Lesson Supplies to Survive in the Jungle

Quick Look

Grade Level: 5

Time Required: 15 minutes

Lesson Dependency:

Subject Areas: Earth and Space

An aerial view of the Amazon rainforest showing a wide river winding through dense green forests.
What supplies are needed to survive the Amazon?
copyright
Copyright © 2011 Neil Palmer/CIAT https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amazon_CIAT_(2).jpg

Summary

At this stage of the "Lost in the Amazon" (hypothetical) adventure, students determine what supplies they will take with them to survive their trip through the Amazon. They use estimation and basic math skills to determine how much they can carry and what they can use to survive in the jungle environment as they travel on to their destination.

Engineering Connection

Engineers use critical thinking skills to identify what criteria are important for success and what criteria are not important. Then they make design decisions based on these criteria.

Learning Objectives

After this lesson, students should be able to:

  • Determine survival skills in the Amazon
  • Use estimation and basic math skills to determine how much they can carry and what they can use to survive in the jungle environment 

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

  • There are different forms of energy, and those forms of energy can be changed from one form to another – but total energy is conserved (Grade 8) More Details

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Introduction/Motivation

Read the following part of the storyline with your students:

Now that you have decided where you are going and figured out about how long it will take, it is time to decide what to take with you. Start to think about everything that you might need. What will you take? Will you have everything you need to survive the trip to Manaus?

Lesson Background and Concepts for Teachers

None for this lesson.

Associated Activities

  • What to Bring? - Students examine a list of items that remain after the plane crash in the jungle. They organize the supplies to classify which are useful for surviving the upcoming trek to safety. They use estimation and basic math skills to determine how much they can carry.

Lesson Closure

Discuss with students what kinds of supplies are needed in the jungle environment. Were there items not included on the list of supplies that survived the plane crash that they wish they could bring with them for their journey?

Assessment

Worksheet: Have each group complete the associated activity worksheets Review their answers to gauge their depth of comprehension.

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More Curriculum Like This

Upper Elementary Activity
What to Bring?

They organize the supplies to classify which items are useful for surviving in the Amazon. They use estimation and basic math skills to determine how much they can carry and decide which items to bring with them to survive in the jungle until they reach their destination.

Upper Elementary Lesson
The Growling Stomach

Students investigate edible plants and insects in the Amazon as part of the "Lost in the Amazon" hypothetical scenario. They research plants and insects to identify characteristics that make them edible or useful for human survival.

Copyright

© 2013 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2005 Colorado School of Mines

Supporting Program

Adventure Engineering, Colorado School of Mines

Acknowledgements

Adventure Engineering was supported by National Science Foundation grant nos. DUE 9950660 and GK-12 0086457. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

Last modified: June 15, 2017

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