Parks Canada - Teachers' Corner - American Badger - Adapt a Badger Lesson Plan, Grade 6

Grade 6

PDF ~ 135Kb

Adapt a Badger

Table of contents

• Overview
• Learning Outcomes
• Required Materials/Preparation
• Teacher Background
• Procedure
• Extension to the Lesson Plan
• Evaluation
• Suggested Related Resources
• Acknowledgements

Overview:

Students work in groups to observe and discover badger adaptations. This lesson plan complements Parks Canada, National Park themes: ecological integrity and greater park ecosystem. Sub-themes are: species at risk, ecosystem health, biodiversity and local stakeholders. Four kinds or subspecies of the American badger are found in North America; three of these occur in Canada. Two subspecies that occur in Canada are endangered – including the one that occurs in British Columbia.

British Columbia, Grade 6: Life Science - Diversity of Life

This lesson plan is linked to the British Columbia science curriculum
Science K-7, Integrated Resource Package, Draft 2004

Related Learning Outcomes

It is expected that students will:

• Analyze how different organisms adapt to their environments.

Lesson Plan Learning Outcomes

It is expected that students will be able to:

• Describe an adaptation

• Infer adaptations from observing the body structure of an organism

• Describe adaptations in terms of their form and function

Duration: 40-60 minutes

Required Materials/Preparation

• Print “Badger Adaptations” worksheet (4 - 6, one for each group)

• Print images of badgers {PDF version}(to be circulated amongst the groups, or have students view the images on a computer themselves)

• Library: books on badgers and North American mammals may have additional photographs of badgers (to be photocopied or passed around to each group)

• Whiteboard/chalkboard or large sheet of paper

• Blank paper (class set)

Teacher Background

For background information on badgers refer to “The Badgers 5Ws”.

Badgers in British Columbia
Parks Canada
B.C. Wildlife at Risk{pdf}

Procedure

1. Brainstorming (Allow 15 minutes)
Introduce or review the concept of adaptation. Adaptations are characteristics that plants and animals have that help them fit in and survive in their environment. For example, mountain goats have flexible hooves that allow them to grip steep rocky slopes, grizzly bears have long claws that help them to dig for roots and tubers (underground stems), Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir trees have thick bark that acts as insulation and helps them survive forest fires.

Using the board or a large piece of paper, ask the class to “brainstorm” examples of adaptations in plants or animals. Write everything down. Once you have enough adaptations to work with, ask students to consider whether these adaptations are related to form or function. An adaptive form would be a grizzly bears’ claw. An adaptive function would be the bear using the claws to dig for food for survival. Using the students’ guidance, label each adaptation as “form” or “function”. It should become apparent to students that there is often a close connection between form and function.

2. Group Work (Allow 25 minutes)
The class will now look at the adaptations of the American badger. The teacher may wish to describe why the badger has been chosen as an example (e.g., it’s a local species, lives in an area that the class has visited, etc.) The class is divided into small groups (4-6 groups depending on class size). Each group will be provided with badger images, and through close observation will infer as many possible adaptations as they can. Students should also label the adaptations as relating to form or function, and describe how the adaptation helps the badger survive. Each group will receive a “Badger Adaptation” worksheet to record these observations. Some adaptations may seem obvious; some may require a “best guess”. The important thing is to discover as many adaptations as possible just by observing the badger’s appearance.

Write the following questions on the board or overhead so all groups can see them and/or provide them on a handout. The questions are meant to guide groups during this activity. Review orally with the students before they break into groups.

• What parts of the badger’s appearance give clues about how it survives in the wild?

• By looking at these photos, what kinds of food do you think the badger eats?

• How do you think it gets its food?

• What might badgers use their claws for?

• Why do you think the badger has such a distinct pattern on its face?

• Do you think the badger can swim? Run?

• Does its body shape suggest anything?

• Where do you think the badger lives?

3. Group Discussion (Allow 10-15 minutes)
Collect the “Badger Adaptation” worksheets from each group, or have a student from each group report their group's findings to the rest of the class. The class will reassemble as a whole. Using the list of adaptations below and any others you may wish to highlight from “The Badger 5Ws” or the badger Web sites, discuss badger adaptations. Again, you can write each adaptation in short form on the board and at the end, ask students to label either “form” or “function”. Refer to pictures of badgers when necessary. Students can decide for themselves which of their group’s observations may have led to adaptations that don’t quite fit.

Badger Adaptations
(Students can notice italicized adaptations from photos):

Badgers have many adaptations to make them effective, fast and powerful diggers:

• The body shape is more wide than tall – helps the badger slip into burrows, and keeps it lower to the ground (ease the work of digging)

• The head is used to probe, with the snout having exceptionally tough connections between nose pad and skull

• The head is wedge-shaped, with the back of the skull widening noticeably

• The forepaws are stout, broad, with very long claws (the claws on the forepaws grow faster than those on the hind paws to counter wear from digging)

• The claws on the hind paws are more spoon-shaped, which helps the badger scoop the dirt away from its excavation

• The front feet are partially webbed, which helps conserve force

• The badgers’ tails are quite short, which helps them maneuver and turn around in their burrows

• The teeth are evolved for a carnivorous diet – they sharpen themselves through wear

• The bold markings on the face indicate to other animals that the badger is fierce enough to show and defend itself (opposite to camouflage, it has warning colours like skunks)

• Badgers also have musk glands, to communicate with each other through scent marking

• Badgers have loose skin, which helps regulate their temperature (both in the hot summers and cold winters), and also which helps in defense. It’s difficult for an attacking animal to get a firm hold of the badger, giving it greater ability to slip away. And if the attacking animals bites to get a grip, it might only get a bit of the skin and fur, increasing the badgers chance to escape with minimal injuries.

Extension to the Lesson Plan

Challenge students to create an alien life form, complete with adaptations that allow the animal to survive in its alien environment. The class should agree on a specific alien environment (this could be described in note form on the board, e.g., What is the temperature like? The terrain? How many aliens live there? Do they have any predators to avoid? If so, what is the main way the predators attack the aliens?) On a blank sheet of paper, students should label all parts of their alien with a specific set of functions to match the form. Students should consider how the alien, feeds, moves, sees, hears, protects itself and so forth.

For evaluation, ask students to give a written explanation for their adaptations, and how each helps the alien survive in its environment. Explanations should include:

• Food habits and hunting methods

• Survival adaptations on body surfaces

• Survival adaptations from predators

• Locomotion in the chosen terrain

• Survival adaptations for its environment

• Abiotic and biotic (non-living and living) factors in the alien environment

Evaluation

Ensure that each group’s worksheet “Badger Adaptations” show an understanding of the differences between form and function, but also the close link between the two. Look for a range and diversity of adaptations generated by each group. During brainstorming and group discussion, look for evidence that students can describe how an organism may adapt to its environment (e.g., it uses camouflage to blend into its surroundings).

Suggested Related Resources:

Eckert, Allan W., Incident at Hawk’s Hill, Little, Brown & Company, 1971.
This novel is a lyrically written account of a boy in 19th century Manitoba who survives a summer alone with a badger.

These are only some of the additional resources you may wish to use in order to expand the scope/research for this lesson.

Acknowledgements

Extension and evaluation adapted from British Columbia-Science K-7, Integrated Resource Package, Draft 2004 pp. 274.

Table of contents

Badger Adaptations

Group members

Note: To read the PDF version you need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your system.

If the Adobe download site is not accessible to you, you can download Acrobat Reader from an accessible page.

If you choose not to use Acrobat Reader you can have the PDF file converted to HTML or ASCII text by using one of the conversion services offered by Adobe.