Essential and guiding questions:
Questions:
- What was similar about the births of the chick and the turtle?
- What was similar about the births of the goat and seal?
- For which animals was the mother present at birth?
- The birth of human babies is similar to that of which group of animals?
- In what ways did the newborns resemble their parents?
- What similarities do you notice in the shape of the infants' heads and in their facial features?
- What differences do you notice?
- How did the shape of the girl's head, eyes, nose, and mouth change as she grew older?
- What other kinds of physical changes occur as newborns grow?
- How does body size change?
- Why do you think babies aren't born bigger than they are?
- If we assume that you were all 20 inches long at birth, how much have you grown since then?
- What kinds of things can affect how tall you'll be when you're fully grown? (Examples: heredity, nutrition)
- At what age do girls and boys typically reach their adult height? (early teens for girls, late teens for boys)
- Point out that all living things, not just humans, grow and change as they go through life. Ask students for examples of growth and change in other animals.
- In what stage(s) do we accomplish each of these developmental milestones: learning to talk, learning to walk, learning to ride a bike, learning to read, going to high school, going to college, getting married, having children, and retiring from work (add others of your choosing)?
- How old do most people in the United States live to be?
- In which seasons were the babies born? How can you tell?
- Why is it important for them to be born at this time?
- At just a few months old, what were the baby ducks already capable of doing? What about the baby foxes?
- At what age do humans learn to swim? feed themselves? get their own food? go off to live on their own?
- How are the life cycles of animal babies different from the human life cycle? How are they similar?
