Biological Sciences Year 7

Who? What? Where? Biological Sciences Year 7

This unit has been developed to meet the needs of Year 7 teachers. It is currently in draft form. Any feedback via the Moodle is appreciated. http://dlb.sa.edu.au/pmssmoodle/

Primary Maths and Science 1 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Science: Year 7 Unit – Biological Science

Australian Curriculum

Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 7, students describe techniques to separate pure substances from mixtures. They represent and predict the effects of unbalanced forces, including Earth‟s gravity, on motion. They explain how the relative positions of the Earth, sun and moon affect phenomena on Earth. They analyse how the sustainable use of resources depends on the way they are formed and cycle through Earth systems. They predict the effect of environmental changes on feeding relationships and classify and organise diverse organisms based on observable differences. Students describe situations where scientific knowledge from different science disciplines has been used to solve a real world problem. They explain how the solution was viewed by, and impacted on, different groups in society.

Students identify questions that can be investigated scientifically. They plan fair experimental methods, identifying variables to be changed and measured. They select equipment that improves fairness and accuracy and describe how they considered safety. Students draw on evidence to support their conclusions. They summarise data from different sources, describe trends and refer to the quality of their data when suggesting improvements to their methods. They communicate their ideas, methods and findings using scientific language and appropriate representations.

Science Understanding  There are differences within and between groups of organisms; classification helps organise this diversity  Interactions between organisms can be described in terms of food chains and food webs; human activity can affect these interactions

Science as a Human Endeavour  Scientific knowledge changes as new evidence becomes available and some scientific discoveries have significantly changed people‟s understandings of the world  People use understanding and skills from across the disciplines of science in their occupations  Science and technology contribute to finding solutions to a wide range of contemporary issues; these solutions may impact on other areas of society and involve ethical considerations  Science understanding influences the development of practices in areas of human activity such as industry, agriculture and marine and terrestrial resource management

Science Inquiry Skills  Identify questions and problems that can be investigated scientifically and make predictions based on scientific knowledge  Collaboratively and individually plan and conduct a range of investigation types, including fieldwork and experiments, ensuring safety and ethical guidelines are followed  Construct and use a range of representations, including graphs, keys and models to represent and analyse patterns or relationships, including using digital technologies as appropriate  Summarise data, from students‟ own investigations and secondary sources, and use scientific understanding to identify relationships and draw conclusions  Reflect on the method used to investigate a question or solve a problem, including evaluating the quality of the data collected, and identify improvements to the method  Use scientific knowledge and findings from the investigations to evaluate claims  Communicate ideas, findings and solutions to problems using scientific language and representations using digital technologies as appropriate

Primary Maths and Science 2 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Links to General Capabilities Literacy The interdependence of science and literacy is demonstrated throughout this unit as students engage in a variety of different literacies of science. The language and literacy demands specific to the study of science develop along with scientific understanding and skills. This unit provides opportunities for students to develop their literacy skills as they:  Engage in discussions  Record their thinking, ideas and questions in journals,  Complete a consequence wheel and a dichotomous key  Write explanations and present their understandings of science concepts

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Competence Within this unit students information technologies are used to research a science concept and present their understandings. Communication technologies offer opportunities for the communication and sharing of students‟ ideas and results both within and beyond the classroom. This unit provides opportunities for students to develop their ICT skills in the following ways:

 Use ICT to research information – search for websites with relevant information  Use ICT to communicate and represent information

Critical and Creative Thinking Within this unit students are asked to gather, analyse and evaluate data and summarise information. Students are asked to think in new ways about observations of the world. This unit provides opportunities for students to develop their critical and creative thinking skills in the following ways:

 Determining the best way to present their information  Considering information from many points of view  Engaging in discussions around specific topics

Personal and Social Competence Within this unit students further develop their teamwork skills by working together, sharing ideas and discussing their work. They develop self management skills such as planning effectively, following procedures and working safely. This unit provides opportunities for students to develop their personal and social competence in the following ways:

 Working together in teams to complete tasks  Sharing ideas  Planning their own investigations

Intercultural Understanding Within this unit students learn to value their own cultures and beliefs and those of others. They recognise commonalities and differences and cultivate respect between people. This unit provides opportunities for students to develop intercultural understandings in the following ways:

 Discussing specific examples of human activity, such as the use of fire by traditional Aboriginal people and the effects of palm oil harvesting in Sumatra and Borneo

Primary Maths and Science 3 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Links to Cross-Curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

This priority involves understanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of interpreting and being in the world and appreciating that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures are intrinsically linked to living and learning in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The Australian curriculum: Science provides opportunities for students to become aware that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have particular ways of knowing about the world and continue to provide significant contributions to developments in science. Within this unit students may:  Investigate the impact of the use of fire by traditional Aboriginal people on the interaction between animals and plants within food chains and webs.  Investigate the impact traditional Aboriginal people had on the interaction of animals and plants within food chains and webs Sustainability

Sustainability is concerned with the ongoing capacity of the Earth to maintain life. It aims to reduce our ecological footprint while simultaneously supporting a quality of life that is valued – the „liveability‟ of our society. Scientific understanding and scientific inquiry processes help students to appreciate how people forecast change and plan the actions necessary to shape more sustainable futures, including the design, construction and/or management of the physical and social environment. This unit provides opportunities for students to develop an understanding of sustainability in the following ways:  Discussions around the diversity of animals and plants and why it is important to maintain this diversity  The impacts of human activity on food chains and webs  Discussions on the colonisation of new land

Unit at a glance Biological Science

Phase Lesson Surtsey Classification Food Chains and Webs

ENGAGE 1,4,7 To capture students‟ interest and find out what they think they know about …

the development of classification of food chains and ecosystems animals webs

EXPLORE 2,5,8 To provide opportunities for students to explore …

things that impact on the use of dichotomous things that impact on

living systems keys to organise organisms living systems

EXPLAIN 3,6,9 To support students to represent and explain …

the changes over time their understanding of their understanding of that have occurred on the dichotomous keys and the interdependence of island of Surtsey classification structures food chains and webs

ELABORATE 10 To provide opportunities for students to investigate how human activity can

affect interactions between organisms.

