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5th grade · Science · Unit 15 of 15

Born Knowing or Learned?

Instinctive and learned behaviors, and structures that help animals survive.

What your child practices

Practices telling instinctive behaviors (sea turtle hatchlings heading for the sea, spiders spinning webs) from learned behaviors (orcas hunting in packs, a dog learning a trick), and how different species' structures and behaviors help them survive in the same environment.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 5.13(A); 5.13(B) · structures that help species survive, and instinctive and learned behaviors

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. An instinct is a behavior an animal is born knowing, like a bee building a honeycomb.
  2. A learned behavior comes from experience or teaching, like reading.
  3. Structures help survival too, like the deep roots of a mesquite tree.

Example: A spider spins a web without ever seeing one made. Instinct or learned? Nobody taught the spider. It was born knowing how. Answer: instinct

Born Knowing or Learned? in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 15 of 15 in 5th grade Science, after Deltas, Canyons & Dunes.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A duck and a heron live in the same marsh. The heron's long legs help it…

    • fly higher
    • dig holes
    • climb trees
    • wade in deeper water

  2. Question 2

    Why are instincts helpful for newborn animals?

    • They never need food
    • They stop all danger
    • They can survive without being taught
    • They make animals bigger

  3. Question 3

    Why are learned behaviors helpful?

    • They are passed in genes
    • Animals can adjust to new situations
    • They are the same in every animal
    • They never change

  4. Question 4

    Orcas hunt in packs using skills they pick up from older orcas. This is…

    • a reflex only
    • an accident
    • learned
    • instinct

  5. Question 5

    A raccoon learns which trash cans are easy to open. This is…

    • learned
    • instinct
    • a body part
    • inherited

  6. Question 6

    An armadillo jumps up when startled and has a tough shell. Both help it…

    • fly
    • escape predators
    • find water
    • attract mates only

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