Adaptation Auction Lesson Plan

Intern: Michelle Schibonski

Date: 3/20/14
Lesson/Activity Title: Adaptation Auction
Standards Addressed:
4th Grade Science, Standard 2: Life Science 3. There is interaction and interdependence between
and among living and nonliving components of ecosystems.
**Students can:
a. Use evidence to develop a scientific explanation for how organisms adapt to their habitat.
(DOK 1-3)
-- AND -th
4 Grade Reading, Writing, & Communicating, Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening 1. A
clear communication plan is necessary to effectively deliver and receive information.
**Students can:
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-- AND -4th Grade Social Studies, Standard 3: Economics 2. There is a relationship between choice and
opportunity cost.
**Students can:
a. Define choice and opportunity cost (DOK 1)
b. Analyze different choices and their opportunity costs (DOK 2-3)
c. Give examples of the opportunity costs for individual decisions (DOK 1-2)
______________________________________________________________________________
Purpose: This activity is designed as a fun, interactive way for the students to synthesize
everything theyve learned over the course of the unit about adaptations and habitats.
Learning Objective(s):
Students will be able to:
--Identify the existing adaptations of a given animal using an informational text resource.
--Collaborate with peers in a small group setting to create and prioritize a list of additional
adaptations that would help their animal survive in more diverse environments.

Your Goals For Learners:

1. Become lifelong learners.
2. Gain a solid foundation of knowledge, with no gaps in basic skills that could hinder future
learning.
3. Maintain high expectations for themselves and the ability to persevere through challenges.
4. Communicate effectively and collaborate with others.
5. Take responsibility for their own learning.
6. Develop imagination & creativity
7. See and understand multiple perspectives.
Your Learning Principles:
Children learn best by:
1. Being engaged in a subject.
2. Making connections between new knowledge and what they already know.
3. Being given appropriate challenges.
4. Doing! (Lots of hands-on practice.)
5. Collaborating with others.
6. Taking risks and making mistakes.
Setting:
This activity will take place inside a classroom with a large central meeting area that has
couches and space to sit on the floor. Most of the activity will take place in groups, at the 4
large tables scattered throughout the room.
Materials and preparation:
--Descriptions and photos of four base animals (hamster, guppy, gecko, parrot)
--Photos of habitats (jungle, forest, desert, ocean, arctic, prairie/plains, wetland, SBPS campus)
--List of adaptations up for auction (30 copies + 1 copy enlarged and cut up into strips)
--Play money: an assortment of denominations, divided into 4 plastic bags containing $400 each
--Pencils, student copies of study guide
--Scratch paper
--Whiteboard, markers, eraser
Introduction:
Review the concept of adaptations (Something an animal HAS or DOES that helps it survive in
its environment.) Remind students that if an animal doesnt have a particular adaptation, it
can sometimes change its behavior to deal with the situation.
Introduce the basic premise of the activity:
Most wild animals are only adapted to live in one particular environment, but in todays game
it will be your teams job to design an animal that is adapted to survive in as many different
environments as possible. You will do this by buying additional adaptations for your animal in
a special auction well have here in the classroom. There will be a large list of adaptations for
sale, so your team will need to prioritize which ones you believe will be the most helpful for your
animal. If you buy a bunch of adaptations your animal doesnt really need early on in the

