Mice+and+Men

= = media type="custom" key="5730783" Mice and Men ====//media type="custom" key="6218227" In this unit you will be assessed on both your work in class, the completion of all activities and the accuracy, presentation and interpretation of your daily records in your workbook (and / or) in electronic form//==== //Assessment: Marking Matrix//

Resources:

Lesson 1: Set up mice and men folder and journal (pages)[[image:mouse.png width="278" height="301" align="right"]]
Open this file 1. Change the title to My MOUSE Project 2. Replace the picture of the sunflower with a picture of a mouse 3. Replace " Vestibulum Lorme" with "Mammals"

Research and discuss these questions as a class, when you have agreed on the best answers, record them in you __new__ journal.
4. Heading: __Characteristics of Mammals__... (write the answers to these in your journal)
 * Body temperature? (constant / variable)
 * Number of chambers in the heart.
 * How do they feed their young?
 * What kind of body covering do they have?
 * How are young born?

5. Heading: __Diversity amongst Mammals__... find and give examples of variation in mammals in...
 * Size (the biggest and smallest mammals)
 * Diet (three examples of different diet in mammals - explain these differences)
 * Habitat (research and present information on the diverse range of habitats that mammals live in.
 * Reproduction
 * Do all mammals reproduce the same way? explain, giving examples.
 * How long is the gestation period in mice? Find out three facts about reproduction in mice.
 * Motion
 * Make a list of all the ways that mammals move.
 * Relate the kind of movement to the environments and survival strategies of each mammal.

Complete the mice and men activity sheet and submit this on SIMON

==**Lesson 2: Physical characteristics of mice:**

== 1. General characteristics of mammals: 2. Explain how the following features of mice help them to be successful in their environment:
 * 4 chambered heart, warm blooded, milk, hair
 * Size
 * Skin covering
 * Eyes
 * Whiskers
 * Tail
 * Ears
 * Claws
 * Teeth
 * Warm Blooded
 * Life span
 * Time required till breeding maturity

How to care for your mouse:
__Mouse cages__

1. Each mouse cage needs to have:
 * Absorbent material (sawdust)
 * Nesting material (for hiding and protecting pups)
 * Wire top (secure)
 * Water bottle (pressure activated dripper)
 * Food (dog biscuits)

2. Every lesson []
 * the absorbent material and nesting material needs to be changed.
 * Care must be taken that not too much nesting material is added, or that it does not come into contact with the water bottle as this will cause it to leak and soak the cage.
 * Tip old material into spread out newspaper, roll this up and place in garbage bag.
 * Water and food supplies need to be topped up.

__Handling Mice__
1. Be gentle and quiet when near mice or they will become scared. 2. Move slowly and carefully around the room when mice are being handled so as not to startle the mice. 3. Wash hands before and after handling mice, or their cages. 4. Before picking up a mouse for the first time place dog biscuits in your hand and allow them to nibble on them and sniff you. 5. Encourage your mouse to walk onto your hand rather than trying to grab it. The mouse may think you are trying to crush it and may bite. 6. Treat any bites with disinfectant immediately. 7. Never pick up a mouse by its tail as you may injure it. 8. When picking up a mouse grasp gently around its torso, allowing the mouse some movement in your hand. It needs to be able to breathe. []

Lesson 3: Mouse Test
Must be completed successfully before you can receive your mouse.

Recording data


1. Determine the sex of your mouse. · Refer to page 20 – 21 Asep Booklet · Name your mouse · Record your mouse name and the members of your group in your workbook and on your cage.

[|Sexing mice]

2. Observe your mouse carefully: · Place your mouse in a large beaker, or hold it carefully: · How many toes are there on each front foot of the mouse? · How many toes are there on each rear foot of the mouse? · How many whiskers does the mouse have? · Which is longer, the tail, or the rest of the mouse? · How far along the tail does the hair grow? · Are the front and back legs equal lengths? If not, which are longer? 3. List the similarities and differences between mice and people.

Clean cages and feed mice



Lesson 4: on measurement in Science

 * = [[image:Balances_Scales.jpg]] ||= [[image:scales_electronic.jpg]] ||


 * how to use a triple beam balance and an electronic scale.
 * media type="custom" key="5878743"
 * how to measure tail length


 * variation (conditions, e.g. amount of food eaten, stress…, pregnancy… )
 * accuracy (human error)

Questions:
First discuss, then answer these questions neatly in workbooks...
 * What similarities and differences are there between the habitat a mouse lives in
 * a wheat paddock
 * a home..... // (consider what they eat, how and where their nest is built, potential dangers) //
 * How is a marsupial mouse different from a domestic mouse?
 * Some marsupial mice are carnivores. What does this mean? How would their teeth be different?
 * Domestic mice have followed humans all over the world. How do you think this happened? Draw a picture of a mouse as an international traveller.

Lesson 5: Recording data [[image:mouse_tail.jpg width="375" height="573" align="right"]]
1. Write today’s date and then record the tail length (mm) and weight (g) of each mouse in your workbook.

