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A Schooling Squid Display

Use reef squid observations and a model test to argue how living in groups can help members avoid predators.

Grade 3ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to3-LS2-1

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
15 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students argue how living in a group can help some animals survive.
Students use observations and model data as evidence for a scientific claim.
Students identify limits of model evidence and suggest a useful next test.

How to use

Read the aquarium notes together, then study the model-test graph. Ask students to cite an observation and a number in the final argument.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

3-LS2-1

Argue that some animals live in groups that help the members survive.

Preview

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A Schooling Squid Display

Use aquarium observations and model results to explain how a group can help animals survive.

Study the reef squid

Read the aquarium team's notes. Use the notes and graph to answer the questions.

Notes from the Reef Classroom Aquarium

The class observed a group of Caribbean reef squid in a large aquarium. The squid often stayed near one another above the sand. When a dark shape moved across the tank, one squid changed direction quickly. Several nearby squid turned in the same direction a moment later.

The squid also changed their body colors and patterns as they moved. From the viewing window, the group looked like a moving pattern instead of separate, easy-to-follow animals. The class did not see the dark shape catch a squid.

To learn more, the students made paper squid for a simple model. They placed either one paper squid or a group of five paper squid on the same tray. In each trial, a student moved the same dark cardboard shape across the tray and tapped the marked squid if it was easy to follow. The tray, marked squid, shape, path, and speed stayed the same. The students ran 12 trials for each setup.

The model was not a real predator or a real ocean. It gave the class one way to compare how easy it was to follow a marked animal when it was alone or near other animals.