Students should be comfortable tracking and organizing data, testing and reasoning about hypotheses, and understanding the terms “stimulus” and “response.”
The educational standards applicable to this lesson plan are listed on the following page:
Kinesis and taxis are two types of behavioral responses exhibited by organisms in reaction to external stimuli, each with distinct characteristics. Kinesis refers to a non-directional, random movement or activity in response to the intensity of a stimulus. This means that the speed or rate of movement changes based on the stimulus level without any specific directionality. For example, woodlice (also known as pill bugs) demonstrate kinesis by exhibiting more rapid and erratic movements in dry environments. In this scenario, the woodlice are responding to the dryness of their surroundings by increasing their movement speed, but the movement itself is not targeted towards or away from a specific point.