the concept of adaptation by exploring how a polar bear's body adapts to survive in the harsh environment in which it lives.

A lesson plan for grade 4 English Language Arts and Science

By Heather Spradling

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• Get a first-hand look at how animal groups adapt to their environments.
• Have an understanding of how a polar bear can withstand the extremely cold environment in which it lives.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

30 minutes

Materials/resources

• small cooler
• ice water
• shortening
• two medium zip lock bags
• thick rubber band
• book: Polar Bears, by Gail Gibbons

Pre-activities

• Students will need to be familiar with what the word “adaptations” means. The teacher will want to show pictures of several animals that have specific adaptations to their environment and ask the students to name them.
• Students will also need to know the Arctic environment and conditions in which polar bears live.
• Provide students with a research question: How do polar bears survive in the harsh Arctic environment? Make a list of student hypotheses: for example, they have long fur, they are warm-blooded, they hibernate, they are fat.
• Tell students that there are two different ways to find out the answer to their research question: to look for it in books or on the internet, or to do an experiment.

Activities

1. Fill a ziplock bag about half full with shortening. This will represent fat. Pass out bags of shortening to pairs of students.
2. Take the second ziplock bag and turn it inside out.
3. With the second bag turned inside out, place it inside the bag with the shortening.
4. Because the bag is inside out, it will zip into the other bag.
5. Use your hand to spread out the Crisco in the bag evenly.
6. Put a rubber band where the two bags zip to serve as elastic.
7. You will now be able to place your hand inside the ziplock bag like a glove without getting any shortening on it.
8. With the cooler full of ice water ready, place your hand without the shortening glove in the cooler. (After a few seconds the children will want to remove their hand because of the cold.) Next, have them place the Crisco glove in the water. The students should notice how warm it remains. They should hardly notice any cold.
9. Have students place both hands in the water and ask them to compare the difference.
10. Have students write an explanation of their experiment. In their explanation, they should be sure to:
    • Describe the experiment. Include a list of materials they used.
    • Describe the results of their experiment. Explain which hand was warmer. Then explain why they think that hand was warmer.
    • Now explain why they think this might help polar bears adapt to an Arctic environment.

Assessment

Student’s written description of their experiment and their explanation of their results should be assessed according to the writing rubric.