Can You Outrun Any of These Animals?

The speeds of animals varies greatly and many of us are already aware that a cheetah can run at about 70 mph., but the Peregrine falcon can dive through the air at speeds of over 200 miles per hour and somehow pull out of the dive just prior to hitting the ground. When I was a science teacher I had to use a county made science exam which asked question which were not in the textbook or in any guidelines for the class. Teachers need to have clear guidlines so the topics tested match the instruction in some manner. On the test the human speed was compared to a quarter horse. To be certain that I was not teaching the test, I designed a worksheet (graphic) to ask a set of questions centered around the speeds of animals. The animals listed that are in larger bold lettering were related to possible test questions. This was made larger and bold so that I would remember to ask questions around these specific animals while still covering many others. The questions on the right were designed to look at the mathematics that might be part of a test question. None of the actual test questions were part of my instruction, but sufficient practice and examples would now allow students to have a better chance at understanding the process.

It is important to realize that I would use this worksheet to talk about a lot of different animals. For example a teacher might talk about how greyhound dogs are used in races with a mechanical rabbit. The greyhound with speeds of up to 39-40 mph and the rabbit with a speed of about 35 mph it is easy to see how if the race used a real rabbit the greyhound could easily catch the rabbit. Of course in real life the rabbit could run into the brush or could possibly make quick turns.

I would sometimes say to the class "Would you like to hear a really stupid joke?" They would of course say "Yes". I would tell them that some of them might not understand at first because the joke is pretty stupid. I would tell them to look at the speed of the snail and then the speed of the tortoise and then I would tell them the joke:

"What would a snail say while riding on the back of a tortoise?"

The answer is: "Wheeee...."

Some of them may guess the answer, some will not know and feel stupid when they hear the answer, but all will agree it is a pretty stupid joke. In any case it gets to the point of comparing the speeds of two pretty slow animals. I have been told by other biologists that a human can't outrun a bear - check the chart, but that if you can run downhill and turn sharply the bear has a bit more trouble turning quickly to the side because once it gets its big body moving it is hard to turn. I hope I never have to try this in real life.

The use of such charts is important in teaching higher level thinking skills.