Living Things Change the Place They Live

Lab Brief #13

🎯 Your mission

Understand the idea. Then look for it everywhere.

⚡ The twist

Every species solves the same problem differently.

What you'll learn

A beaver dams a stream and makes a pond. Worms tunnel and let air into soil. Tree roots crack rock. Living things do not just fit their habitat — they change it, sometimes a great deal.

Key words

burrow
A hole an animal digs in the ground to live in.
dam
A wall built across a stream that holds water back into a pond.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you watch: what do you think it'll do?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "burrow" and "dam" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Look outside for three signs that a living thing has changed its surroundings — a molehill, a nibbled leaf, a root lifting a paving slab. Photograph or sketch each one.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

When a beaver builds a dam it makes a:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

Worm tunnels help soil by letting in:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🐙 An octopus has 9 brains and 3 hearts.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

All lessons

🎯

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We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: Your own body is doing this thousands of times every second.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find one thing about your body that's different from a friend's. Wonder why.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “Tell me something you noticed about your own body today.”

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Living Things Change the Place They Live

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Living Things Change the Place They Live

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