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Lesson plan · Grades 3-5 · 45 minutes

How Animals See

I can explain how animals' eyes help them survive, and model how light reflects off objects and enters the eye so we can see.

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Standard
4-LS1-1 NGSS
4-LS1-2 NGSS
4-PS4-2 NGSS
Shape
Explore first
Grouping
Whole class, then pairs on devices.
You need
The tool on the projector and on student devices. A flashlight and a dark corner or closet. Paper for a T-chart.
Tool
curioclass.org/tools/how-animals-see/
  1. Hook5 min
  2. Explore15 min
  3. Make sense10 min
  4. Apply10 min
  5. Exit check5 min

Before class

  • Open Look through with the Honeybee chosen.
  • The animal views are simplified models of what scientists have measured. The bee view uses false colors for ultraviolet.
  • Find a spot you can darken for the flashlight demo.

Hook 5 min

  1. Darken the room or a closet. "Can you see the apple on my desk?" Shine the flashlight on it. "Now?"
  2. "What does light have to do with seeing? And does every animal see the same thing we do?"

Explore 15 min

  1. On the projector, move the circle over the yellow flowers. "What do you notice inside the circle that you can't see outside it?" (Dark bullseyes: nectar guides.)
  2. Pairs try Dog and move the circle over the three balls. "Which one disappears into the grass?" (The red one.)
  3. Pairs try Eagle, Owl and Rattlesnake on the day and night meadow. For each, they write what the animal sees well and how that helps it survive.
  4. Pairs open Field of view and drag the fox around a rabbit, then an owl. "Is the fox seen with both eyes, one eye or not at all?"

Make sense 10 min

  1. Open Inside the eye on the projector with the human eye. Trace the light: Sun, apple, into the eye, through the lens, onto the retina.
  2. Press Turn the Sun off. "Why can't we see the apple now?" (No light reflects off it into our eyes.)
  3. "Why do predators have eyes in front and prey have eyes on the sides?" (Depth for catching, watching all around for safety.)

Apply 10 min

  1. Pairs play Who's looking? and choose whose eyes each view belongs to, giving a reason for each.
  2. Pairs make a T-chart: animal, and how its eyes help it survive. At least three animals.

Exit check 5 min

On a card, draw arrows to show how light lets you see a ball in the yard: from the Sun, to the ball, to your eye. Then: "Why might a rabbit need eyes on the sides of its head?" Arrows that go from the eye to the ball show who needs the eye diagram again.

Support and stretch

  • Support: use Whole picture and Bigger circle so the difference is easier to see.
  • Support: start with two animals, the bee and the dog.
  • Stretch: tap each part in the owl and rattlesnake diagrams in Inside the eye and explain what it does.
  • Stretch: "If you could borrow one animal's eyes for a day, which would you pick and why?"

Short on time

  • Bee and dog in Look through (8 min).
  • Turn the Sun off in Inside the eye (4 min), then the exit drawing (4 min).

How each button works is in the teacher notes. From Curio Class, free under CC BY 4.0: change it, print it, share it.