[Bus honking]
Scientists, are you ready for a virtual field trip from sunny Los Angeles?
Let's go to the California Science Center!
[Children cheering]
[Children cheering] With your hosts
Mariela
and Monica
with a special appearance from
Louise Leborgne
Juanita Juarez!
Let's go to the California Science Center!
[Children cheering]
Hi scientists, welcome to Virtual Field Trips at the California Science Center!
Before we get started, there are a few things we need to go over.
[Music]
All Virtual Field Trips will have a Question of the Day and today's question is...
[Computer beeping] What parts of an organism help it to survive?
Pause the video now to write down the question of the day in your notebooks and don't forget
to write or draw things you observe in the video to help you answer the question.
[Music]
All Virtual Field Trips will also have a buzzword!
Today's buzzword is...
[Magical sound]
Structure!
Anytime you hear this word, be sure to make check marks or tally marks somewhere in your notebook
to keep track of how many times you hear the buzzword!
Before I forget, there may be times we might ask you to pause to think about a question.
You'll see this sign and hear this sound [Ding] to remind you to pause.
Okay, I think we're ready for a Virtual Field Trip. Let's go!
[Music]
Let's start our field trip by making some observations of this plant!
Maybe you've seen it before? It's called the Venus flytrap. It is an interesting looking plant.
What do you notice about it? Do you notice any special structures on this plant?
Do you notice those little hairs on the plant? What do you think those are for?
Like most plants, the Venus flytrap receives nutrition from air and soil, but the Venus fly trap comes from a swampy habitat
that causes the environment to have less nitrogen for it to absorb through air like most plants.
Since a plant also needs nitrogen, the plant has adapted to be able to ingest insects in order to supplement its nitrogen needs.
A carnivorous plant? Yes, but it doesn't eat the way we do!
To attract flies or other prey, the Venus flytrap uses nectar on its open traps.
Insects smell that sweet nectar and once they land on the leaves, they touch those little hairs on the outside of the traps.
This causes the cells and the leaves to expand. In less than a second, the leaves shut!
The structure of this plant is made to attract food so that it can survive!
Oh, I know of another plant whose structure we can observe! Let's go!
This is our Desert Zone. Plants and animals that live in a desert need special structures
to make sure that they can survive in this extreme zone. Just like the Venus flytrap plant, there are many organisms in the Desert Zone
that have structures to help them survive. Like this cactus! the saguaro is a tree-like cactus
The saguaro is a tree-like cactus that can grow to be over 40 feet tall! It is native to the Sonoran desert in Arizona, where it doesn't rain much.
That is why the structure of the saguaro comes in handy! The stem acts as a reservoir, a place that the cactus can collect water,
so that it can survive! The plant will expand and contract depending on the amount of water it holds!
The pointy spines protect the cactus against thirsty animals looking for a drink!
Well scientists, I see how the Venus fly trap and the cactus have structures to protect itself and that makes sense!
Plants can't get up and walk away if they see danger!
But, some animals can, like humans. I'm thinking of five ways as humans protect themselves
[Ding]
Can you guess those five things I'm thinking about?
Scientists, if you guessed the five senses, then you guessed what I was thinking!
As a human, I have five senses to help me survive in the world around me. We can smell taste hear touch and see each
We can smell, taste, hear, touch, and see. Each of our senses are structures that help us protect ourselves from what is around us.
I can feel things so that my skin can send signals to my brain to let it know if something is safe!
Another one of my senses that helps me survive are my eyes! Sight really depends on light.
As light bounces off surfaces, it reveals the world around us. My eyes help my brain know what is around me!
Speaking of eyes, I have a friend here at the California Science Center that sees a little bit differently.
Let's go find them!
Scientists, we're in a back unseen area here to visit my friend Louise, a senior keeper at the California Science Center,
and her friend the macaw. Let's go see!
Hi Louise!
Hi scientists, my name is Louise and I'm one of the senior keepers here at the California Science Center.
Can you tell us how the macaw uses its eyes to survive?
Like all animals, they do need to protect themselves and stay safe.
That might be from a predator, but it might also be from another bird.
Sight is really important to these birds. They are not only really sensitive to movement,
much more than we are, so they can pick up on subtle differences in the environment around them,
which can help them protect themselves, but also in each other in terms of body language.
But they also have a different ability to see color than us. They can see all the colors we see,
but they see a little bit more than us. They see into the ultraviolet spectrum,
which allows them to see things that we can't even imagine being able to see.
When a parrot is excited, or if they are feeling aggressive and wanting to communicate with other parrots
or even people, they will open and close that iris and it's called pinning.
It shows others, "Oh, something's going on, I'm alert, I'm excited!" Their sense of sight really, really fine-tuned to pick up movement,
so maybe a predator that's flying overhead or creeping up behind them.
One thing that I didn't mention about their sense of sight is the placement of their eyes,
If you think of our eyes, our eyes are facing forwards, which allows us to see really clearly what's in front of us,
but not so great looking behind us. But our parrot friends have their eyes on the sides of their heads
and that means that they're able to see further back, further up, and even a little below their beak which is amazing!
They can see all - or almost all - around themselves.
What other structures help the macaw to survive?
The other thing will be their sense of hearing, so being able to hear things moving around them is really, really important!
Now, if something is going to try to hurt them, their first thing is going to be trying to fly away as most animals do.
They try to get away and avoid getting hurt, getting into any sort of fight with an animal.
If they can't, they do have some pretty cool tools. Their main one is their beak.
Their beak is very, very strong. It can break through nuts, hard, hard shells of nuts, which is great for eating,
but also great for defending themselves, because they can do a lot of damage by biting.
So protection is really important and using their senses for that protection is really important.
