Virtual Galápagos
Unit 1 Lesson 3: Tortoise Protection and Defense Strategies
Tortoise Curriculum Lesson Plan
LEARNING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:
- Goal 1: Students will be able to make connections between shell shape and the tortoises’ abilities to survive in their environments by identifying predators and other threats to survival in the tortoises’ environment.
- Goal 2: Students will be able to design and build a tortoise shell, test the shell’s ability to flip over, and make revisions to their shell shape design. Additionally, students will be able to record observations while/after completing their tortoise shell design trials.
- Goal 3: Students will design tortoises and explain how designed/selected traits would help the tortoise to survive in a specific environment.
STANDARDS
Next Generation Science Standards
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
ADVANCE PREP FOR TEACHER KNOWLEDGE
The terrain of the Galápagos islands is a difficult landscape for tortoises to walk on. However, in order to survive, the giant tortoises must be able to roll back over after getting flipped over onto their backs. Much of the terrain is made of basalt, a hard rock formed from cooled lava flows. Another threat to tortoise survival that students should consider is the tortoises’ predators. Adult tortoises do not have many predators other than humans in the past. However, younger tortoises, without fully formed shells, can be preyed upon by the Galápagos hawk. Adult tortoises can hide in their shells to protect themselves from predators.
Next Generation Science Standards
- 3-LS4-3: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
- 4-LS1-1: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS
- Threat: A danger
- Predator: A type of animal that hunts and eats other animals
- Survival: Staying alive
- Terrain: The nature of the land surface (rocky, soil-rich, vegetated, sandy, etc.)
- Basalt: A type of rock that forms when hot lava cools
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
- Some living things get eaten or hunted by other living things. Students should be able to make observations and revisions.
ADVANCE PREP FOR TEACHER KNOWLEDGE
The terrain of the Galápagos islands is a difficult landscape for tortoises to walk on. However, in order to survive, the giant tortoises must be able to roll back over after getting flipped over onto their backs. Much of the terrain is made of basalt, a hard rock formed from cooled lava flows. Another threat to tortoise survival that students should consider is the tortoises’ predators. Adult tortoises do not have many predators other than humans in the past. However, younger tortoises, without fully formed shells, can be preyed upon by the Galápagos hawk. Adult tortoises can hide in their shells to protect themselves from predators.
MATERIALS AND SETUP
- Virtual Galápagos Tortoise 101 module interactive website access
- Virtual Galápagos Fieldbook access for all worksheets and activities
- Play-doh or clay for Shell Shape Scientist activity
- Pipe cleaners, markers, popsicle sticks, or any other materials chosen by the teacher for Design Your Own Tortoise activity
LESSON SEQUENCE
ENGAGE
- Ask students to brainstorm risks that exist for tortoises in the Galápagos as they move around uneven lava surfaces (terrain)
- NOTE: This exploration does not address other existential threats such as feral animals eating eggs or human interference.
- Students watch video of Becki and Tomás introducing risks of rolling over as a giant tortoise
- Students do backpack activity, to simulate how much harder it is to move with a heavy shell, how easy it is to roll over, and how challenging it is to get back up.
- Pose the questions to the class:
- Why and how do you think tortoises get flipped over onto their backs?
- What challenges face tortoises in the Galápagos as they move around the uneven terrain and interact with other tortoises and animals in the islands?
- The objective is to encourage students to identify risks of rolling over on uneven terrain (reference backpack activity above). Again, this exploration does not address other existential threats such as feral animals eating eggs or human impacts on tortoises historically or currently.
EXPLORE
- Students complete Shell Shape Scientist Activity
EXPLAIN
- Students watch introduction to Galápagos terrain video
- Students watch Youtube video of tortoises rolling over “Getting Back on your Feet” (research by Dr. Chiari)
- Students can reference summary of observations about domed and saddleback-shaped shells with the Shell Shapes images
- Students watch a video reminding them to update their fieldbook notes with new ideas they have developed about the scientific mystery.
ELABORATE
- Ask students what other risks might exist for tortoises in the Galápagos, and how shells might be able to protect them. Shells can be used as protection against what other kinds of threats to tortoises?
- The objective here is to identify other uses for shells on Galápagos tortoises, such as protecting them from other tortoises in case of aggression, as well as protecting juvenile tortoises from predation by Galápagos hawks.
- After brainstorming, have students watch:
- Video of Becki and Tomás with hawk flying over
- This sets up three potential defense/protection uses for shells on tortoises:
- Helping them roll back onto their feet
- Protection against hawks when they are smaller
- Protection against attacks from other tortoises (while rate, it’s worth considering as an alternative hypothesis, because there are really no other predators for adult tortoises, other than humans, in Galápagos)
- Students watch series of videos to learn more about concept of predators:
- Setting up video chat with Geo, relative from South America
- Video chat with Geo, introducing concept of predators and need to learn more about islands where Becki and Tomás live
- Students can watch a short video that wraps up the chat with Geo.
- Students complete the Galápagram worksheet.
EVALUATE
- Assign students a habitat they will use as the basis for their tortoise design, and then have them complete the Design Your Own Tortoise activity.
- This exercise allows students to incorporate ways for their tortoise design to survive, including: shell shapes to make it easier to roll back onto their feet if terrain is rough and protection from external threats, and it begins to suggest that food plays a role in shell shape, with saddleback-shaped shells allowing access to taller vegetation in arid environments. This last concept, which is likely the most important reason for shell shapes in Galápagos, will be introduced gradually over the course of the subsequent modules.
- Worksheet title: Design your own Tortoise
- Students complete the Exit Ticket Roll Over! to identify any unresolved questions.
- Students should be encouraged to revisit their Scientific Field Notes to add new pieces of evidence, as well as revise their original claims if needed, based on new information they have learned. This action emphasizes the iterative nature of the Scientific Method (revising claims/hypotheses based on new data/observations).
- Optional word search activity:
- Students watch summary video of what the module has presented to them.
- Students can watch a video suggesting they revise their current claims about the shell-shape mystery in their fieldbooks, based on what they have learned so far.
DIFFERENTIATION
- Instead of asking students to provide written responses to the various prompts, students can respond to Shell Shape Scientist, Galapagram, and Design Your Own Tortoise prompts verbally with the teacher or with their classmates using grouping based on the teacher’s discretion.
- Grouping for all activities is flexible and up to the teacher’s discretion.
- Students can complete activities by drawing pictures to represent their thinking rather than writing.
- All Fieldbook activities can be accessed electronically or the teacher can print copies for students.
- Additionally, Fieldbook worksheets can be edited by teachers and students for increased accessibility.
ASSESSMENT
- Instruct students to return to their Scientific Field Notes for Module 1 to add pieces of evidence and revise their original claims if necessary.
- Teachers can collect student responses to assess how the students are understanding and making sense of the content and the materials.
This unit was designed by Ashley Vescio and Shannon Jedreicich, and edited by Ava Wojtaszek and Sarah Jekel.
You can download the lesson plan here:
Virtual Galápagos
virtualgalapagos.colgate.edu