EVALUATE 11 To provide opportunities for students to represent what they know about

classification, food chains and webs and how human activity can impact on these

interactions.

Primary Maths and Science 4 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Lesson 1: The Beginning ENGAGE At a Glance: To find out what students think they know about changing environmental systems.

Assessment Focus: Diagnostic Assessment is an important aspect of the Engage phase. This lesson will elicit what students already know and understand about changing environmental systems. This allows teachers to take into account students‟ existing ideas when planning future learning experiences.

Assessment Opportunities - Diagnostic Assessment:  Journal entries  Response to key questions  Predictions about Surtsey

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Record their current understanding of what a system is and how systems interact  Engage in discussions around the colonisation of new land  Make predictions on the future of Surtsey

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Use written text to record their experiences and current understandings

Equipment for each students:  Journals

Teacher background information

Surtsey http://www.surtsey.is/index_eng.htm - An excellent website that gives detailed background information on what has happened and currently is happening on the island of Surtsey since its formation.

The island of Surtsey is located approximately 32 km off the southern coast of Iceland. It is a new island formed from a series of volcanic eruptions that took place between 1963 and 1967. Surtsey is a special place as it is free from human interference and has provided a pristine environment for scientists to study the colonisation of new land by plants and animals. Surtsey is a highly controlled, isolated environment that has limited threats. It has been legally protected since its beginning and provides the world with an environment for ongoing research purposes. Surtsey has been World Heritage listed since 2008.

Primary Maths and Science 5 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Preparation Organise a large display copy of the key question. How do systems interact ENGAGE and respond to change?

Find Surtsey on a map to show students where it is located in the world. Google Maps is very useful - http://tiny.cc/npfpr. Follow this link to find Surtsey on Google Maps. Use the satellite view to get a sense of what is happening beneath the sea. You could also use atlases or globes to locate the island.

Lesson outline Key words: system, interact, respond, change

1. Introduce students to the key question – How do systems interact and respond to change? Explain that this is one of the questions that is going to be the basis for all learning throughout this unit. Display the question and continually refer back to it whilst working through the tasks within the unit. Identify and discuss the key words within the question and ask students to record their current understandings on the key question.

2. View some or all of the videos below on the formation of the island of Surtsey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42H2znxGyhg&feature=related – video showing the formation of Surtsey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e73uesIwOLc&feature=related - video with commentary showing the formation of Surtsey

http://www.surtsey.is/index_eng.htm - Official Surtsey website showing photos of the formation of the island

Teacher Note: At this stage only visit the photos and maps section – The Surtsey eruption 1963 – 1967. The section on vegetation will be visited later in the unit.

http://www.vulkaner.no/n/surtsey/esurtmenu.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsKTzBZNjtE&feature=related – underwater eruption. This is not the island of Surtsey but does demonstrate how difficult it is for new land to form.

3. After viewing the videos allow time for general discussion about what happened. What did the students notice? What changes were occurring in that environment? What systems if any do they think are in place on the island at this point in time?

4. Ask students to make some predictions about what they think will happen on this island in a month, a year, 5 years and 100 years. Record class predictions to be revisited later.

5. Begin to develop a timeline of events for the island. Record the important dates for the island so far so that they can be used later to create a timeline of events.

6. Record discussion responses in journals.

Primary Maths and Science 6 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Lesson 2: What Happens Next? EXPLORE

At a Glance: To provide opportunities for students to show what they think know about the development of ecosystems over time.

Assessment Focus: Formative Assessment is an important aspect of the Explore phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing understanding and giving feedback that extends their learning.

Assessment Opportunities - Formative Assessment:  Journal entries  Response to key question

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Engage in discussions around the development of ecosystems  Record their current understanding of how ecosystems develop over time

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Use written text to record their experiences and current understandings

Equipment for each student:  Journals

Teacher background information

System A system is a set of interacting or interdependent components which, when working together, creates the whole. Systems have structure and each of the components has an important part to play. The parts are interconnected.

An ecosystem is a biological environment which consists of all living and non living matter in a particular area. In an ecosystem there are dynamic interactions between plants, animals, microorganisms and their environment. Ecosystems will not be successful if things do not stay in balance. There needs to be enough water, food, and shelter to accommodate all elements of the ecosystem. An ecosystem could be as large as the Simpson Desert or as small as a backyard pond.

Colony A colony is a group of plants, animals or organisms living or growing together.

Pioneer Species Pioneer species are species of plants that colonise previously uncolonised land. They‟re the first plants that can lead to the development of a viable ecosystem. As pioneer plants are establishing themselves in areas with thin, poor quality soil and few nutrients, they are often hardy plants with adaptations that assist them in surviving in this harsh environment. When the pioneer species die they create plant litter which breaks down, helping create nutrients and soil for future plants.

