The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Build a Habitat and Animal Lesson 3 of 4

Build a Habitat and Animal Lesson 3 of 4

A 3rd grade STEM lesson

Linda Slade

2/25/23

Notes for teachers

• Students have researched habitats and animal adaptations in the first two lessons. Then, they created an animal to survive in a specific habitat. Now, they will actually build the animal and the habitat.
• This lesson is 3 out of 3 in this unit.
• *Links to lessons in this series are in the speaker notes below.

List of Materials

• I have a makerspace at my school. I allow students to use a variety of recycled materials: beads, shoe boxes, empty water bottles, soda bottles, toilet paper tubes, construction paper, bottle caps, paint, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, glue, and tape.
• Students usually have more creative ideas than I do, and I encourage them to think outside the box to get their habitat and animal to look the way they want. Sometimes they draw the habitat and only build the animal.
• I usually require the habitat and the animal to have a moving part.

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Standards

3.L1U1.5 Develop and use models to explain that plants and animals (including humans) have internal and external structures that serve various functions that aid in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.

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Science and Engineering Practices:

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• ask questions and define problems
• analyze and interpret data
• obtain, evaluate and communicate information

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Standards

Art Standard: Anchor Standard 10: connecting

10. Synthesize and Relate Knowledge and Personal Experiences to Make Art a. Develop a work of art based on observations of surroundings.

Objectives:

Students will create a model of an existing habitat and build a 3-D representation of the animal they invented.

Student models will represent the adaptations animals will need to survive in the given habitat.

Agenda (60-120 minutes)

60-120 Minutes

Make a 3D Model of the habitat and animal they created. I usually limit the size to a shoe box.

I usually split the time over a few class periods, because some groups love to add a lot of detail to their models.

I like to have students draw their design and animal first, and then find materials to make a 3D model.

I let them build and provide items from my Makerspace. I encourage them to use their imagination.

I require my students to have a moving part on their animal and in their habitat.

Intro

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Students will discuss with a partner important adaptations that animals use to survive in a variety of habitats with a partner. They will talk about the adaptations that their made up animal has to survive in the habitat.

Hands-on Activity Instructions

Student Requirements and Constraints

• Students can work in a group or individually. I have done it individually and with groups up to 4 depending on time.
• Students use materials from the makerspace to build a habitat and animal. I will put limitations on the amount of items students can use depending on what I have in my makerspace.
• I typically require at least one moving part on the animal and in the habitat.
• This lesson can take several class periods, or can be pretty quick. I encourage students to use a combination of drawing and 3-D animals they create.

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• Draw a diagram of the model you will be making.
• Create a model of an ecosystem with a moving part and an animal with a moving part.
• You can use a combination of drawings and build different parts of the habitat.
• At least one animal must be built and have a moving part using supplies from the makerspace.
• The habitat can be no bigger than 12 in x 12 in x 24 in.

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Assessment

I monitor the progress of the dioramas as students work on them. I try to ask leading questions to have them think about realistic problems that they may have not addressed.

At the end of the project, I would use a rubric to score their work. There is an example of a rubric on the next slide.

Example Rubric

Differentiation

Students could use existing pictures from magazines or the internet.

Students could be buddied up to complete the project.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

You can give the student a bead that changes color in the sun. They must provide protection from the elements and test it in the sun. The goal is to keep the bead on the animal from changing colors.

I have used these: https://www.amazon.com/INSPIRELLE-Luminous-Changing-Reactive-Bracelets/dp/B09C5FNQL4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3FRWDONPXFXA&keywords=color+changing+beads+sunlight&qid=1678931968&sprefix=color+changing+beads%2Caps%2C250&sr=8-3

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