الأسبوع 1 · المحور الأول «الأنظمة»، الوحدة الأولى «الأنظمة الحية»: ابدأ، المفهوم 1.1 «التكيف والبقاء» (أ): البيئة والبقاء والتخفي · 3 دروس
2
Cold feet, warm penguins
Discovery Education Science P4: Term 1, Unit 1, pp. 1–9
GoalExplain how a penguin’s feet and body help it survive on ice, and write a good science question.
New words
adaptation · a feature or behaviour that helps a living thing survive in its habitathuddle · to stand close together to share warmthfeature · a part of an animal’s body, such as feet or feathers
Explanation
Penguins live where there is ice, snow and freezing wind. If you stood on ice all day, your feet would soon be numb with cold. A penguin’s feet have thick, tough skin and are kept much cooler than the rest of its body, so very little heat leaks into the ice. A penguin also rocks back onto its heels and tail, so less of the foot touches the ice. Penguins huddle in a crowd to share warmth, and thick feathers and a layer of fat keep the body warm. A feature or a behaviour that helps a living thing survive where it lives is called an adaptation. Scientists begin with questions. A good question starts with How, Why or What would happen if, and we can answer it with a test or with evidence.
Adaptation
How it helps
Tough, cool feet
little heat leaks into the ice
Rocking back on the heels
less of the foot touches the ice
Feathers and fat
keep the body warm
Huddling
the crowd shares warmth
Worked examples
Malak watches a video of penguins standing very close together in a snowstorm. The penguins in the middle stay warmer. This is a behaviour adaptation: huddling.
Omar writes two questions. “Is a penguin nice?” cannot be tested. “Why do penguins huddle in a storm?” is a good question, because we can look for evidence.
Seif wraps one ice cube in a wool sock and leaves another bare. After a while the wrapped cube is bigger. Wool traps warmth outside, as feathers and fat do for a penguin.
Class activity
Ice cube test. A grown-up brings three ice cubes of the same size from the freezer. Put each in its own cup: A bare, B wrapped in a wool sock, C wrapped in thin paper. Predict which will melt most. Wait 30 minutes in the same room, unwrap them and compare. Keep the same: size of cube, cups, room, time. Change: only the wrapping. Record in a table.
Practice
1
Name two ways a penguin keeps from losing heat.
Any two: tough cool feet, rocking back on the heels, feathers and fat, huddling.
2
Which is the better science question: “Do penguins like snow?” or “How does huddling change how warm a penguin stays?”
The second one. We can look for evidence to answer it.
3
In the table, which wrapping kept the most ice? What does it suggest about feathers?
Wrapping
Ice left after 30 minutes
none
a tiny piece
wool sock
a big piece
thin paper
a medium piece
The wool sock. A thick covering that traps warmth, like feathers, slows the melting.
4
What is an adaptation?
A feature or behaviour that helps a living thing survive in its habitat.