Primary Maths and Science 7 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Preparation Organise internet access for the teacher. EXPLORE

Lesson Outline Key words: system, ecosystem, colony, pioneer species 1. Remind students of the key question - How do systems interact and respond to change? Engage in conversations around what the students have already recorded about what happened with the creation of the island of Surtsey. What predictions did they make for the future of the island?

2. Revisit the website - http://www.surtsey.is/index_eng.htm and spend time viewing the photos.  Higher plants on Surtsey  Lower plants on Surtsey  Birds on Surtsey

Ask students to get into small groups to discuss what they saw and how they think this colonisation started. How did it fit with the predictions they made earlier?

3. Meet together as a class group to share conversations and predictions. Ask students to record their responses to the following:  Explain the changes that have occurred on the island of Surtsey over time.  What are your latest predictions for the future of Surtsey? Explain your thinking. Consider the arrival of mammals to the island. Do you think mammals will eventually be found on the island? Why or why not? When might this happen?

Primary Maths and Science 8 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Lesson 3: How did it happen? EXPLAIN

At a Glance: To support students‟ understanding of how plant and animal life developed on Surtsey over time.

Assessment Focus: Formative Assessment is an important aspect of the Explain phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing understanding and giving feedback that extends their learning.

Assessment Opportunities - Formative Assessment:  Journal entries  Response to key question  Completed timeline with responses

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Engage in discussions around the development of plant and animal life on Surtsey  Record their current understanding of how ecosystems develop over time

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Locate information in a written text  Create a timeline using this information

Equipment for each team:  A copy of Resource Sheet 1

Equipment for each student:  A copy of Resource Sheet 2  Journals

Teacher background information For more detailed information it is recommended that you visit the following website which has several different texts relating to the colonisation of Surtsey. http://www.surtsey.is/index_eng.htm

System A system is a set of interacting or interdependent components which when working together create the whole. Systems have structure and each of the components has an important part to play. The parts are interconnected.

Colony A colony is a group of plants, animals or organisms living or growing together.

Primary Maths and Science 9 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Pioneer Species Pioneer species are species of plants that colonize previously uncolonized land. EXPLAIN They‟re the first plants that can lead to the development of a viable ecosystem. As pioneer plants are establishing themselves in areas with thin, poor quality soil and few nutrients they are often hardy plants with adaptations that assist them in surviving in this harsh environment. When the pioneer species die they create plant litter which breaks down, helping create nutrients and soil for future plants.

Preparation

Organise a copy of Resource Sheet 1 for each team and Resource Sheet 2 for each student.

Lesson Outline Key words: invertebrate, pioneer species, colony, system 1. Organise students into cooperative learning teams and ensure each team receives a copy of Resource Sheet 1. Highlight the key question - How do systems interact and respond to change?

2. Ask students to read through the information that has been presented on Resource Sheet 1 and work together to organise the information into a timeline of events. The information can be cut up for ease of organisation. Students could consider things such as:  When did the seagull population form?  What came first the birds nesting or the discovery of the first insect?

3. Once they have an order they agree with, glue the pieces of paper in order onto an A3 sheet and include supporting evidence as to why they have placed things in this order.

4. Display the information around the room and give the students time to see what other people have come up with. Meet together as a class to discuss the differences and possible reasons why.

5. After hearing the opinions of others, groups could then be given time to make any changes they want to their timelines.

6. Keep students in their cooperative learning teams and provide each student with a copy of Resource Sheet 2. Give them the time to read through the information. Record and discuss any unknown words they may come across. You may want to set the reading task up as a jigsaw to reduce the amount each individual student has to read.

JIGSAW: Each team member reads a predetermined section of the text. Students meet with the others who read the same section to discuss the key points and identify any questions for clarification. Students then return to their original cooperative learning teams and share the main ideas from their section of the text with their team.

7. Using the information provided, students work in their teams, to complete a timeline of events on the island of Surtsey.

8. Students present their timelines and engage in a class discussion. Students can make comparisons between the facts they were presented with and their original ordering of events.

9. Students then record individual responses to the key question in their journals - How do systems interact and respond to change? When responding they are considering the events that happened on the island and how plant and animal life responded to these changes.

Primary Maths and Science 10 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Facts about Surtsey Place these facts in order from the earliest event to the latest. Be prepared to explain your thinking and give reasons for your choices.

The first insect was discovered

A pioneer plant, the sea rocket, was discovered at the shoreline

Birds nested on the island

New plant species colonised the island

Seeds and other plant material were found washed up on the shore

Soil fertility improved in some places

Lichens and moss were discovered

Volcanic eruption

Bare lava flows started to be colonised

Erosion of the island

A seagull population formed

Mosses colonised the island

Earthworms were found in the soil

Formation of Surtsey

Primary Maths and Science 11 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 1

Surtsey

General information

The island of Surtsey is located approximately 32 km off the southern coast of Iceland. It is a new island that formed from a series of volcanic eruptions that took place between 1963 and 1967. Surtsey is a special place as it is free from human interference and has provided a pristine environment for scientists to study the colonisation of new land by plants and animals. Surtsey is a highly controlled, isolated environment that has limited threats. It has been legally protected since its beginning and provides the world with an environment for ongoing research purposes. Surtsey has been World Heritage listed since 2008.

Bird life Surtsey had only just risen from the ocean when the first birds landed there. Some of these birds later established themselves on the island whilst others were transient birds on route between breeding areas.

The first birds began breeding on Surtsey three years after the eruptions had stopped. Two Black Guillemot nests and a Fulmar nest were discovered in 1970. In 1985 a seagull population had begun to form. In 1990 the number of breeding pairs of gulls had risen to 200. It was also found that there were six species of birds breeding on the island at this time. These included the Fulmar, the Lesser Black-backed Gull and the Herring Gull. In 2003 a census was again completed and at this point there were eleven breeding species.

