Lewis/Life - Teaching Techniques

Chapter 40 - Teaching Techniques

A. General Tips
This chapter barely touches the surface of a fascinating and often neglected biological subject. Furthermore, we as scientists are only just beginning to understand the biological implications of behavior.
Some of your students will have had a good psychology course in high school; others will have had one or more college psychology or educational psychology courses. The approach in these courses is usually psychology rather than biology. In some ways, biology is just starting to catch up with psychology.
Not all psychologists agree on the roles biology plays in behavior. Not all biologists agree either.
You might wish to copy and distribute to your students the Overview of Chapter Objectives flowchart found at the beginning of this Instructor's Manual Chapter.
B. Possible Approaches to the Chapter
This chapter is filled with anecdotes. I suggest you capitalize on their captivating worth.
Because many of your students will have had some exposure to this topic, utilize their backgrounds in developing this chapter. You can be extremely Socratic with this material. Shape your class on the questions and construct lists as the students respond. In some cases the students will not have the exact terminology, but the concept will be there.
For instance, ask these questions:
- 1) What factors influence behavior? Lewis says "Genes and Experience" and some of your students will want to say, "Nature and nurture." Although these are not exactly the same, you can use the similarities in the concepts to build your case.
- 2) What types of behaviors are genetic?
- 3) If some behavior is not genetic, it must be learned. What are some types of learned behavior? (Students should be able to come up with all of the types listed. Some students may know some subdivisions, or some alternate scheme.)
- 4) What are some advantages of group living? Disadvantages? (Students will probably have a longer list than Lewis. They will also readily have some human applications.)
- 5) How do organisms communicate?
And so you can continue. Students usually like this material. They are often filled with their own anecdotes, even if they do not verbalize those anecdotes.
C. Hints Related to Specific Chapter Topics
- I. Ethology is always a good word to know.
- III.A. Your students will have numerous examples of fixed action patterns from their own experiences with animals. One problem you may have is separating fixed action patterns from learned behaviors. Sometimes there is an overlap; often there is an influence. If you think some fixed action pattern is modified by other factors, you are probably right, particularly when dealing with "more intelligent" animals.
  You may have some difficulty with identifying fixed action patterns in humans.
- III.B. Ask about the evolutionary advantage of the releasers. You might get into an interesting discussion.
- IV. Students usually can come up with the different types of learning (though not necessarily by their technical names) even without having had a psychology course. Take this beyond the obvious. Why is each of these learning types important? Uses Table 40.1 and ask how else humans exhibit some of these learning types.
- V. After you have discussed the whole concept of orientation and navigation, ask how this applies to humans. Do we have these inner senses? If so, how do we use them? Or, have we as a species let these senses get rusty? Are these characteristics (as part of the human make-up) on the verge of extinction?
- VII. Students are often very interested in pack animals. Are humans pack animals or not?
  People are often fascinated with dogs. Dogs are pack animals. They are also animals with a very real sense of hierarchy. Who is top dog and who is under dog? We sometimes hear someone say the dog thinks he is human. Most animal psychologists will tell us that the dog really thinks that humans are dogs and that he (the dog) has his place in the family pack. With clear signals from the owners, the dog, then, has a sense of and therefore accepts without question, the family pecking order.
- IX. Lewis barely touches on the topic of communication; you could easily spend an entire semester discussing this. If you have the time, you might suggest outside research in this area. Information about insect communication in all areas -- chemical, auditory, tactile, visual -- is especially easy to come by.
- X. You can easily get into a semantical argument over whether or not animals are truly "altruistic" in our colloquial sense. Does altruism in humans pre-suppose a knowledge of selfless behavior?
- XI.A. Students often "had never thought about" the different types of territories. Everyone has heard about animal territories, but few have explored what each type means. Ask how this relates to the human concept of territory. Do we have the same territories as other animals? Do we have the same sense of territoriality? How does the human sense of territory relate to the humanly altruistic sense of trying to help other human beings? What should we do with little kids who post "Keep Out" signs on their bedroom doors? Are they just exhibiting basic animal territoriality?
- XI.C. Most students will be interested in the discussion on cannibalism. Some may want to relate it to human cannibalism.
- XII.A. Outline the different types of mating systems. Ask what the evolutionary advantage is to each. If you are brave, ask if there would be a biological advantage to humans engaging in all of these mating systems.