· Draw up a table to enter this data for each lesson. Tail Length (mm) ||~ Male Mass (g) ||~ Female Tail Length (mm) ||~ Female Mass (g) || 2. Clean cages and feed mice
 * ~ Date ||~ Male



Challenge Question:
The destruction of wild habitat around the world is a problem for many of the world's animals. Some are the problems are caused by the results of climate change, some by clearing forests for agriculture or so that cities have room to grow, other animals are endangered because they have been over-hunted or over-fished. Find out about an endangered species. Fill in your answers in the table below. Share what you have found out with the class.




 * ~ ** Animal ** ||~ ** Country/continent ** ||~ ** Habitat ** ||~ ** Danger ** ||

Lesson 6: How to use your data to produce a graph
Tail Length (mm) ||~ Male Mass (g) ||~ Female Tail Length (mm) ||~ Female Mass (g) ||
 * ~ Date ||~ Male

1. Write today’s date and record tail length (mm) & weight (g). 2. Put the cage in front of you with the top off 3. Sit still so that the mice settle down and behave as naturally as possible 4. Wait until a mouse is still. You may notice slight movements of the chest. Explain what you think these movements are and how they help the mouse. 5. In your workbook, list some of the things that the mice do. 6. Then list some of the things which the mice have done which you do too. 7. Graph results 8. Observations (toes, hair on tail…. ) 9. Features of mammals: revisit your or from last unit.... Compare and contrast... · //Mice// //·// //Humans// //·// //Other//

=Activities=

Activity 1. Unfamiliar environments:
Your mouse's cage is its home. When you take it out of its home environment it is often at first at little nervous, and then curious.
 * In this experiment you arrange a landscape made up of a series of objects, some known, some unknown…
 * You are to space them out on some newspaper spread out on your desk.
 * Record your mouse's movements, both photographically and in written form.
 * You may wish to make a 30 second film showing the behaviour of your mouse. If you wish to do this, then you should practice with IMOVIE beforehand.
 * Alternatively, take photos using PHOTO BOOTH

Write up a report about how your mouse in KEYNOTE

Include a section on the unfamiliar environments experiment: include...


 * Did your mouse spend more time around a certain type or group of objects?
 * Try and explain your answer.
 * Watch you mouse's behaviour closely.
 * What do you notice about the whiskers near the nose?
 * Can you explain this behaviour?
 * Try and relate it back to the environment in which mice usually live.

Activity 2. Maze: student’s own design

 * make a maze from materials that you find around the home.
 * it should have[[image:maze01.jpg width="448" height="336" align="right"]]
 * an entrance
 * a true path
 * a number of blind paths
 * the aim is to see how each mouse learns how to find food in the maze.
 * use your laptop to record how the mouse finds its way around the maze
 * take photos using PHOTO BOOTH
 * write up a report about how your mouse in KEYNOTE
 * include a section on the maze experiment: include...
 * a description of how your mouse behaved in the maze
 * a record of how long it took your mouse to find the food
 * 1st time
 * 2nd time
 * 3rd time
 * your thoughts about what you have observed
 * [[image:maze02.jpg width="575" height="431" align="center"]]
 * [[image:maze03.jpg width="575" height="431" align="center"]]
 * [[image:maze02.jpg width="575" height="431" align="center"]]
 * [[image:maze03.jpg width="575" height="431" align="center"]]

Activity 3. Teach your mouse new tricks

 * [[image:mouse_bond_james_bond.jpg]]
 * Hold your mouse in one hand and have a piece of yummy food in the other.
 * Hold a piece of string between your fingers
 * The first time the mouse goes over the string it should only be about 3cm long
 * Increase the length progressively until it is like a tight rope.
 * [[image:secret-agent-mouse-demotivational-poster-1212005962.jpg]]

Activity 4. Reproduction and transfer of characteristics from parents to young.

 * Record the colour and pattern of the fur of both mouse **parents**.[[image:DNA.gif align="right"]]
 * Now, record the colour and patterns of the fur of their **pups**.
 * 1) What did you notice? Write down your answer.
 * 2) Try and explain the differences between the pups and their parents and the pups and each other in your own words. Write down your answer.
 * 3) Copy the text below.
 * //The passing on of characteristics from one generation to the next is called inheritance.//
 * //The information determining how we look is encoded in the DNA that makes up our genes.//
 * //This genetic information is stored in every cell of our body... and in that of every mouse.//
 * //Sexual reproduction not only leads to the creation of new life, but in the process it leads to a mixing of genetic information.//
 * //This is why children (and mouse pups) look a bit like their mother, and a bit like their father... but have their own unique characteristics.//
 * //It is nature's way of helping species to survive environmental change.//
 * //The study of genes and inheritance is called genetics.//
 * //The change in genetic characteristics over time is called evolution.//

Introduction to genetics (wikipedia)

//A population of organisms// [|//evolves//] //when an inherited trait becomes more common or less common over time.//[|//[15//]] //For instance, all the mice living on an island would be a single population of mice. If over a few generations, white mice went from being rare, to being a large part of this population, then the coat color of these mice would be evolving.//



Activity 5. Research task: the history of mice and men… mouse plagues, mice migration…

 * Based on Mice and Men booklet... or a project that has been agreed upon by your teacher

Assessment:
 For this unit you will be assessed on the following things: · Workbook: recording of results, tables, graphs, activities · Handling · Teamwork and contribution (maze building + …) · Test (handling, care and treatment of mice) · Research
 * NEW* Assessment task

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