Invertebrates The first insect was discovered on Surtsey in May 1964. The discovery of other species of invertebrates followed. Insects arrived on the island by different means. The early arrivals were mainly flying insects that flew in via their own wings and favourable winds. Spiders were also discovered early on as they were able to glide through the air attached to their spinning threads. Many insects floated to the island, either with or without the aid of drifting materials.

During the first few years a total of 170 different insect species were found. Only a few of these species have successfully managed to establish themselves on the island due to the extremely harsh conditions. The establishment of the gull colony in 1985 resulted in a change in vegetation and soil fertility. This affected the invertebrates that were found there. The first earthworms were found in the soil in 1993. They were juvenile chestnut worms. In 2006 a study was carried out which determined there were a total of 76 invertebrate species on the island.

Invertebrates found on Surtsey until 2002 include: ants, bees, butterflies, snails, true flies, beetles, spiders and segmented worms.

Primary Maths and Science 12 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 2 Plant life In the first spring after Surtsey‟s formation, seeds and other plant matter were found washed up on the shore. Some seeds floated on the passing currents whilst other seeds were attached to drifting material. Seeds and fruits of some plants have been found on Surtsey due to wind dispersal and other plant materials have made it to the island due to the bird life. Birds eat the fruit and seeds and then carry them to the island where they deposit them through their droppings.

In the first two decades of Surtsey the conditions were quite barren and the soil quality was poor. Shore plants that were adapted to poor soils and could survive harsh conditions were the first to colonise Surtsey. In 1965 the first plant species, sea rocket, was found on the island. By 1967 there was also sea lyme grass, oyster plant and sea sandwort. In the late summer of that year the sea rocket flowered on the island for the first time. In the early years no plants survived over the harsh winter, they were either buried in the sand or washed away by the high seas.

Sea sandwort was the first plant to survive over winter in 1968/69. The first seeding of this plant took place in 1971. It is now the most common plant species on the island. In 1977 - 1979 the sea lyme grass and oyster plant started seeding and spreading. With the population explosion of the gull colony there was an increase in plant colonisation. This in part was due to seed dispersion by the gulls. In the period 1985 - 1995 the number of plant species on the island grew from 21 to 44.

The first mosses were found on Surtsey in 1967 and in the following year another 6 species were discovered. These were found mainly on damp pumice near steam vents or in crevices in the lava. Lichens were found in 1970. By 2003, 53 species of mosses had been confirmed.

Information for this text has been sourced from:

The Surtsey Research Society P.O. Box 352 - 121 Reykjavik - Iceland http://www.surtsey.is/index_eng.htm

Primary Maths and Science 13 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 2

Lesson 4: Survival ENGAGE

At a Glance: To find out what students think they know about food chains and webs.

Assessment Focus: Diagnostic Assessment is an important aspect of the Engage phase. This lesson will elicit what students already know and understand about food chains and webs. This allows teachers to take into account students‟ existing ideas when planning future learning experiences.

Assessment Opportunities - Diagnostic Assessment:  Participation in game and follow up discussions  Journal entries

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Record their current understanding of how animals interact within a system (food chains and webs)  Engage in discussions around how animals interact and survive in the wild

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Use written text to record their experiences and current understandings

Equipment for the class:  One animal card per student  7 hoops – safety zones  3 popsticks per student  A container of red plant matter cards, one of green and one of yellow.

Optional: Cones to mark the boundary of the game

Equipment for each student:  Journals

Teacher background information

Food Chain All living things need food to give them the energy to grow and to move. A food chain is a way of representing how each living thing gets this food. It shows what is being eaten by what. The arrow in a food chain means „is eaten by…‟ A food chain follows a single path as animals find food.

Grass Grasshopper Lizard Snake Eagle

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Plants are known as producers and are always at the start of the food chain as they use the energy from the sun to produce their own food. Plants are then ENGAGE eaten by animals.

A predator is generally at the end of a food chain. It is an animal that hunts and kills other animals for food. A dingo is a predator as it hunts and kills animals such as rabbits and foxes in order to survive. Some food chains do not have a predator as part of the chain e.g. grass cow decomposer

Decomposers are an important part of a food chain. They are mainly fungi and bacteria which convert dead material into nutrients which are then released back into the soil. Without decomposers the world would be covered in dead plant and animal matter.

In a food chain the energy needed for living is passed from one link to the next. The herbivores eat the plants taking some of the energy and then they are eaten by a predator and the energy is once again transferred to the next level. A large amount of energy is used for respiration and staying alive but some of it is lost as heat and waste at each level. Only a fraction of the original energy makes it through to the top level.

Biomass Biomass is the amount of living matter found at each of the levels in the food chain. A large mass of living things (biomass) at the base of the food chain is required to maintain the animals at the top. In most ecosystems, the biomass decreases as you move from the beginning of the food chain to the end. As you move up a food chain there are fewer animals and therefore less mass at each level. Most food chains have no more than 4 or 5 links otherwise there would not be enough energy available for the animal at the top of the food chain to survive.

3rd order (tertiary) consumers - eagle

2nd order (secondary) consumers - lizard

1st order (primary) consumers - grasshopper

producers – plant matter

A balance needs to be maintained in order for the food chain or web to survive. For example if there are too many koalas there will be insufficient food for them to feed on. Many koalas may starve and eventually die. This then gives the trees time to recover and regenerate. As the supply of trees increases the number of koalas may once again increase.

