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How are animals and plants like machines?

Human Machine Unit
Performance Task
System Modeling & Explanation
4.6 (473 reviews)
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# Unit Review: Anchoring Phenomenon
  • How do the owl’s body parts work together as a system?
  • How does information flow in the system?
# Unit Review: Key Concepts
  • Muscles pull on bones to create movement.
  • Eyes are sensory organs that receive information about the world.
  • Light enters the eye, which provides information about surroundings.
  • The pupil gets larger to let more light in when it is dark.
  • The brain receives information from the senses, processes the information, and controls the muscles to enable movement.
# Unit Review: Owl System Model

If you haven’t completed your final Owl System Model worksheet, now is the time to do so. We’ll review how the owl senses and responds to its environment in the next few slides.

Step 1: Light reflects off the mouse and enters the owl’s eye. The eyes are sensory organs.

Step 2: The information signal travels from the eye to the owl’s brain.

Step 3: The owl’s brain processes the information and sends a signal to the muscles in the wings.

Step 4: The owl’s brain also sends a signal to the muscles in its claws.

Step 5: The owl’s muscles receive the signal and pull on the bones, creating movement. The wings flap and the claws contract.

In today’s activity, you will use your owl system model to help you explain how another animal or plant senses information, processes it, and responds to its environment.

We’ll walk you through it, step by step.

🎉 That’s it for this lesson! How did it go?

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Credits
How are animals and plants like machines?
Human Machine Unit
Performance Task
System Modeling & Explanation
4.6 (473 reviews)

Activity Prep

Print Prep
In the Performance Task, students research another animal or plant. They create a system model to explain how the animal's or plant's parts work together as a system to receive information, process it, and respond to its environment.
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Assessments

Animal and Plant System Model Final Project Rubric teacher-only resource 1 copy
Animal and Plant System Model Project worksheet 30 copies
Animal and Plant System Model Readings worksheet 6 copies
Animal and Plant System Model Resource teacher-only resource Print 1 copy
Prep Instructions

In this performance task, students choose an animal or plant to research in order to find out how its parts work together as a system in order to respond to the environment. Next, they create a system model to explain how information from the environment is processed by their animal's or plant's parts. If you have time to extend the performance task, we recommend having your students present their research using a multimedia format.

Step 1: Plan ahead

We have chosen four animals and one plant, and a non-fiction reading for each, that your students can use for the performance task. Before the lesson, decide if you will use the provided resources or if you will have your students select their own animals or plants and find research resources independently.

If using the provided resources, print out copies of each reading for students to annotate while researching. The resources are linked below.

Students will also need their completed Owl System Model that they have been adding to after each Mystery.

Step 2: Print out worksheets

Each teacher will need:

Each student will need:

Standards

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Unit Review

20 mins

Hands-On Activity

120 mins

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Body Performance Task: How are animals and plants like machines?

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