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A Kitchen Cue Test for a Dog

Use kitchen dog-training data to model how senses receive information, the brain processes it, and the body responds.

Grade 4ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to4-LS1-2

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What’s included

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

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 4
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer, Drawing

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students compare response data from different combinations of sound and sight cues.
Students model how sensory information reaches the brain and leads to an animal's response.
Students explain how past learning can affect an animal's response to sensory information.

How to use

Read the study and graph together, then have students work independently. Discuss how a model can explain processes that response counts do not directly show.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

4-LS1-2

Model how animals take in information with their senses, process it in the brain and respond.

Preview

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A Kitchen Cue Test for a Dog

Use training data to model sensing, brain processing, and responding.

Read the Kitchen Study

Read the study and graph. Use the evidence to compare the dog's responses.

Two Ways to Give a Cue

In a teaching kitchen, a trainer has taught a dog to walk onto a floor mat after either of two cues: a soft chime or a raised hand. The mat is away from counters and cooking equipment. The kitchen is quiet, and no cooking takes place during the study. Use the made-up practice data below to investigate the dog's responses.

Animals receive information about their surroundings through sense organs. Ears receive sound information, and eyes receive information about what is visible. That information travels to the brain. The brain processes the information, using past experiences as well as new information. It can then send signals that lead to a body response, such as turning or walking. Receiving information does not always lead to the same response.

The trainer compares four conditions: chime only, hand signal only, both cues together, and neither cue. Each condition is tried ten times over several days, with rest breaks. At the start of every trial, the dog stands in the same place, faces the trainer, and stays the same distance from the mat. The same soft chime and the same hand movement are used whenever those cues are included. The dog can leave the activity at any time.

An observer counts a response only when the dog steps onto the mat within five seconds after a trial begins. For a trial with neither cue, the trainer starts the timer without making a cue. The observer records movements, not what happens inside the brain. The graph shows how many trials in each condition included a counted response. It does not show why the dog made each movement.