Description

The Animals Two by Two Module provides students with close and personal interaction with some common land and water animals. The animals and their survival needs are the engaging anchor phenomena. Students study the phenomena by observing and describing the structures of fish, birds, snails, earthworms, and isopods. Appropriate classroom habitats are established for some organisms and students find out what the animals need to live and grow. In four investigations, animals are studied in pairs. Students observe and care for one animal over time, and then they are introduced to another animal similar to the first but with differences in structure and behavior.

The driving questions for the module are how are animal structures similar and different? and what do animals need to live and grow? The firsthand experiences are enriched with close-up photos of animals, some related to animals that students have observed in class and some to animals that are new. This process enhances observation, communication, and comparison.

Throughout the Animals Two by Two Module, students engage in science and engineering practices by asking questions, participating in collaborative investigations, observing, recording, and interpreting data to build explanations, and obtaining information from photographs. Students gain experiences that will contribute to an understanding of the crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; systems and system models; and structure and function.