GRADE LEVEL: 5-8

TOPIC/SUBJECT MATTER: Life Science

TIME ALLOTMENT: Two 45-minute class periods

OVERVIEW:

During this video-enhanced lesson, students will learn about dogs’ senses and how they compare to those of humans, with particular focus on the senses of smell and hearing. Students will test their own senses of smell in a sniff test of familiar scents. Students will explore different ways that dogs help humans and watch video segments from the NATURE film “Dogs that Changed the World,” featuring 3 different situations where dogs help humans-sled dogs in the Arctic Circle, sheep dogs in the United Kingdom and a dog in the US who alerts a boy with diabetes when his blood sugar levels are low. Students will then conduct research and create a presentation about a modern dog hero.

MEDIA RESOURCES:

Video

Access the streaming and downloadable video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.

Clip 1: Dog Sense

A comparison of dog and human senses

Clip 2: Sled Dogs

A close look at sled dogs and their relationships with the Inuit people in the Arctic Circle

Clip 3: Moving Sheep

A close look at how dogs help perform this job

Clip 4: Delta

Delta, a German Shepherd helps prevent a boy from having diabetic seizures

Web sites

American Kennel Club

This Web site is a good source for information and photographs of dogs.

Los Angeles Natural History Museum

This Web site contains an exhibit entitled “Dogs- wolf, myth, hero and friend,” which contains a lot of information about dogs and related online activities and hands-on activities that can be done at home. One of the featured activities is “Dog Gone Perfect Laboratories,” which challenges visitors to build an online dog for a specific task (pull a sled, herd sheep, etc.). To access this activity, go to the Artificial Selection page, scroll down to the bottom and click on “Dog Gone Perfect Laboratories Activity” in the left hand column.

National Geographic Web sites’ Animal Section
This Web site features many photos of dogs, which can be used in this lesson.

Sheppard Software Web Site’s Dog Section

This Web site includes interesting facts, quizzes and activities about dogs, including a fun “Dog Heroes” quiz.

Standards:

National Science Education Standards, Grades 5-8

LIFE SCIENCE: Content Standard C

As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop understanding of

• Reproduction and heredity

o       The characteristics of an organism can be described in terms of a combination of traits. Some traits are inherited and others result from interactions with the environment.

• Regulation and behavior

o       Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an internal or environmental stimulus. A behavioral response requires coordination and communication at many levels, including cells, organ systems, and whole organisms. Behavioral response is a set of actions determined in part by heredity and in part from experience.

o       An organism’s behavior evolves through adaptation to its environment. How a species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and responds to danger are based in the species’ evolutionary history.

• Diversity and adaptations of organisms

o       Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. Species acquire many of their unique characteristics through biological adaptation, which involves the selection of naturally occurring variations in populations. Biological adaptations include changes in structures, behaviors, or physiology that enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment.

MATERIALS:

For each student:

• “Dogs’ Work” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)

For the class:

• A large sheet of paper or board and something with which to write
• Five small, identical, opaque containers (such as 35mm film canisters)
• Five cotton balls and aromatic items. (See the “Prep for Teachers” section for details.)

Note: For a large class, you can prepare more than 5 containers and cotton balls. See the “Prep for Teachers” section for details.

• Labels or small pieces of paper and tape (to label the containers)
• A photograph of a Bloodhound (If you need a photograph, go to the American Kennel Club’s Bloodhound page.)
• One computer for the teacher with a digital projection system and internet access
• One copy of the “Dogs’ Work” Student Organizer Answer Key for the teacher

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Compare human and dog senses;
• Provide details about how dogs use their senses of smell and hearing to help humans;
• Discuss different ways that dogs help humans;
• Describe tasks performed by sheep dogs, sled dogs and service dogs;
• Describe different skills of different breeds of dogs;
• Explain how a dogs’ features (body, head, tail, etc.) can be advantageous for specific environments and tasks.
• Provide examples of heroic acts performed by dogs;
• Discuss why dogs are referred to as “man’s best friend.”

Prep for Teachers

Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video segments and Web sites used in the lesson.

Download the video clips used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.

Bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal) will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.

Prepare containers and cotton balls for the sniff test:

o       Pre-soak at least 5 cotton balls with common scents. Possible scents include: lemon, orange, pizza sauce, peppermint extract, vanilla extract, garlic “juice” squeezed from a clove, cinnamon, etc.

o        Place each cotton ball in one of the clearly-labeled, small, identical, opaque containers, making sure only to put one cotton ball in each container.

o       Place a label on each container. Write a different number, from 1to 5, on each label.

Note: During the “sniff test” activity in the lesson, you will be dividing the students into groups and giving each group one container at a time. If you have a large class, feel free to prepare more than 5 cotton balls. Make sure to have the corresponding number of containers and labels.

Make a copy of the “Dogs’ Work” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)for each student.

Make one copy of the “Dogs’ Work” Student Organizer Answer Key (PDF) (RTF) for the teacher.

Proceed to ACTIVITIES

These brief video segments can be used alone or in combination, to introduce a topic or to spark discussion among your students. The video segments can be adapted for any grade level – suggested focus questions are provided. Stream the video segments from the playlist below, or scroll to the bottom of the page to find downloadable QuickTime versions of the videos. These videos are also used in the lesson plan Man’s Best Friend (grades 5-8).

Downloadable QuickTime versions of the video segments:
(Note: To download a video, right click on the video title and click “Save Link As…’ or “Save Target As…”. On a Mac, press the CTRL key and simultaneously click the mouse, then save the link.)

