Third grade students worked with a lab partner to explore the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates. One partner created a vertebrate animal using a pipe cleaner to make a backbone with Play Doh wrapped around it as tissue and skin. The other partner made some kind “standing” invertebrate animal with just Play Doh, no backbone. The students then placed blocks on the back of each animal one at a time to see how much weight the animal could hold.
The students learned that an animal with a backbone could hold more blocks than the invertebrate. By testing their animals, they also discovered that the way the blocks were placed on the animal’s back also made a difference as to how much weight they could hold. If they crisscrossed the blocks, the animal could hold more than if blocks just stacked straight up! #STEM #elementarySTEM #STEMfun #STEMed #3rdgrade #backbones