1. Animal Behaviour
Picture from wikimedia commons

2. Aims
Provide inexpensive ideas for simple, effective animal behaviour experiments in the classroom
Illustrate links to the curriculum
Encourage the use of living organisms in schools
Demonstrate ideas with animals that are very easy to maintain in schools

3. Okai- so you might not have these......
Picture from wikimedia commons

4. But anyone can have these.............
Pictures from wikimedia commons

5. But anyone can have these.............
Picture from wikimedia commons

6. The experiments Brine date One good turn deserves another.....
Is she bean choosy?
Pictures from wikimedia commons

7. Using live animals
Pictures from wikimedia commons

8. Health and safety
Risk assessments – SSERC 5 step template
Hand washing

9. Advanced Higher Biology
Curriculum links
Advanced Higher Biology
Optional unit – Animal Behaviour
Advanced higher project

10. Curriculum links Intermediate 2 Biology Higher Biology
Unit 2. Environmental Biology and Genetics
Ecosystem
Factors affecting variation in a species - Natural Selection
Unit 3. Animal physiology
Control of the internal environment
Sensory mechanisms and processing of information
Unit 2. Genetics and Adaptation
Variation
Selection and speciation
Unit 3. Control and regulation
Physiological homeostasis
Population dynamics

11. Curriculum links Curriculum for Excellence
Biodiversity and interdependence
EO’S
SCN 3-01a – I can sample and identify living things from different habitats to compare their biodiversity and can suggest reasons for their distribution
SCN-3-02a – ....and I can demonstrate my understanding of why plants are vital to sustaining life on Earth
SCN 4-01a – I understand how animal and plant species depend on each other and how living things are adapted for survival. I can predict the impact of population growth and natural hazards on biodiversity

12. Learning in the sciences will enable me to:
Develop curiosity and understanding of the environment and my place in the living, material and physical world
Develop the skills of scientific inquiry and investigation using practical techniques
Develop an understanding of the Earth’s resources and the need for responsible use of them
(from intro statements, CfE)

14. Brilliant Brine shrimps

15. Brine Shrimp Success Light bank/ source Time to grow up algae
Keep algae stock tank
Pea green or clear tank?
Alternative- dried food
Sand/shell for shrimps
Temp. and salinity for maximum growth
Set up around 5/6 weeks before practical
Overfeeding

16. Sexual selection – whose choice?

17. Brine shrimp lessons
Lesson 1 – Background, observation and notes, segregation. Lesson 2 – Gender check, set up mate choice experiments with controls. Lesson 3 (2-4 days later) – Results and discussion. Alternative approach/ to confirm results – measuring size of natural mate-guarding pairs

18. Initial observations Are all the brine shrimps the same size?
Do they all swim singly?
Can you distinguish males from females?
In a mate-guarding pair which sex is in front and which behind?
Females are distinguished by egg sacs halfway down the body. Are all females egg sacs the same size? If not why might this be?
What are the characteristics of males? What do you think the claspers do?
Make a hypothesis as to why the males and females are clasped together for about three days around the time of mating. It is not only that they mate during this time!

19. What do Brine shrimps fancy?
Hypothesis – brine shrimps choose their mates by size
Two experimental approaches
Mate choice experiments
Measuring mate-guarding pairs

20. How do established pairs measure up?
1 cm

21. Mate choice Hypothesis – brine shrimps choose their mates by size
Experiment 1.
One large male, one small male and one large female
Experiment 2.
One large male, one small male and one small female
Experiment 3.
One large female, one small female and one large male
Experiment 4.
One large female, one small female and one small male
N.B. Note condition of female egg sac size and colour.

22. Further Briney activities....
Bottle ecosystems
Speedy shrimps
Brine Shrimp Ecology by
Michael Dockery
Stephen Tomkins

23. Turn alternation in woodlice
One good turn
Turn alternation in woodlice

24. If a slater is forced to make a turn, at its next turn does it turn the same (S) or opposite (O) direction? B A C G D H
Alley blocks F I K J L N M

25. Is she bean choosy?
Seed beetles,
callosobruchus
maculatus

26. Keeping seed beetles in school
Straightforward
Low maintenance
Fluon is your best friend

27. Is she bean choosy?

28. Ask the beetles questions?
Do females prefer mung/adzuki/black eye beans/ peas?
Do they prefer ‘clean’ beans?
How quickly can they walk?
Can they walk faster horizontally or vertically?
Do they prefer light or dark?
Will they lay on beans with the testa removed?

29. HMIe- A portrait of current practice in Scottish schools
Are motivated and enthusiastic about learning which in turn impacts positively on their wellbeing
Achieve success in practical and research tasks, problem solving, data analysis and evaluation, discussion and debate
Develop the scientific values of respect for living things
Have an enthusiasm for collaborative learning and group tasks