Using Live Species Around Campus to Understand Diets

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Originally appears in the Winter 2020 issue.

By Stacy Craft

Health and wellness are imperative to individuals with special needs, particularly so for the one-third of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who are obese.1 Although exercise is necessary to maintain proper health, it can be difficult to engage others in exercise when it is viewed negatively; however, diet — or rather, food and eating — is a topic that many people with ASD enjoy, with favorite foods being chicken nuggets, french fries, and pizza.2,3,4

Every living thing “eats,” whether it be plants converting sunlight into sugars, horses eating grass, or humans eating chicken. Helping students understand what a plant or animal eats may help them meet educational requirements, and it could better connect students with nature because we can often readily draw parallels between our actions and those of other species. Often, individuals with ASD are ostracized by their peers due to their difficulty understanding emotion; however, Poon, Teng, Chow & Chen5 found that individuals who are ostracized may also connect better with nature and desire to engage with it. Therefore, it is important to encourage that connection through a positive topic — diet.

Discussing diet can be difficult initially, so using examples from other species aids in starting and continuing a discussion. For example, students who do not enjoy eating plant-based foods might enjoy discussing herbivores. Similarly, students who struggle to eat enough animal protein may connect with carnivorous or omnivorous species. Allowing students to connect with their favorite or preferred species based on diet allows them to open up to new foods, while enhancing their brains’ ability to retain and understand concepts in the science education curriculum.

In most curricula, discussion of animal diets typically occurs across several grade levels, intentionally building upon previously-obtained knowledge to ensure a well-rounded education. However, it is common for special education students to be left behind when content is not presented at a level or in a way that they can understand. Therefore, this lesson includes hands-on activities with real life examples to educate these students for their success.

As students categorized as having special needs are not all at the same level, regardless of their designation, there are four levels of difficulty within this lesson that can either be used consecutively to build knowledge or to provide educators with multiple starting points for teaching matter and energy transfer through an ecosystem. While this lesson is intended for fifth- through eighth-grade students with severe developmental and intellectual exceptionalities, it has the potential to be adapted for different contexts.

Level 1
Create laminated cards, connecting a plant or animal to its appropriate food item. Although each animal eats various items, consistency is important for people with special needs, so only one food item is provided. The species chosen for the Country School include Desert Cottontail, horse, mouse, Red-Tailed Hawk, Orange Tree, and grass; however, it is advisable to choose species that are common around your schoolyard. You may require an expanded list if you live in an area with seasonally-occurring species.
Using the laminated diet cards, take students outside to search for plants and animals around your schoolyard. When a plant or animal is discovered, ask students if they like that species and if they think they eat the same foods. Then, show students the associated diet card and verbalize “(plant/animal) eats (food)” (e.g., “horse eats grass”). Next, prompt students to reiterate the food item by saying, for instance, “now you say” or “What does the horse eat?”

Level 1 should last no longer than 15 minutes and should include no more than three species, thereby aiding students in retention and allowing them to become immersed in nature and enjoy learning. Level 1 should be repeated in several sessions to allow students to absorb material, thereby allowing them to more deeply process the information and better connect the diets to the species found on-site. Once students demonstrate sufficient growth and knowledge at this level, move to Level 2.

Level 2
This activity can be performed indoors, but it is encouraged that you take students outdoors around your schoolyard to spend time in nature, as the association of being outdoors aids students in remembering previously-learned material. While you are advised to repeat this activity several times, each time should take no more than 15 minutes and consist of approximately five species. You may use the plant and animal diet cards from Level 1 or create new cards which show only the plant, animal, or diet, rather than those with the “eats” arrow.

Show students one plant or animal with two diets, prompting students to match correct diet (e.g., “What do rabbits eat?”). If using the diet cards from Level 1, make sure to physically cover the plant or animal, showing to students only the “eats” arrow and diet. After each species, ask if students like that plant or animal, and if they would want to try the same diet.
For students who are struggling with plant diets, have a conversation discussing sunlight as a source of energy for plants. Often, students struggle prior to this discussion, making the connection between soil and water as being needs of plants, but not sunlight. Additionally, some students may struggle with animal diets. In this case, it helps to begin this level by having one of the choices being sun, as no animals presented use sunlight as their source of energy. As this level becomes easier for students, begin adding more diet options as well as removing sunlight as an option for an animal diet choice.

Level 3
Similar to Level 2, you may choose to use the diet cards from Level 1 or create new cards which show only the plant, animal, or diet, rather than those with the “eats” arrow. Take students outdoors and around campus, as this level needs to be completed with live species. This activity should take 15–30 minutes depending on number of species found when you search your schoolyard.
While spending time in nature, search for plant and animal species. Using two diet cards, reference a live animal and ask for students to match the correct diet (e.g., “What does this eat?”). Students may match through verbalizations, pointing or choosing from provided cards. After a couple animals, ask which diet students liked best.

Due to the added difficulty of directly referencing live animals compared to those in the photos, it is ideal to have the cards displaying plant and animal species for student reference. Additionally, you may find that students initially forget that plants require sunlight. Therefore, a short discussion on this may be necessary. As students become quicker to choose the correct diet, add more diet options.

Level 4
Depending on your classroom structure, you may have instructional aids. If you do, split students into groups, where each group has at least one instructional aid or teacher. If you do not have instructional aids, you may split your class into two groups or simply teach this activity to the class as a whole. If you have groups, provide each group a set of plant, animal, and diet cards, along with several “eats” arrows. If you choose to do this activity outdoors, it is advised that plant, animal, diet, and “eats” arrow cards contain a magnet on the back for use on a magnetic whiteboard.

Using minimal teacher or instructional aid help, have students organize the cards into the correct food chain. This may be done verbally using devices or with their hands. Encourage students to build the food chain slowly, initially with only two “eats” arrows, ending in whichever plant “eats” sunlight. If using groups, encourage students to work as a team, while seeing which group can create the correct food chain first. Depending on how many species you may find around your campus, your chains may get long and extend beyond the whiteboard or desks. Additionally, students will likely begin to recognize that several plants and animals have the same diets. Use this realization as an opportunity to discuss food webs. Typically, this level takes 15–20 minutes; however, based on discussion of food webs, it could take up to 30 minutes.

Stacy Craft, M.A. works as an Instructor at TERI, Inc. Country School in San Marcos, California, U.S.A. She completed this project as a part of her graduate work with Project Dragonfly at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in conjunction with San Diego Zoo Global. She would like to thank the Project Dragonfly students and staff who helped with editing her work, and TERI, Inc. students and staff for actively engaging in her lessons, with special thanks to Emily Craft for support throughout this process.

Endnotes:

1. Autism Speaks. (2018, October). Autism and obesity: When exercise and healthy diet aren’t enough. Retrieved from https://www.autismspeaks.org/expert-opinion/autism-and-obesity-when-exercise-and-healthy-diet-arent-enough
2. Cermak, S. A., Curtin, C., & Bandini, L. G. (2010). Food selectivity and sensory sensitivity in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 110(2), 238–246.
3. Conrad, A. (2016, October 06). Food and Autism: My Child’s Three Favorite Foods. Retrieved from https://autismawareness.com/food-and-autism-my-childs-three-favorite-foods/
4. Kuschner, E. (2018, September 5). What Is It about Autism and Food? Retrieved from https://www.autismspeaks.org/expert-opinion/what-it-about-autism-and-food-0
5. Poon, K.-T., Teng, F., Chow, J. T., & Chen, Z. (2015). Desiring to connect to nature: The effect of ostracism on ecological behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 42, 116–122.