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Scat Lesson Plan

Lesson plan for virtual field trip video about consumer evidence in the form of scat, or wild animal poop.

Consumer Evidence: Scat Lesson

Lesson Plan

Scat Lesson Plan (PDF)

Details

  • Submitted by: Vince Case & Steven Henley
  • Content Area: Science, grades 4-5
  • Materials Needed: paper and pencil, modeling clay, oatmeal AND/OR dirt and water
  • Handouts Attached: none
  • Standard Addressed: NGSS 5-LS2  Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy & Dynamics (see attached NGSS standards sheet for full information)
  • Skill to be Maintained: Understanding that consumers gain energy by eating food from other consumers or producers that energy originated from the sun. 
  • Essential Question: How do consumers get their energy and where does this energy come from?
  • Academic Vocabulary/Word Wall words: Consumers, producers, energy, scat
  • Brain Drain or Warm Up Activity:  N/A

Basic Lesson Description and Procedure

  1. Students will watch the video from the SMNHC.
  2. Students will make observations of different kinds of scat and specifically explore different samples of bear scat while learning about different mast (food) sources of black bear.
  3. Students will look carefully at the bear scat and discover that bears eat food that is in season and available for them to eat (like bear corn, orchard fruit, insects, juniper berries, cactus fruit, piñons, acorns, grasses, etc.).
  4. Students will learn about and observe scat from different kinds of consumers (herbivores, omnivores, carnivores) and recognize scat contents from several consumers that live in the Sandia Mountains (including pack rats, rabbits, deer, foxes, coyotes, bears, bobcats, turkey, and raccoon).
  5. Students will gather supplies needed to make scat samples (dirt, water, oatmeal, modeling clay, plastic containers, shovel, spoon, etc.)
  6. Students will learn how to make different kinds of scat using these materials and then make their own scat with an adult’s permission and/or supervision.

Scat-Making Activity

With permission of a grown-up, students will make different kinds of scat using clay, dirt/water, mud, oatmeal, whatever they can find.  Students can also draw and label scat if these materials are too difficult to find.

Lesson Conclusion/Potential Practice at Home

Students can let their scat dry and share their scat models with family members and others living with them if they choose.

Accommodations-Modifications

Just about any grade level can do this lesson and activity

This page was last updated on: January 27, 2022.