That was really awesome! I think I know of another place we can go and explore. Follow me!
[Music]
Hi Juanita!
Hi everyone! I am Juanita Juarez from the California Science Center
and here today, I have a sand boa, so let's learn a little bit more about this sand boa!
I mean, just by hearing the name of it, can you guess maybe where we can find this creature? [Ding]
This sand boa is actually found, of course you know, in desert areas!
Mostly in Saudi Arabia, Africa, and pretty much somewhere in the east. And these sand boas, although they do live in the desert,
they like to be in cool places. How does this sand boa, is able to survive using its body parts?
Well to start off with, the sand boa uses its tongue to feel the air around them.
These sand boas actually like to hide themselves under the sand to keep cold during the day.
And during the night time, that's when they're most active and they look for food.
By digging themselves in the sand, they stay fresh during the very hot months of the year,
but the skin, because like I said, it's very scaly, it also protects them from the sun
and it also helps in camouflage. Now as you can see, our sand boa here, the colors...
if you see the bottom and the top, they're actually... they camouflage pretty much with the sand.
Now here, we have shavings, but if we had our sand around, you can... you really can't tell that so much the difference,
so they're able to camouflage with sand and other desert plants.
And now, these creatures also like to use mammal homes, so if they can't find an area in the desert where they
can dig themselves into and say, for example, there's an animal that has buried a hole in,
he will go inside and actually stay in there until it's cool enough for them to look for food.
[Music]
It's time for our Science Sketch and you might be wondering,
"Why are we drawing in a science video?" Well, there are a lot of reasons why sketching can help us with our science learning!
As you draw, you may encounter new ideas.
These new ideas are great, because they can inspire you to ask more questions.
Sketching also helps us learn or process information better.
We are helping our brain understand science in a different way!
Keeping a science notebook is also a good idea. That way we can see our thinking on our page.
As we draw together, listen to the information I am giving you.
What you hear will help you answer the focus question.
And of course, science sketching is fun!
Ready scientists?
Oh yeah, the pause button [Ding] will come up throughout the video, but you can pause or play back any part that you need.
You'll need a pencil, a pen or a thin marker, and a mug.
The first thing we're going to do is use our mug to make a very light circle.
And what are we drawing you might ask?
We are drawing a model of an eye so we can understand the structure and how it might help an organism survive.
Here, I'm going to extend those lines just like this.
[Ding]
I am going to add an extension to the circle. It'll look kind of like a bulge.
[Ding]
Next, I'm going to make a line that follows the shape of this shape that is already on my paper,
[Ding]
Now I'm going to make two drop shapes here.
Sometimes it helps to turn your page when you're drawing a new shape.
[Ding]
Now I'm going to make an oval using the original circle that I created.
Don't worry if it's not a perfect oval.
[Ding]
Now I'm going to connect that tear drop to the oval by making an upside down backwards C. [Ding]
I'm going to extend both of these lines so that they meet up on the back of the circle just like this.
[Ding]
I am going to erase just a tiny part, so that I can make two lines that curve into one.
[Ding]
Now, I'm going to use the thin marker or pen to outline all of the different parts of the eye! [Ding]
Now that I've finished tracing everything, I'm going to use my eraser to erase any pencil that's left behind.
[Ding]
Let's label the parts of the eye!
The cornea is the layer that covers the eye and is the first part of the eye that comes in contact with light.
The function of the cornea is to allow light to pass and ensure it reaches the entire eye so it functions properly.
The iris is the most visually appealing part of the eye.
It is the colored part that is easily noticeable.
The function of the iris is to regulate how much light is allowed inside of the eye.
The pupil is the dark center opening in the middle of the iris.
The iris causes the pupil to open and close, or dilate, to let more or less light into the eye.
The lens is a transparent structure in the eye.
It helps you focus on what is in front of you with the help of light.
The retina is an important part of the eye that picks up images as they are in front of you.
The retina helps you see colors.
The optic nerve is the connection between the eye and the brain.
It transmits messages from the eye so that the brain can make sense of it.
Now let's see how this structure works!
As the light of the sun bounces off objects in front of us, the eye of any living thing goes to work.
The light will cause the iris to contract, making the pupil larger or smaller depending on how much light comes through.
The lens will change its shape to allow us to focus on the object at various distances.
As the light travels past it and to the retina, it will send a clear image to the optic nerve and send that to the brain.
Then, it's the job of the brain to decide if that object is safe or not!
Let's add some finishing touches!
Now that we have a finished picture, how do you think this helps you answer the focus question for the day?
I hope you had fun sketching with me!
Don't forget to add color, because science doesn't happen in black and white!
Before you go, check out these scientists and their sketches!
If you get a chance, tag us on social media with your finished sketch!
Now let's head back to the Discovery Room!
What a great field trip! Let's go over all the things that we did today.
We started off in the Desert Zone, where we looked at the structure of a Venus flytrap
and the cactus and how plants use their structures to survive.
Then we visited Louise and the macaw to learn about how it uses some of its senses.
We also visited Juanita and the sand boa, where we learned how it uses its scales
to camouflage and how it uses its tongue and its environment.
Next, we drew a sketch with Mariella to understand how the eye works. Now scientists, can you remember the focus question?
[Ding] What parts of an organism help it to survive?
Can you answer the focus question using the buzzword? [Ding]
[Magical sound] Structure!
Okay scientists, it's time to count our check marks! How many times did you hear the buzzword?
[Ding]
Drumroll please! And the answer is...
Drumroll please! And the answer is... 12!
We hope you had fun on this Virtual Field Trip at the California Science Center
and we look forward to seeing you next time!
[Bus honking]
For more information on Virtual Field Trips, please visit our website!