Clip 1: Dog Sense

Clip 2: Sled Dogs

Clip 3: Moving Sheep

Clip 4: Delta

Meet the Dogs

Each of the dogs on the NATURE program is extraordinary in its own way. Here’s a closer look at a few of them.

Chip

Chip, a border collie on a farm in England, works for a living — but if you gave him a vacation, he’d be miserable. Chip was born with an instinctive desire to herd sheep. He uses body language to keep the flock under control. Border collies are highly intelligent, and they also have a lot of energy. Chip and seven other border collies sometimes willingly work 16-hour days herding the 2500 sheep on the farm. In fact, if border collies don’t get enough stimulation, they can become hyperactive and snappish. Their herding instinct drives them to run around other dogs, humans, or even kitchen tables, all in an effort to obey their genetic command to protect the flock. Herding comes so naturally to border collies that Raymond McPherson, the farm owner, says he is completely dependent on the dogs to run his farm, especially Chip, whom he calls “the best.”

Cinder

Cinder is a mixed-breed dog who can predict when her handler, Yvonne, will have an epileptic seizure. It is not totally understood how this “sixth sense” develops, but Cinder can somehow sense an oncoming seizure and warn Yvonne by behaving in a certain way. Yvonne knows that when Cinder begins to act that way, it is time to lie down in a safe place and await a seizure. Cinder then protects Yvonne from moving or endangering herself. Cinder was not trained to detect seizures; she simply knows how innately. “It shows the amazing talents dogs have,” says EXTRAORDINARY DOGS producer Hildy Rubin. “It wasn’t just that this dog predicted seizures, but the two of them had an incredibly strong bond even though they had only known each other for three weeks.” Harnessing Cinder’s natural ability, Yvonne taught her how to act when someone is having a seizure. Then, Cinder was placed with someone who needed an alert dog and Yvonne began training another candidate.

Hasty

Hasty, a Golden retriever, is involved in a different kind of rescue: he locates avalanche victims. It takes months of training to teach Golden retriever puppies how to zero in on skiers buried in the snow and lead the rescue team to the right spot. But to the dogs, it all seems like play. Once trained, these dogs help ski patrol teams find unlucky back-country skiers who become trapped under the snowpile of an avalanche. Hasty’s keen sense of smell is a powerful search tool, locating skiers who may be buried beneath 6 feet or more of heavy snow. Since someone buried in snow may have only 30 minutes’ worth of air, Hasty’s trainers drill him constantly to cut his response time.

Molly and Scooter

Molly and Scooter are ordinary dogs with a lot of love to give, which makes them perfect therapy dogs. Their job is to do just what comes naturally: offer love, unconditionally — in this case to hospital patients in need of cheering. Once a month, Sue, their owner, takes them to a local hospital in Maryland, where they visit children who are very ill. Using nothing but their tongues, furry bodies, and considerable charm, Molly and Scooter do a lot to lift the kids’ spirits.

Twany

Seeing-eye dogs have been assisting the blind for nearly 80 years. Today, dogs also perform many other services for people with disabilities. Chad is a teenager with cerebral palsy. While most of us take for granted things like opening doors, getting food from the refrigerator, or turning on the light, for a person with a disability, these can be momentous tasks requiring someone else’s help. For Chad, that help comes from a service dog — a German shepherd named Twany. Twany was trained by the Prison Pet Partnership Program, in which prison inmates work with dogs rescued from shelters to train them as service dogs. She goes everywhere with Chad, even taking the bus to school with him every day. As for Chad, in addition to the increased freedom from his disability, he now has a devoted companion and the good feeling that comes from taking care of someone who needs him.

A Second Chance

Chad, a teenager with cerebral palsy who lives near Seattle, relies on Twany, his German shepherd service dog, to help him get through the day. But Twany didn’t train herself. She came to Chad after graduating from the Prison Pet Partnership Program. As seen on NATURE, this is a Washington State project in which female prison inmates train dogs rescued from shelters.

For the inmate trainers, working with dogs has been an education in the benefits a canine companion can offer anyone. Under the direction of Jeanne Hampl, this nonprofit program, based at a corrections facility for women in Washington State, has trained service dogs for people with disabilities since 1982. Hampl rescues good-natured dogs from pounds and introduces them to their new trainers — felons who volunteer to teach the dogs service skills and who must qualify for the program by showing model behavior. The dogs live in the inmates’ cells with them while the dogs are in training.

During that time, the dogs learn how to perform tasks — opening doors or turning on lights — that their future owners cannot do by themselves. According to Hampl, there is a waiting list of about 20 people eager to have service dogs of their own. Like Chad, they know that the assistance of a service dog can make a huge difference in their lives. The dogs themselves, saved from a grim fate, become true companions, best friends, and helpmeets to their new owners. The third part of the equation is the prisoners. Hampl must choose carefully, matching dogs not only with their future owners but with inmates suited to the task. Many of these women emerge from the experience transformed: they gain confidence, important job skills, a sense of accomplishment, and best of all, the unconditional, life-changing love of a dog. The program’s effects foster cooperation and camaraderie throughout the prison. Hampl speaks of an “amazing change” that comes over the inmates. “None of the trainers is allowed to have a major infraction,” she says, “and they know they have a lot to lose if they screw up.” An inmate stays on her best behavior in the knowledge that her hard work will mean a better life for another person, a dog, and perhaps even herself.