Infrared Zoo Lesson 3 The Invisible Zoo

DAY 3: EXTEND AND APPLY UNDERSTANDING

Activity Time: varies

The learners can now apply their base knowledge from the previous activities to a new scenario to deepen their understanding and discover something new. The extent to which you take this new exploration will depend on your learner's abilities and your own curriculum goals. Here, we present some simple extensions and leave deeper details up to you. Completion of all of these activities is not required. Please choose the activity or activities that suit your classroom best.

A. Design An Animal

Devise some "natural habitats of the future" for your learners. For a given habitat, they need to "design an animal" that will survive and prosper. You can also use natural habitats of today's world. In their exploration, they should characterize the habitat and then characterize the animal in infrared and visible light wavelengths to help explain its adaptations. In their presentation of their animal/habitat, they should demonstrate their understandings of thermoregulation in ectotherms and endotherms and how infrared images can show information that visible light images cannot.

B. A Day in the Life

Learners can build an "infrared" story of a particular animal. They can follow the animal from morning to nighttime in its habitat as it hunts, eats, plays, and sleeps. For each of these stages an infrared image would be different. They can construct these infrared images and a story about "a day in the life" of the given animal. Alternate scenarios could be "a year in the life" as they follow an animal through the seasons of its habitat. Cold-blooded animals work particularly well for this activity.

C. Design a Zoo Habitat

Learners act as consultants for a zoo designer. Their task is to design/evaluate a zoo habitat for a cold-blooded critter (of their choice). They will need to research the animal to find out the optimal temperatures that it functions in for various life processes. They should design the zoo habitat in both visible light and infrared. The Cool Cosmos Infrared Image Gallery contains infrared images for rocks, cacti, how colors absorb heat, mountains, trees, and plants. They should also design a way to "test" the animal in the habitat to ensure that it is a good environment.