Student Material

Adaptations, Structures, & Function Theme Experience

It’s awesome when an activity leaves students excited about a science topic, interesting ideas, and some aspect of nature. It can be even more rewarding to lead a series of activities, starting out by getting a sense of where students are at to begin, taking them on a journey of learning, and tying everything together throughout a themed field experience. A thoughtfully sequenced series of activities can help students build understanding of key science concepts, and having a theme that weaves through the activities can make the field experience more coherent. The more coherent the experience, the more likely it is that students will walk away with meaningful and memorable learning.

Why lead a theme field experience on Adaptations, Structure, & Function?
Understanding how structure relates to function and the idea of can add layers to students’ experience of the natural world. These concepts are also a significant part of the Next Generation Science Standards. The big idea of structure and function is applicable to just about anything, and if students focus on this as a lens for learning, they can use it to learn when they look at almost any part of the world. How does the particular structure of a birds’ beak, or of the leaves of a tree function to help the organism survive? How do the structure of the gears of a bicycle help with the function of pedaling? How does the structure of a wall function to make it stable?

For adaptations, (inheritable behaviors and structures that help a group of organisms survive in their habitat), it’s not about just learning a definition, but about having enough opportunities applying it in nature to actually understand what it really means. The word “adaptation” represents a complex and important concept, one students will understand better if they are able to see examples of it in nature, and develop their comprehension through different learning experiences in the field. Understanding how organisms’ structures and behaviors connect to their survival, and the idea of inheritance, is also a foundational piece of the concept of evolution. While you can’t see evolution happen because it is a looooong process, students can observe organisms’ structures and behaviors, and make explanations of how those characteristics help the organisms survive.

This document includes a list of BEETLES activities that could be used for a theme field experience on Adaptations, Structure and Function. These activities have been thoughtfully sequenced to best support students’ developing skills and conceptual understanding incrementally. This document also includes some discussion questions to introduce the sequence, some “Thought Swap” transitional discussion questions, to help students apply concepts they are learning during transitions between activities, and some reflection questions at the end.

The write-up includes the following documents:
– Introduction: Read this first. It explains some whys and hows of leading a field experience on the theme, and offers options for planning your sequence.
– Instructor Support: This is background content on the theme, and teaching information for instructors.
– Theme Field Experience Script: This is a script for leading the themed series of field experiences.