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Food web

Food webs are the combination of many food chains. Food webs show the many ENGAGE different ways in which plants and animals are interconnected. Below is a possible example of a food web. Other interactions could be linked depending on the stage of life of the animal concerned e.g. if the kangaroo were only a young joey it could also be eaten by the eagle, the dingo or the fox. When investigating food chains and webs it would be useful to link to them to a local context as much as possible e.g. use the resources provided within this unit but also spend time looking at plants and animals in a local context.

Preparation Photocopy and prepare Resource Sheet 3 so each student has an animal card. These could be photocopied in A3 size to make them easier to read and then laminated so they last longer.

Organise pop sticks to represent the lives of each participant. You will need a minimum of 3 pop sticks per player. Some players may collect more so be prepared with plenty of spares.

Photocopy the plant matter cards using red, green and yellow coloured paper - Resource Sheet 4. Organise three containers in which to store the food of the herbivores so they have three separate collection points. Fill one container with red food cards, one with green food cards and one with yellow food cards. Make sure you have plenty of herbivore food for the game.

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Organise the hoops and cones needed for the game and an appropriate play area

– a school oval would be ideal. It would also introduce more strategy into the game if students had places to hide and keep themselves safe from predators ENGAGE within the boundaries of the game, such as trees, play equipment etc.

Teacher tip: For ease of organisation you could simply use counters or unifix cubes instead of the plant matter cards. It is, however, important to maintain three separate colours. This would save time in the organisation part of the task.

Lesson Outline Key words: producer, consumer, food chain, food web, carnivore, herbivore, decomposer, sustainability

1. Explain to students that they are about to play a game which models food webs at work.

2. Go through the rules of the game (Resource Sheet 5) with the students and ensure they are clear on how to play.

3. Place the animal cards around the room and give the students time to work out what each of the animals eats. This information could be recorded on the back of the cards to make sure all students agree on who eats who. Other complexities can also be discussed at this stage and agreed upon by the class before the game begins e.g. can the snake take a life from the human even though they don‟t eat them?

4. Collect all cards together and then allocate roles to each student by having them draw a card from a pack. This card will identify the role they are about to play in the game. The teacher or class can decide whether or not the roles need to be displayed by the students throughout the game.

– If they are not displayed, when one student catches another they then decide who eats who. – If they are displayed, students can see from a distance which people they need to keep away from and which people they can chase.

5. Once students are clear on how to play and roles have been allocated take the class outside and play the game. Set an appropriate time limit.

6. At the conclusion of the game return inside and discuss the following:

 What might happen if one of the animals was removed from the game?  What might happen if the total number of one species increased drastically?  What strategies, if any, did you use to increase your chances?  Which animals do you think may have had an advantage in the game? Why?  Were any animals disadvantaged? Why?  How did the game relate to the key question - How do systems interact and respond to change?

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Rabbit Rabbit

Rabbit Grasshopper

Grasshopper Grasshopper

Kangaroo Kangaroo

Eagle Eagle

Snake Snake

Primary Maths and Science 18 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 3

Lizard Lizard

Kookaburra Kookaburra

Fox Fox

Dingo Dingo

Human Grasshopper

Fox Lizard

Kookaburra Snake

Rabbit Grasshopper

Primary Maths and Science 19 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 3

Plant matter Plant matter Plant matter Plant matter Plant matter

Primary Maths and Science 20 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 4

Resource Sheet 4 SURVIVOR Equipment One animal card per student 7 hoops – safety zones 3 popsticks per student A container of red plant matter cards, one of green and one of yellow

Optional: Cones to mark the boundary of the game

The Aim To survive the time spent in the environmental zone collecting food to eat and increasing the number of lives available.

How to Play  Once the boundaries are established place the hoops randomly throughout the play area.

 These hoops represent safety zones and can be used by any animal at any time. Animals can stay in the safety zone for a count of twenty. Animals can enter the safety zones as many times as they like and they cannot “babysit” animals in the safety zone. Animals must not visit the same safety zone twice in a row.

 Place the plant matter at three different locations within the game zone. This is the food supply for all herbivores.

 Once the animals are released into the playing area they need to attempt to collect food (lives) from other people. This is done by chasing and tagging others. When tagged students need to decide who is the prey and who is the predator. If a player is tagged by a predator they need to hand over one of their lives. If neither of the two people prey on each other they simply continue pursuing others. Once they have handed over a life they can then try to get another life back by chasing down prey of their own.

 Once they have no more lives they are out of the game for one minute. They can then re-enter with one new life, which they collect from the teacher.

 The herbivores need to collect one piece of food from the three different plant matter containers. They can only collect one piece of food from each container at a time. Once they have collected three different pieces of food they can exchange them for another life.

 Animals can only capture prey or food that they would normally eat in the wild. For example a grasshopper can collect plant matter from the plant container but they cannot take a life from a kangaroo.

 A dingo can chase the rabbit, the fox or the lizards but needs to watch out for the human.

 Once an animal has taken a life from an animal they cannot take another life from that same animal again until they have taken a life from a different animal. For example, if the dingo takes the life of one rabbit they cannot chase that same rabbit again until they have taken the life from a different player.

 At the end of the designated playing time, blow the whistle and all animals return to a central location to compare the number of lives they now have.

Primary Maths and Science 21 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 5 Lesson 5: Who Eats Who? EXPLORE At a Glance: To provide opportunities for students to show what they think they know about food chains and webs.

