Blubber: How does it Work?

A Guided Inquiry Lesson

This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed below. These National Science Education Standards are drawn from Content Knowledge for Understanding Scientific Inquiry. The science subject matter focuses on the science facts, concepts, principles, theories, and models that are important for all students to know, understand, and use.

Subject: Science; Grades K-4

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to learn how blubber insulates warm blooded mammals in order for them to adapt to their environment throughout their life cycles.

Student Learning Outcomes:

  1. Given an experiment, students will be able to demonstrate how blubber protects mammals with 60% mastery.
  2. After the experiment, students will be able to explain the effect blubber has on mammals with 75% mastery.

Prior Knowledge: Before beginning this activity, students should have the following background information:

  1. Whales, seals, dolphins, and porpoises are not fish, but mammals, which means they are warm-blooded.
  2. Warm-blooded animals’ body temperatures remain constant; their body temperatures do not change to the surrounding temperature.
  3. Warm-blooded animals, in order to maintain a constant body temperature, need a way to keep warm when the surrounding temperature is cold.

Materials:

Teacher:

  • Ice
  • Pictures of mammals
  • Thermometer (optional)

Students:

The following materials will be required for each group:

  • Rubber gloves or “gloves” made out of two large self-sealing bags (turn one bag inside out and insert into other bag and zip it closed.
  • Large bowl
  • Water
  • Ice
  • Solid vegetable shortening
  • Data collection worksheet
  • Discussion worksheet
  • Outdoor thermometer (optional)

Behavior Expectations: Today we will be performing an experiment. Some of the materials we are going to use are messy. I expect you to be careful and abide by the safety rules when using the materials. I expect the proper clean-up after the experiment.

Motivation: Ask students how they think sea mammals—such as whales, seals, dolphins, and porpoises—stay warm in cold water. Make sure students know what blubber is—a thick layer of fat beneath the skin of sea mammals. Tell them that they are going to do an experiment to find out how blubber helps sea mammals stay warm.

Data Collection:

  1. Divide the class into groups (no more than four students per group). Give each group a large bowl filled with cold water and ice cubes and a glove.
  2. Direct students to take turns putting on the glove and submerging the gloved hand in the ice water for 30 seconds. Have each student tell the group how his or her hand feels after being submerged.
  3. Tell students to record each student’s reaction on a chart they devise themselves. The chart should have columns for group members’ names and for members’ reactions without “blubber.” The chart should also have a column for reactions with “blubber.”
  4. Next, have students take turns repeating the procedure, with each group member thickly coating his or her hand with solid vegetable shortening before putting on the glove (this has been modified to make the experiment easier and cleaner). Take two large self-sealing bags, put vegetable shortening into the bag and insert a zip lock bag that has been turned inside out. Zip-lock the two bags together and you will have a “glove” that includes the vegetable shortening. This lets the children conduct the experiment without getting the shortening on clothing and makes the experiment easier to clean up as it is hard to get the shortening off the children’s hands). Have each student tell the group how his or her hand feels this time. Group members should add data from this step to their chart.
  5. Discuss results with the class. Why did students’ hands feel warmer when coated with solid vegetable shortening than when uncoated? What does this experiment tell them about the function of blubber in sea mammals?
  6. Have students wash their hands with soap and water after the experiment.Younger students may need help coating their hands with the shortening and with cleaning up. If students record data on charts, you might prepare the charts for the students in advance. Rather than have students work on their own, you might have one or more volunteers perform the experiment, with your help, as a demonstration for the class.

Debriefing and Checking for Understanding:

Data Processing:

  1. Besides blubber, what are some other physical characteristics that help keep animals warm in cold climates?
  2. Think of some animals that live in cold climates and some that live in hot climates. Compare and contrast their physical characteristics.
  3. Humans have a layer of fat under the skin, but not enough to keep us warm. How do humans keep warm in cold weather?
  4. Underwater mammals differ in many ways from mammals that live on land. In what ways are land mammals and underwater mammals similar? What common characteristics qualify both groups of animals to be called mammals?

Appraisal: Given a pen and paper, students will be able to describe how blubber is important to all mammals, including humans, with 90% mastery.

Extended Practice:

Eight “Things” about Sharks

Invite students to brainstorm ideas and questions about sharks. Encourage them to do research to answer any questions they have. Have individual students or groups of 2-4 students create a storyboard for a television documentary about sharks. Each student or group should fold a large sheet of paper into eight parts and illustrate or write eight of the important ideas about sharks they would want to show. Students should write captions for all drawings.

References:

Discoveryschool.com

Additional Reading:

Deep-Sea Vents: Living Worlds Without Sun
John F. Waters, Cobblehill Books, 1994.

Our Oceans: Experiments and Activities in Marine Science
Paul Fleisher, Millbrook Press, 1995.
Safari Beneath the Sea: The Wonder World of the NorthPacificCoast
Diane Swanson, Sierra Club Books for Children, 1994.
Killer Whale
Caroline Arnold, Morrow Junior Books, 1994.

Orca Song
Michael C. Armour, Soundprints, 1994.
Free Willy! Free Keiko!
Earth Island Institute, EarthIsland Journal, Spring 1995.

Calls of the Wild
Michelle Alten, Animals, November 1994.
Sharks: Voracious Hunters of the Sea
Isidro Sanchez, Gareth Stevens Publishers, 1996.
Shark Facts
Lynn M. Stone, Rourke Corporation, 1996.
Sharks
Erik D. Stoops, Sterling Publishing Co., 1994.
The Shark Callers
Eric Campbell, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1994.