Animal Defenses
April Ashmore and Alex
Gayler
| Description |
| Concept Map |
| Assessment Plan |
| Rubric |
| Calendar |
| Resources |
| Lesson Plan 1 |
| Lesson Plan 2 |
| Orientation Video |
| Clinical Interviews |
| Modifications |
| Elementary Science Methods Home |
Clinical Interviews
Clinical Interview I, Clinical Interview II
(Dalton 5 year old boy)
Why do some dinosaurs have claws, spikes, and horns?
They have claws to kill animals to eat. They have horns to stab trees to get food. I don’t know what spikes are used for.
How do some animals protect themselves? (ex. turtle)
Turtles put their head in their shell. Deer protect themselves by using their horns.
What does "defense" means? (if as someone is defending themselves)
I don’t know what defense means.
What are some things animals have on their bodies to protect themselves from danger?
Horns, beaks
What are some things animals do to protect themselves from danger?
Hides in houses, use their feet, and they use their horns.
What does predator mean?
I don’t know what it means, it saves deer.
Can you give me some examples of predators?
Deer.
What does prey mean?
Deer.
Can you give me some examples of prey?
Bird.Analysis
Dalton has somewhat of a good knowledge base of defenses, though he doesn’t know what the word means. He gave some examples of how some animals protect themselves and what they have physically on their bodies. It’s obvious that Dalton doesn’t know what the terms predator and prey means, though he did give a correct example of prey. His parents are outdoorsy and go hunting periodically, which would explain why he gave the responses “deer” and how they protect themselves. Not all students will have this background knowledge and each term (predator, prey, defense) should be explained to all students.
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William V., rising 1st grader (age 6)
Date: June 18, 2009
Why do some dinosaurs have claws, spikes, and horns?
Cause some are T-Rexes and some are Triceratops and they are all just different.
What do dinosaurs use their claws and spikes for?
Well, the T-Rex kills the other dinosaurs with his teeth and his claws. And the Triceratops stabs the other dinosaurs with his spikes on his nose.
How do some animals protect themselves?
They hide.
How does a turtle protect himself?
He goes in his shell and hides.
What if an animal doesn’t have a shell to hide in? What does he do to protect himself?
He can run away… or he can try to fight the other animal. Like Aunt Linda’s cats fight.
What do they fight with?
Their nails. They scratched me sometimes.
What are some things animals have on their bodies to protect themselves from danger?
They have nails… and teeth. Some animals have hard skin but some don’t.
What are some things animals do to protect them from danger?
They can growl at the other animals to tell them that they’d better not mess with them or they’re gonna get in a fight. And they show their teeth to the other animal to try to scare them.
What does predator mean?
The predator is like the big, scary dinosaur.
Can you give me some examples of predators?
T-Rex.
Any other animals that are still around today?
Lions and tigers maybe.
What does prey mean?
That’s the little animal that the predator eats.
Can you give me some examples of prey?
Well a lion hunts for like a deer or
something like that.
Like in “Lion King”. And a cat eats a mouse, so a mouse is a prey.
Analysis
William will be in the
first grade in the
fall and loves
dinosaurs. He showed a solid
understanding of the predator/prey relationship and could identify
defense
mechanisms from different animals. Our discussion went back to
dinosaurs and he
proceeded to tell me about how his favorite dinosaur is the
Brontosaurus
because it is tall. I would have liked to continue my interview with
William
using dinosaur and animal toys so that we could talk specifically about
what defenses
each animal used.
Because of William's high level of previous
knowledge of dinosaurs, I would focus my lesson on trying to get him to
use the correct terminology in his discussion of dinosaurs and then in
generalizing his understanding of animal defenses to modern
animals. While William could readily identify dinosaur behaviors
and defenses, his knowledge of modern animals is not as deep. I would
begin with talking about lizards and other reptiles because they would
relate most easily to dinosaurs and then move on to a discussion of
mammals and fish. Using the same techniques as the GEMS guide
lesson plans, William could adapt his own understanding of dinosaurs to
other animals.