Assessment Focus: Formative Assessment is an important aspect of the Explore phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing understanding and giving feedback that extends their learning.

Assessment Opportunities - Formative Assessment:  Completed food webs  Follow up discussions  Journal entries

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Identify the links between organisms in a food web  Explain the differences between food chains and food webs

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Create a food web with supporting written information

Equipment for each team:  A set of laminated animal pictures – Resource Sheet 7  Access to blank cards or pieces of paper – roughly the same size as the animal pictures

Equipment for each student:  Journals

Teacher background information

Producers Plants are called producers because they use the energy from the sun to produce their own food. Producers make up the bulk of the food web and are always at the start of food chains. Every organism within the food chain or web ultimately depends upon the plants for survival.

Consumers Consumers are living things that eat something else in order to survive. All animals are consumers as they are unable to make their own food. This includes:  Herbivores – animals that eat plants. They are known as first order consumers or primary consumers.  Carnivores (predators) – animals that eat other animals. They are known as second order consumers or secondary consumers because they eat animals that have already eaten plant material which means they are at a secondary level within the food chain.  Omnivores – animals that eat both plants and other animals  Scavengers – animals that live off dead animal matter

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EXPLORE

In the example above the grasshopper is the primary consumer because the grasshopper eats the grass. The lizard is the secondary consumer because the lizard eats the grasshopper which has eaten the grass. If you introduced another level to this food chain such as a snake, it would be classed as a third order consumer (tertiary consumer) as it is eating a lizard which has eaten the grasshopper, which has eaten the grass.

Decomposers Decomposers are things such as bacteria and fungi which convert dead material into nutrients which are then released back into the soil so they can be used again by the producers. Without decomposers the world would be covered in dead plant and animal matter.

Preparation Organise a pack of laminated animal cards (Resource Sheet 7) for each team as well as access to blank cards

Lesson Outline Key words: producer, consumer, scavenger, food chain, food web, decomposer

1. Revisit the key question which was discussed during the work on Surtsey. – How do systems interact and respond to change?

2. Engage in a discussion around the terms food chains and food webs. What do they currently understand about these terms? Ask students to record their understandings about the similarities and differences between a food chain and a food web.

3. Organise students into cooperative learning teams and give each team a pack of the laminated animal cards (Resource Sheet 7). Make sure each team also has access to blank cards or pieces of paper which they may need to use to develop their system in greater detail.

4. Provide teams with the appropriate resources and ask each team to use the animal cards as well as the blank cards, if needed, to create links between the animals based on who eats who – examples of food chains and webs. Students use the blank cards to add other things that are important for sustaining the food web e.g. there are no cards which contain any plant material and this is critical for the survival of a food web. Students can write the word grass or draw some grass on one of the blank cards or pieces of paper provided and add this to their food web.

Teacher Tip: Not all of the animals will link easily together as they are not all found in the same

environments or even within the same countries. Students will need to fill in some of the gaps by

using the blank cards provided. They should be able to create more than one food web using the

animals provided.

Students will also need to consider animals such as the domestic dog. What does a dog eat in a domesticated situation and how might this link into a food chain or web?

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5. Once teams have completed one or more food webs have them identify the

producers, consumers (first and second order), scavengers and possibly even EXPLORE decomposers within their webs. This could be done using small sticky notes to record the appropriate word and then stick it onto the corresponding picture or word within the food web. At this stage students could add in extra organisms as they try to identify the key components of the food web or chain.

6. Take photos of the food webs as a way of recording what was achieved and the level of thinking that was involved. These photos can be printed and then placed in journals along with written explanations as a permanent record of the work completed.

7. Give students the opportunity to look at what has been completed by others by completing a gallery walk. Literacy Focus: In a Gallery Walk students move from one exhibit to another, using the agreed focus to discuss and respond to the exhibits. It provides an opportunity for all work to be on show and for students to see the variety of responses provided for the task.

Meet as a class to share some of the food webs and discuss the dependence of the animals within a food web on each other and the environment in which they live.

8. Link back to the key question - How do systems interact and respond to change? Ask students to consider how what they have just done links in with this question and with the work they completed earlier on the island of Surtsey?

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ebra

orse

bear scorpion

red kangaroo bottle nosed dolphin

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/100/290117655_75c391a2bc_z.jpg

panther leafy sea dragon

Primary Maths and Science 25 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 7

ion

tiger snail

frog snake

cheetah grey squirrel

Primary Maths and Science 26 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 7 hippopotamus mouse

coyote platypus

bee ant

fish octopus

Primary Maths and Science 27 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 7

onkey

seal

http://static.flickr.com/2650/3741296682_20df35022b_t.jpg

sea urchin jellyfish

ttp://farm1.staticflickr.com/50/128621319_103029c14e.jpg http://farm1.staticflickr.com/28/63738979_3789b3e503.jpg

echidna earthworm

spider clam Primary Maths and Science 28 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 7 p

arrot arrot

uman

mountain l mountain

heep

ion

Primary Maths and Science 29 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 7 Lesson 6 EXPLAIN Session 1: What’s the Link?

At a Glance: To support students understanding of food chains and webs and the interconnectedness of everything involved.

Assessment Focus: Formative Assessment is an important aspect of the Explain phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing understanding and giving feedback that extends their learning.

Assessment Opportunities - Formative Assessment:  Participation in the activity  Follow up discussions  Responses to questions  Completed consequence wheel

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Identify the links between organisms in a food web  Explain how systems interact and respond to change

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Record written responses to questions  Complete a consequence wheel

Equipment for the class:  A ball of string

Equipment for each student:  Journals

Teacher background information

Grass Grasshopper Lizard Snake Eagle

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Plants are known as producers and are always at the start of the food chain as they use the energy from the sun to produce their own food. Plants are then ENGAGE eaten by animals.

