Animal Habitats and the Water Cycle

Descri
ption
of
Learn
ers

The learners are fourth grade students from the Lafayette area. The
students are paired with a Purdue student who serves as his or her
mentor. The learning environment will be a Purdue classroom and
outside. The classroom will have whiteboards, computers, and a computer
with a projector.

Lesso Through this lesson the students will gain a better understanding of what
n
a habitat provides. We will also outline the water cycle and how it can
Overvi shape habitats.
ew
Object
ives

Stand
ards

Materi
als

Proce
dures

After watching the video and discussing examples of habitats,

students will be able to recognize the important parts of an
animals habitat without assistance.
Students will be able to correctly identify what habitat a given
animal lives in without assistance.
Students will be able to identify the parts of the water cycle and
how they may shape habitats without assistance and within the
given time limit.
Describe a way that a given plant or animal might adapt to a
change arising from a human or non-human impact on its
environment.
Design investigations to explore how organisms meet some of their
needs by responding to stimuli from their environments.
Observe, compare and record the physical characteristics of living
plants or animals from widely different environments. Describe how
each plant or animal is adapted to its environment.
Goldfish and CapriSuns
Crayons, markers, and paper
Whiteboards and dry erase markers
Computer with projector
Computers for each mentor and mentee pair

Activity 1: We will show a video describing what habitats provide for

animals. After the video we will further discuss the parts of a habitat and
name a few more examples. We will talk about ocean, plain, tundra,
forest, and desert habitats. This will be followed by asking the students to
share example. The video link is listed in the reference section. Have
each student draw a picture of their habitat and share it with their mentor.
The mentors will be able to recognize if their mentee understands.
Activity 2: Have each mentor and mentee go to a computer and do the
habitat matching game. Before class begins, have the website pulled up
on the computers. The link is listed in the reference section. (5-8 minutes)

Activity 3: Divide the students into five groups. Give each group a different
animal and have them draw and identify all the parts of that animals
habitat. Allow each group to present their habitat. (10 minutes)
Activity 4: Before class, have a diagram of the water cycle on the
whiteboard. Discuss the water cycle and have the students label the parts
of the water cycle. Discuss how the water cycle can shape habitats. (10
minutes)
Activity 5: Go outside and enjoy a snack! While outside each student and
mentor pair will discuss what they learned and identify parts of the habitat
in which they are seeing.
Ask if there are any questions if there is spare time.
Asses
sment

Refer
ences

As each student gets on the bus, have the mentor ask them a question
about what was learned. If the question is answered correctly, the student
gets a piece of candy. They have three tries. Everyone should get a piece
of candy. Assessment questions can be found below.

Indianas Academic Standards:

http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/standards/science/2010Science-Grade04.pdf
Habitat Matching Game:
http://www.cserc.org/main/games/matchthehabitat/index.html
Youtube Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNTHVLxPP54
Article 1
https://www.mheonline.com/assets/pdf/STEM/articles/stem_
as_curriculum.pdf
Article2
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~chenders/Publications/Henderson20
11Diffusion%20of%20Engineering%20Education
%20Inovations.pdf
Our teaching video https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=f3mlU5ofQ2Y&feature=youtu.be

The inspiration or idea for this lesson came from combining several ideas.
We decided to create a lesson on habitats and the water cycle, that
describes how habitats are affected by the water cycle for students in the
fourth grade. The first thing we did was research Indiana science
standards for the fourth grade. Once we found standards to use for our
lesson we began brainstorming ideas for lesson content and teaching
methods. We found a video describing habitats on Youtube. We then
developed the teaching plan and activities included in the lesson.
Assessment Questions
Name 3 of things that make a habitat.
Where does a dolphin live?
Where does a deer live?
Where does a polar bear live?

Where does a reptile live?

Where does a tree frog live?
Name an animal that lives in the forest.
Name an animal that lives in the tundra.
Name an animal that lives in the ocean.
Name an animal that lives the plains.
Name an animal that lives in the desert.
Name an animal that lives in the rain forest.
Name one part of the water cycle.

Henderson, C., & Dancy, M. (2011). Increasing the Impact and Diffusion of Stem
Education
Innovations. Retrieved March 29, 2015, from http://homepages.wmich.edu/
~chenders/Publications/Henderson2011Diffusion of Engineering Education
Innovations.pdf
This Article talks about how important it is for undergraduate STEM education. It
explains how when students get to college they are lacking the knowledge in some
of these subjects. The researchers conducted surveys to back up their paper and
claim. Later on it is discussed how it is possible to improve the teaching model for
these subjects for the betterment of the students. The paper ends with a summary
and a reference area. The reason why this paper was helpful to our group is
because it shows how if you do not learn the STEM subjects well at an early age;
then later in life students can still experience many troubles with the same subjects.
Morrison, J., & Bartlett, R. V. (2009). STEM as a Curriculum. Commentary, https://
www.mheonline.com/assets/pdf/STEM/articles/stem_as_curriculum.pdf
This article begins by discussing how so many people believe there is a need for
better STEM education. The authors make the argument that not enough change is
happening in schools to better teach these STEM subjects. The authors continue by
saying the best way to better teach STEM subjects is to understand that experiential
learning is the best instructional method for these subjects. The students need to
understand that what they are learning is important and has practical applications to
their futures, even those futures that do not include college education. The authors
make the point that learning occurs the best for students when they interact with
ideas. Another point that is strongly made is the fact that STEM is more than just
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. It is a great wealth of information that is
very important for the technical world. This article was useful for our group because it
explains the best way to teach STEM subjects. It allowed us to think differently about
how we could teach certain topics within our lesson.