auction, you might not have enough money left over at the end to buy the adaptations you really
want! (Explain the term opportunity cost and the need to balance your priorities when you
have limited money to spend. Buying one thing means giving up the opportunity to buy another.)
Activity Procedure:
PHASE ONE: PREPARATION
Show each of the possible habitats to the whole group so they have an idea of what kind of
adaptations their animals might need (Show all but the secret final round habitatthe SBPS
campus!)
Split the class up into 4 pre-determined groups and pass out study guides.
Give each group one of the base animal info sheets and announce that they will have 10-15
minutes to read the information and record the adaptations their groups animal already has
(base adaptations.) Anything that appears on that list wont need to be purchased because the
animal already has it or does it!
Once it seems like groups have a solid list of existing adaptations, read the list of adaptations
available for purchase to the entire class and explain any unfamiliar terms. (DO NOT pass out
the lists before explaining whats on themstudents will get way too distracted with talking
about which adaptations their animal needs to listen to anything else you have to say!)
Pass out adaptation lists and play money and give the groups 5-10 minutes to prioritize their
most wanted items.
Explain the three roles that need to be assigned to one or more members of each group:
1. Bidder The only person allowed to raise his/her hand and bid money on behalf of the group.
2. Treasurer The person responsible for keeping track of money spent and how much is left.
3. Recorder The person who makes an official list of all the adaptations bought.
Have the groups select students to fill each role. Students can take turns rotating through roles
at one or two specific points during the auction.
PHASE TWO: THE AUCTION
Auction Rules:
*Only the official bidder can bid on behalf of his/her team. (The team can make suggestions!)
*If you bid on it, you bought it. (You cant take a bid back once its been called out.)
*If no one bids on an adaptation, it gets skipped and wont be offered for bidding again.
*There may or may not be time to get through all the itemsbid wisely!
Draw slips of paper with adaptations written on them out of a hat and run the auction! Ham it
up and really get into the role of the auctioneer! ($45? Do I hear $50? $50 for wings? Cmon,
these things are amazingtheyll help you fly away from predators, they look nice in
pictures$50? Okay, $45 going oncegoing twicesold to the hamster for $45!)

As the adaptations are purchased, have students bring their money up to the banker (another
teacher/adult/student) and record the purchase price next to the adaptation on the whiteboard in
front of the room.
After one or more teams run out of money, the students seem to be getting bored, or it doesnt
seem like there are many desirable adaptations left, announce that there are just 1 or 2 more
items up for bids.
PHASE THREE: WHO WILL SURVIVE?
Randomly select a habitat picture from the deck and tell two teams this is where their animal will
need to survive. Select a second picture for the other two teams. If they havent already done
this, students should complete the two Adaptation Auction pages in their study guides (lists of
existing adaptations, adaptations purchased, and a drawing of their animal with existing and
purchased adaptations labeled.)
Using the information from their study guide, teams have 5-10 minutes to think up reasons why
their animal is well-suited for survival in their assigned environment. Remind students that they
should consider: weather/climate, food sources, shelter availability, defense mechanisms,
predators, breathing, moving around, etc.
(Ex. Our hamster is well-suited for survival in an ocean environment because it is an herbivore
and can eat seaweed using its sharp teeth to gnaw the leaves loose. It is able to breathe
underwater because we bought gills for it and it can live in rock crevices because of its small
size. It is protected from predators because we bought the adaptation of camouflage for its
fur.)
Teachers and/or other adults will judge the arguments and decide on a winner. Decisions
should be based on the quality of the arguments and how well the students demonstrate an
understanding of adaptations and their usefulness in dealing with environmental stressors (not
necessarily on which animal would actually be more likely to survive in real life.)
The two winning groups will then go head-to-head in a final round, using the Stanley BPS
campus as the habitat (you can also use the moon, someones basement, a famous restaurant,
etc.just choose somewhere surprising that the students werent expecting to allow them to
show off their creative thinking!)
Closure:
Bring the entire group back together in the meeting area and review the list of adaptations and
their purchase prices. Which adaptations were worth the most money in this game? Why? Did
any groups run into problems with opportunity costs? (For example, they wished they had
spent their money on different adaptations than they did.) Was it hard to create an animal that
was well-adapted to live in many different types of habitats? What was realistic about this game
and what was unrealistic?

Differentiation:
Place J and H in groups where they will have supportive peers to help keep them on task. Check
in with each of them individually to clarify instructions. Ask them to explain what theyre
supposed to be doing in their own words. Monitor their progress in their study guides.
Assessment:
I will know students have met the learning objectives based on their ability to create a list of the
existing adaptations of their base animal in their study guides and on their ability to contribute
verbally to their groups discussion of the importance of various additional adaptations.
Extensions:
This activity has natural extensions because students can go as in-depth as they want in their
descriptions of how and why their animals are best suited for a particular environment. Students
who want more of a challenge can also write about how their animal is suited for EACH of the
possible environments in their study guide.