|
Overview: Children
read the book How to Hide a Butterfly and participate in three
simulations: Missing Moth, Hide a Butterfly, and Birds and Worms
in which they observe and discuss the effects of camouflage.
Booklink: How to Hide a Butterfly by
Ruth Heller, Grosset and Dunlap, Publishers, 1992. ISBN
0-448-40477-X
Science and Math Activity Link: There
are three activities: 1) children observe a newspaper with
colored moths and count and record the colors and numbers of
each, 2) children cut out white paper butterfly shapes,
camouflage them with color, hide them from predators in the
classroom, count the number of predators and prey, and tally the
number of moths found by predators, and 3) children form 2 bird
flocks, go outdoors to catch make-believe “worms”, collect data
about the number of “worms” found of each color, graph the
“worms” by color on a white background (a sheet of paper),
analyze the data from the graph.
Objective: Children will observe the
diversity of model camouflaged animals and recognize and
describe the adaptive advantages of camouflage.
Science Processes and Content:
Processes—observing, communicating, classifying, inferring,
model building, defining operationally, recognizing variables,
and recording and interpreting data. Content—camouflage,
predator-prey relationships, characteristics of organisms,
diversity of living things, adaptations ensuring the long-term
survival of living species, and energy flow in an ecosystem.
Mathematics Processes and Content:
Processes: solving problems, articulating thinking with objects,
connecting the use of concrete objects with extended projects
and investigations, and using representation to model and
interpret phenomena. Content: represent numerals with physical
models and representations, collect, organize, and display
relevant data, and evaluate inferences and predictions based on
data.
National Science Education Standards:
Unifying Concepts and Processes, (1) Science as Inquiry, (3)
Life Science, (6) Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Principles and Standards: Number and Operations, Data
Analysis and Probability, Problem Solving, Communication, and
Connections
Materials: Newspaper with different
colored moth-shaped paper affixed to it, butterfly shapes cut
from white paper, crayons or colored markers, pieces of
yarn—brown, green, and yellow cut into 7 to 8 cm lengths,
cellophane tape
Procedure:
1. Read the book How to Hide a Butterfly challenging the
children to find the insects and spiders in the pictures,
discussing possible predators and the predator-prey
relationship, and the difficulty that a predator may have in
finding a prey that is camouflaged.
2. For the activity, Missing Moth, take a single newspaper (a
habitat), cut out and fasten with cellophane tape 4
different-colored paper moths (e.g. pink, green, yellow, and
newsprint) in quantities of 4 or 5 each to the newspaper.
Keeping the newspaper hidden from view until now, invite the
children to observe the newspaper habitat for 5 to 10 seconds
and record what they saw---how many moths and what color they
were. Discuss their data, then show them the newspaper habitat
again, this time counting the moths and recording their numbers
again. Note that most will not see the newsprint moths. Discuss
camouflage.
3. For the activity, Hide A Butterfly, have the children each
cut out one butterfly shape from white paper. Give them crayons
to color the butterflies so that they can are camouflaged and
can be hidden somewhere in the classroom. Divide the class into
two, having one group, the "predators," hide their eyes or step
out into the hallway until the "prey" group tapes their
butterflies in places that are camouflaged but not completely
hidden from view. The predators are then given 3 minutes to hunt
for and capture the camouflaged butterflies. Those that survive
are camouflaged best and represent butterflies likely to survive
successfully over a longer period of time.
4. The final activity is called Birds and Worms. For this
activity, cut 3 different strings of colored yarn into pieces 8
to 10 cm in length and scatter them in an outdoor habitat of
approximately 8m X 8m out of sight of the children. Take the
children near the outdoor habitat, then form them into two
columns or flocks of birds, which can be named, e.g. robins,
screech owls, or bluebirds. Have the first child in each column
“fly” out (they can flap their wings), collect one worm, fly
back to tag the next child in the column, who then flies out to
capture a worm. Returning birds keep their worms and return to
the back of the column. When all children have had a turn, have
them place their worms on a sheet of paper in bar graph
formation, green above green, yellow above yellow, and so on.
Discuss with the students the color of worm most found, least
found, which were best camouflaged, the advantages of
camouflage, and what might happen if the environment suddenly
changed color, e.g. from brown to green or vice versa.
Related Books:
What Color Is Camouflage? by
Carolyn Otto, Harper Collins Publishers, 1996. ISBN
0-06-445160-7
Hiding in Plain Sight by Paul Fehlner, Harcourt Brace.
ISBN 0-15-308205-4
Hide and Snake by Keith Baker, Harcourt Brace, 1991. ISBN
0-15-200225-1 |
