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Sleepy Bear
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
1. define hibernation
and qualify it for bears
2. equate hibernation with survival, and
3. list characteristics and results of hibernation.
Method:
Students measure their own heart rate, breath rate, and temperature before
and after a highly physical game and compare it to a bear hibernating
to conserve energy.
Procedure:
- Get the students
to relax in some way. (Play music, tell them to rest, take deep breaths.)
- Have the students
take their heart rate for 10 seconds and multiply by 6. Have them record
the information.
- The students also
check their breath rate by holding their hand in front of their faces
and counting their breaths per minute. They record the information.
- The students can
either take their temperature with a thermometer or feel their forehead
and record hot, warm, or cold.
- After everything
is recorded, have the students get up and run in place one minute to
warm up.
- Tell the students
there is *candy or fake food chips hidden in the room. (Candy will probably
be more motivating.) *Other food items can be used.
- The students have
two to four minutes to gather the food. They are to find as much food
as they can. If they find real food, they should eat it before looking
for more. If fake food is used, they should imagine taking the time
to eat it before going on.
- Stop the students
and immediately take pulse, breath, and temperatures. Record these.
- After the students
have sat down, begin a discussion of what they did and hibernation of
bears. Ask "Who got food? How much? If this were your only food source,
what would happen now that you have used it up?" (possible responses-
look for more, die, or hibernate)
- Compare before-and-after
measurements. Lead to conclusion that less energy (food) is needed when
resting.
- Ask students to
give examples in nature where animals rest to survive with little or
no food for long periods of time. (bears, squirrels, etc.)
- Define hibernation.
Qualify hibernation for bears. (Some people don't think bears hibernate.)
Hibernation: The act of passing the winter or a portion of it in the
state of sleep; a torpid or resting state.
- Show chart with
mean respiration, heart rate, and temperature for active and dormant
black bears in Idaho.
- Have students fill
in the numbers themselves to help them make observations on characteristics
of hibernation.
- Include other characteristics
of hibernation -no defecation, urination, or food intake.
Evaluation:
- Give three examples
of animals which hibernate.
- Tell what would
happen to bears if they didn't hibernate. (They would not survive.)
- Give three examples
of bodily functions that change during hibernation.
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Materials:
- clock
- *candy or fake
food chips
- thermometers
(options-pencils, data sheet to record heart rates, breath rates, and
temperature.)
*Other food items can be used.
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