Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Sniffing Out Dogs' Senses

Subject Area

Science

Grade(s)

4

Overview

Discover just how powerful a dog’s sense of smell can be in this video from NOVA: Inside Animal Minds: Dogs & Super Senses. Fern, a trained sniffer dog, is put to the ultimate test: Can she locate a canister of meat hidden 20 feet underwater? As a passenger on a boat, Fern must determine the exact spot over which the canister was dropped in a lake. After about an hour of crisscrossing the lake, Fern successfully pinpoints the location. Canine smell is so acute because a dog’s nose splits the flow of incoming air into separate streams—with one dedicated solely to smell. A dog’s brain is also specially configured to make sense of the olfactory information it receives.

This resource is part of the NOVA Collection.

    Science (2015) Grade(s): 4

    SC15.4.11

    Investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses, process that information, and respond to it in different ways (e.g., skunks lifting tails and spraying an odor when threatened, dogs moving ears when reacting to sound, snakes coiling or striking when sensing vibrations).

    Unpacked Content

    UP:SC15.4.11

    Vocabulary

    • investigate
    • evidence
    • transmit
    • perception
    • receptors
    • senses
    • sensory information
    • process
    • memories

    Knowledge

    Students know:
    • Different types of sense receptors detect specific types of information within the environment.
    • Sense receptors send information about the surroundings to the brain.
    • Information that is transmitted to the brain by sense receptors can be processed immediately as perceptions of the environment and/or stored as memories.
    • Immediate perceptions or memories processed by the brain influences an animal's actions or responses to features in the environment.

    Skills

    Students are able to:
    • Identify different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
    • Identify evidence of different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information to be investigated.
    • Plan ways to Investigate different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
    • Collect and communicate data of different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.

    Understanding

    Students understand that:
    • Sensory input, the brain, and behavioral output are all parts of a system that allows animals to engage in appropriate behaviors.

    Scientific and Engineering Practices

    Planning and Carrying out Investigations

    Crosscutting Concepts

    Systems and System Models
    Link to Resource

    CR Resource Type

    Audio/Video

    Resource Provider

    PBS
    Accessibility

    Accessibility

    Video resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles
    License

    License Type

    CUSTOM
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