3rd order (tertiary) consumers - eagle

nd 2 order (secondary) consumers - lizard

1st order (primary) consumers - grasshopper

Producers – plant matter

A balance needs to be maintained in order for the food chain or web to survive. For example if there are too many koalas there will be insufficient food for them to feed on. Many koalas may starve and eventually die. This then gives the trees time to recover and multiply. As the supply of trees increases, the number of koalas may once again increase.

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Food web Food webs are the combination of many food chains. Food webs show the many EXPLAIN different ways in which plants and animals are interconnected. Below is a possible example of a food web. Other interactions could be linked depending on the stage of life of the animal concerned e.g. if the kangaroo were a young joey it could also be eaten by the eagle, the dingo or the fox.

A website that is located at http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/interactives/ecology/food_web.php enables students to simulate a variety of changes to a food web over time.

Biodiversity Biodiversity is the variety of all living things; the plants, animals and microorganisms that form an ecosystem. Species diversity is the variety of species that live together in a particular habitat or region. Some habitats have many species while others may only have few. Invertebrates make up about 99% of all animal species and most of these are insects which have an important role to play in ecosystems as pollinators, recyclers and food for others.

Consequence Wheel Example An increase in population of smaller native species WHAT IF… An increased

Foxes were chance of survival

eradicated for smaller native

species Greater destruction of

farming land through burrowing

An increase in the population of Greater competition for plant rabbits matter as a food source

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Preparation Organise Resource Sheet 8 to be cut into individual pieces so that there are EXPLAIN enough pieces for one piece per student. You may like to copy the sheet to A3 size to make the words easier for students to see across a larger group.

You may like to replace the generic plants and animals listed on Resource Sheet 8 with plants and animals that are relevant to your local context e.g. if you are in a beach environment you could create your own marine and beach examples.

Photocopy Resource Sheet 9 – one per student

Lesson Outline Key words: food chain, food web, diversity, link, species, ecosystem, sustainability 1. Revisit the key question – How do systems interact and respond to change? Discuss the activities that the students have done so far that relate to this question?

2. Find a space large enough so that the class can sit comfortably in a circle and can easily see all other members of the group. Once they are seated hand out the cards from Resource Sheet 8 – one card per child.

3. Choose one student to start with the ball of string and have them hold the end of the piece of string and pass the ball to someone else in the group who is holding a card that their animal relates to in some way. For example, the person holding the kangaroo card may pass the string to the person holding the grass card because kangaroos eat grass. Or the person holding the gum tree card may pass the ball of string to the person holding the possum card because possums feed and nest in gum trees.

4. This new person keeps hold of the string and passes the rest of the ball of string to someone in the group that is holding a card that relates to whatever it is that they have in their hand. This continues until either all avenues are exhausted as no more links can be found or until a complex web has been created.

5. As students are passing the ball of string it is important that they verbalise the link for others to hear, e.g. “I am passing the string to Tyler because he is holding the card showing a tree and the possum card that I am holding links to this because possums eat the flowers and fruit produced by some trees. Possums also live in trees”.

6. When you have created a complex web of life representation ask the students to gently lay the string down on the ground in front of them whilst trying to maintain the links that have been identified.

7. Discuss the interdependence within the food web and how this helps maintain a balance of plant and animal populations.

 Why are there so many different species of plants and animals?  What might happen if a plant or animal was removed from the web?  Why is it important to preserve all species?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a large diversity of species?

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8. Brainstorm a list of the different things that could impact on a food web or living system. Identify them as either natural or human effects. Keep this EXPLAIN information for use in Lesson 10 later in the unit. Things that could impact on a living system include:  Natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, floods, bushfires, earthquakes  The introduction of a new species of plant or animal such as prickly pear, cane toads, rabbits, foxes, European Carp etc  The destruction of habitat through human intervention e.g. clearing of forests, the construction of towns and cities  The extinction of a species in a particular habitat through things such as over fishing and hunting

9. Provide each student with a copy of the Consequence Wheel (Resource Sheet 9). Ask them to decide which statement they are going to use in the centre. Statements for the centre of the wheel could be generated from the list of things that impact on a food web and could include:  What might happen if there were a sudden increase in…?  What might happen if there were a sudden decrease in …?  What might happen if a new predator was introduced?  What are some of the consequences of a wide diversity of species?  What are some of the consequences of a limited diversity of species?

10. Complete the Consequence Wheel around that statement. A Consequence Wheel is a graphic organiser that is used to help students organise their thinking around a particular idea or topic. It focuses the students‟ attention on the specific consequences of one event. These consequences may be positive or negative. The consequence wheel also looks at secondary consequences (consequences of the primary consequences).

11. Share completed Consequence Wheels.

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grass seed grasshopper

flower bee koala

gum tree snake lizard

kookaburra kangaroo possum

eagle soil fungi

millipede echidna ant

parrot dingo spider

cricket hopping mouse termite

leaves fruit emu

magpie beetle fly

caterpillar bandicoot worm

Primary Maths and Science 35 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 8

What if... First and second level consequences

What if………

Primary Maths and Science 36 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Resource Sheet 9 Lesson 6 EXPLAIN Session 2: What’s the Link? At a Glance: To support students‟ understanding of food chains and webs and the interconnectedness of everything involved.

