Worksheet

Night Lights at the Zoo

Compare zoo courtyard lighting plans using moth-feeding data, visitor safety needs, and a budget.

Grade 3ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to3-LS4-4

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What’s included

Single worksheet
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1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
13 questions
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Details

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

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use observations to explain how a lighting change affects moth feeding visits.
Students judge solutions using feeding data, walkway safety, and a budget.
Students support a solution to an environmental problem with evidence.

How to use

Read the courtyard report together, then have students compare the plans independently. Discuss how a solution must meet more than one goal.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

3-LS4-4

Judge a solution to a problem caused when an environment changes and the living things there change.

Preview

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Name Date

Night Lights at the Zoo

Use evidence to judge plans for a nighttime courtyard.

1. What Changed?

Read the report and graph. Use this evidence to answer the questions.

The Courtyard Report

A zoo has a courtyard outside its insect house. Flowers there open at dusk. Wild moths visit the flowers to drink nectar. During some visits, moths carry pollen between flowers. This can help those plants make seeds.

The zoo added bright lamps for evening visitors. Before the lamps were added, staff counted 60 moth feeding visits over three evenings. Afterward, they counted 18 visits over three similar evenings. The flowers and their care had not changed. Staff wanted to investigate the lighting.

Staff tested three plans: open lamps with no covers, lamps with shields, and lamps turned off. The shields directed light down onto the walkway and kept much of it away from the flowers. Staff changed only the lighting plan. They kept the same flowers, watering, and counting spot. They counted feeding visits for 20 minutes after dusk on three mild, dry evenings for each plan. They counted visits, not separate moths. A moth could visit more than once. The graph shows each plan's total.

Tests happened while the courtyard was closed to visitors. For the courtyard to open, its walkway must stay lit. The chosen plan must also have at least 42 feeding visits in the three-evening test and cost no more than $50. Open lamps and lamps turned off each cost $0 extra. Shields cost $40. Both open lamps and shielded lamps kept the walkway lit.

Which change gave staff a reason to investigate the lamps?

A. Feeding visits increased after the bright lamps were added.
B. The courtyard flowers stopped receiving water after dusk.
C. Feeding visits decreased after the bright lamps were added.
D. Staff planted different flowers when the lamps were added.

How many more feeding visits did staff count with shields than with open lamps? more visits

A student says, “The shields bar means exactly 48 different moths visited.” Why is this not supported?

A. One moth could have made several of the counted visits.
B. The bar shows how many flowers grew near the lamps.
C. The bar shows visits counted before the lamps were added.
D. Staff counted only moths resting away from the flowers.

Why might fewer moth feeding visits also matter to the courtyard plants?

A. The flowers would receive less water from the staff.
B. The flowers would no longer need light to grow.
C. The moths would carry more pollen on every visit.
D. The moths might carry pollen between flowers less often.

2. Compare the Solutions

Remember all three goals: a lit walkway, at least 42 feeding visits, and a cost of no more than $50.

The lamps-off plan had the most feeding visits. Why does it still fail to meet the zoo's goals?

A. Its extra cost is above the zoo's spending limit.
B. Its walkway would not stay lit for evening visitors.
C. Its feeding-visit total is below the zoo's target.
D. Its test used a different group of courtyard flowers.

Other zoos report these test results. Sort each plan using this zoo's three goals.

Plan W: walkway lit, 48 feeding visits, cost $60.Plan X: walkway lit, 42 feeding visits, cost $50.Plan Y: walkway lit, 36 feeding visits, cost $20.Plan Z: walkway lit, 54 feeding visits, cost $30.

Meets all three goals	Misses at least one goal

Select the two observations that are evidence about how lighting may affect moth feeding visits.

Visits fell from 60 to 18 after bright lamps were added.The shields cost $40 to install.Shielded lamps had 48 visits, compared with 18 at open lamps.The zoo has $50 available for the plan.

Staff suggest a new test: add more flowers when testing shields, but keep fewer flowers when testing open lamps. What is the problem?

A. Feeding visits are a poor way to compare the plans.
B. Both lighting plans should be tested on rainy evenings.
C. A fair comparison should use different counting times.
D. Flowers and lighting both change, so the cause is unclear.

3. Make and Check a Recommendation

Use the test results to judge claims and plan what to check next.

Which claim stays within what the test results show?

A. Shielded lamps will bring exactly 48 visits in every future test.
B. Shielded lamps had more feeding visits than open lamps in this test.
C. Shielded lamps helped every kind of animal living at the zoo.
D. Shielded lamps returned visits to the total counted before lamps.

10.

Suppose the budget drops to $30. All other goals and plan costs stay the same. What should staff conclude about the three tested plans?

A. The shields still meet every goal because they helped moths.
B. Open lamps now meet every goal because they cost nothing extra.
C. None meets every goal, so staff need another affordable solution.
D. Lamps off now meet every goal because they had the most visits.

11.

After installing shields, which two checks would help staff find out whether the plan keeps helping moths and keeps the walkway lit?

Repeat feeding-visit counts using the same counting method.Count how many zoo tickets are sold each afternoon.Measure the height of the insect house doorway.Check after dusk that the shields and walkway lights still work.

12.

A new lighting plan costs $30 and keeps the walkway lit. No one has counted feeding visits with it. What should staff do before deciding that it meets all three goals?

A. Test it using the same feeding-visit counting method.
B. Choose it because a lower price means more feeding visits.
C. Use the shields' visit total as the new plan's result.
D. Count the lamps instead of counting feeding visits.

13.

Use the original $50 budget. Recommend one of the three tested plans. Explain how it meets each goal, using numbers from the report and graph. Then name one thing staff should keep checking.