Underwater Predators: Octopus, Sharks, Orcas, & Dolphins (Semester Long)
Do dolphins use baby-talk? Do octopuses know how to count? Can sharks hear your heart beating? Become a science detective in this online semester course and explore questions about animal intelligence.
Leeyanne Moore MFA
Average rating:
4.8
Number of reviews:(228)
What's included
8 live meetings
6 hrs 40 mins in-class hoursHomework
1 hour per week. A one page handout will be provided for each class. This handout is meant to assist the students in taking notes, so they can compete in the team quiz each day in class. Is your learner new to taking notes? Not to worry! The quiz is short, basic, and only for fun!Progress Report
includedClass Experience
US Grade 5 - 8
Beginner Level
Your learner will come away from this class knowing a lot more about the biological wonders of various large and small sea creatures. We are going to become science detectives and try to answer the following perplexing questions about animal intelligence, and large underwater sea creatures in particular:
Are octopuses successful escape artists?
Do dolphins use baby-talk with their young?
Can a shark use electricity to navigate?
Do orcas purposely try to sink ships?
In each class we will:
Learn about the key traits, habits, biology, and defenses of large undersea creatures.
Explore aspects of animal intelligence and perception for each creature. What cool discoveries have scientists recently made?
Review concepts and facts we learned the week before, before building upon that knowledge.
Curriculum (a sample of the first two days of class):
Lesson #1: Octopus unique biology
Students will learn about key aspects of octopus biology including: the close and distant family relations to the octopus, the difference between vertebrates & invertebrates, as well as how the arms, brain, blood, and suckers of the octopus are unique compared to other animals. Learners will be presented to fun and whacky facts about the octopus.
Lesson #2: Octopus varieties
Students will learn about the top ten unique varieties of the octopus and how its unique traits raise questions about octopus evolution and ecological niches.
Lesson #3: Octopus Defense mechanisms
We'll review materials from last class.
We'll look at the octopus's cousins the cuttlefish and squid to examine chromatophores that cephalopods use for camouflage. We'll look at the components of octopus ink and what it does to predators. And finally, we'll learn about other defense mechanisms octopuses use including how to mimic other predators.
Lesson #4: Octopus Intelligence
We'll review materials from the last class as we begin to discuss the problem of animal intelligence--what counts as 'intelligence' in the world of science, and watch a fun set of octopus escape room videos, as well as videos about cuttle fish intelligence, counting, and talk about how squids might use their bioluminescence to communicate with each other while hunting in packs.Learning Goals
Students will learn:
Critical thinking skills:
how to compare and contrast
the meaning of skepticism
tools for being a good skeptic
creating arguments based on analysis & critical thinking skills
Basic facts about octopuses, sharks, whales, and their families:
basic defense mechanisms in large sea animals
anatomy of large sea creatures
biological terms like anthropomorphism and chromatophors
Philosophy of Science topics:
how scientists define self-consciousness
how scientists define intelligence
what tests on animals can prove or can't prove about animal consciousness
Cryptozoology:
the academic procedure academics use to study animals that haven't been proven to exist
processes by which exaggerated myths can perpetuate erroneous knowledge
Other Details
Learning Needs
The weekly structure provides confidence, while maximizing learner's independent thinking for students on the mild end of ADD/ADHD or the spectrum who enjoy asking questions, investigating, and hypothesizing.
Parental Guidance
Sometimes we'll be looking at dead sea creatures or hoaxes made to look like dead sea creatures.
Pre-Requisites
Learners should be able to focus on a topic for twenty minutes, and engage in review of materials from week to week.
Joined May, 2020
4.8
228reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
One third of this class is devoted to facts about octopuses, sharks, and whales. One third to looking at sea lore and myth in terms of how it affects our knowledge and behavior towards these animals, and the final third of the class is about developing critical thinking skills in young minds when it comes to urban legends surrounding these creatures
As a rhetoric professor teaching critical thinking skills at the university level, I've found kids 10 through 13 are natural skeptics who enjoy soaking up fundamental concepts in critical thinking. Students will learn how to assess the agenda of media that presents them with proof that 'monsters' exist down in the trenches of the ocean. Once students master a few critical thinking concepts and new vocabulary words, I use urban legends and lore about sea creatures to spark excitement and then un-peel our thoughts surrounding sticky questions about how we know whether something is true or not. Finally, I will examine with the learners how and why urban legends, myths, and hoaxes spring into being. In addition to this I use my undergraduate background in philosophy to examine the philosophy of science about animal intelligence -- in particular the intelligence of invertebrates.
Finally, I've have a masters degree I use to develop a specialty in literature about sea lore. While doing research for a novel in progress, I've amassed a wealth of science based facts about cephalopods, cetacea, and elasmobranchii from reliable sources listed under sources.
Reviews
Live Group Course
$165
for 8 classes1x per week, 8 weeks
50 min
Completed by 9 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 11-13
1-4 learners per class