Assessment Focus: Formative Assessment is an important aspect of the Explain phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing understanding and giving feedback that extends their learning.

Assessment Opportunities - Formative Assessment:  Follow up discussions  Responses to questions

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Identify the links between organisms in a food web  Explain how systems interact and respond to change

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Record written responses to questions

Equipment for each student:  Journals  A copy of Resource Sheet 10

Preparation Organise internet access so you can show the following video clip.

http://deepseanews.com/2011/02/sea-lions-sing-tribute-to-the-great-white-shark/

This video is an excellent way to show students the links in an ocean food chain. The clip can be downloaded prior to the lesson. It is also available as a link through YouTube or you can Google “sea lions tribute to the great white shark” and there are numerous other websites showing this video.

Organise a copy of Resource Sheet 10 for each student

Lesson Outline Key words: food chain, food web, diversity, link, ecosystem, sustainability 1. Revisit the key question – How do systems interact and respond to change? View the video of the sea lion‟s tribute to the great white shark. Allow time for students to discuss what the video was about and how they think it relates to the key question.

2. Give each student a copy of Resource Sheet 10 and give them time to read through the questions to make sure they understand each one.

3. View the video again and provide students with the opportunity to engage in a discussion around the questions. Provide them with the time necessary to complete their responses.

4. Meet together as a group to share responses and engage in further discussion around the key question and how the video links to this question.

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Tribute to the Great White Shark 1. What living things were involved in the system depicted in this video? How did they link together?

2. Explain what you understand by the phrase “all linked together in the food chains of life”.

3. Why will the “chain sink” if each link is not there?

4. Predict what might happen if all the sharks were removed from the system.

5. Describe things that might impact on this system.

6. What did you learn from this video?

Primary Maths and Science 38 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 10

Lesson 7: Sorting and Grouping ENGAGE

At a Glance: To find out what students think they know about sorting and grouping animals.

Assessment Opportunities - Diagnostic Assessment:  Explanation of sorting criteria  Follow up discussions  Journal entries

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Explain the criteria used to sort animals  Engage in discussions about how animals are grouped

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Use written text to record their experiences and current understandings

Equipment for each group:  One set of laminated animal photos (Resource Sheet 7 – used earlier in the unit)

Equipment for each student:  Journals

Teacher background information

Classification and taxonomy Classification is a process used by scientists to organise living things into groups. Living things are classified into groups to help us make better sense of the world. Our current classification system is based on the work of Carolus Linneaus (1707 – 1778).

Linneaus was born in Sweden in 1707 and began studying medicine at the University of Lund in 1727. He headed an expedition to Lapland in 1732 where he discovered 100 botanical species. In 1735 he published Systema Naturae, his classification of plants based on their sexual parts. His method of classification using genus and species names was further developed when he published Fundamenta Botanica (1736) and Classes Plantarum (1738). In these publications, Linnaeus provided a survey of the world's plants and animals as then known which helped to establish and standardise the consistent binomial nomenclature for species which he introduced for plants in 1753, and for animals in 1758.

Biographies on Linneaus: http://www.linnean.org/index.php?id=51 http://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/linnaeus.html http://www.nndab.com/people/292/000087031/

Primary Maths and Science 39 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Preparation Make sure you have enough copies of the photos from Resource Sheet 7 for one ENGAGE pack for each cooperative learning team.

Lesson Outline Key words: classification, taxonomy 1. Organise students into cooperative learning teams and provide each team with a set of animal photos (Resource Sheet 7 – used earlier in the unit).

2. Ask teams to sort the animals into groups according to their own criteria and record the criteria used. Ask them to re-sort the photos using different criteria. How many different ways can they find to sort the photos?

3. Meet together as a class and create a list of the different criteria used in the sorting process. Link the idea of classification to students‟ addresses. As each level of an address becomes more specific it is relevant to less and less people, e.g. Earth – Australia – South Australia – Adelaide – Seacliff – Flinders St – Number 32 – John Smith. This is similar to plant and animal classification.

4. Discuss the early works of Linnaeus (see teacher background information for web links) and why scientists have a standard classification system that is used around the world for all living things.

5. Ask students to record individual responses in their journals to the key question - How and why do we classify things around us? Share individual responses in small groups.

Primary Maths and Science 40 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Lesson 8: What’s the Key? EXPLORE

At a Glance: To provide opportunities for students to show what they think they know about dichotomous keys and the classification of animals.

Assessment Focus: Formative Assessment is an important aspect of the Explore phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing understanding and giving feedback that extends their learning.

Assessment Opportunities - Formative Assessment:  Follow up discussions  Journal entries  Completed dichotomous key

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Describe how a dichotomous key is used to sort or classify objects  Differentiate between sorting and classifying  Create an example of a dichotomous key

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Create a dichotomous key

Equipment for each student:  A copy of Resource Sheet 11  Access to the animal cards used in previous lessons  Journals

Teacher background information Sorting and Classifying Sorting is when things are organised into categories that are specific and personal. The categories help you to order and organise things. You could sort a group of animals into those that are found in Australia and those that are not. Or they could be sorted into animals we eat and animals we don‟t eat. The animals placed into a category may differ depending on the person doing the sorting.

Classifying involves placing things into groups according to predetermined, agreed criteria. When classifying animals scientists have already organised the features of the different groups. For example mammals have specific features such as warm blooded, live young, suckle their young, covered in fur or hair.

Sorting and classifying are different skills and both are important parts of science thinking and learning.

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Dichotomous Key A dichotomous key is a tool that helps to sort and identify unknown organisms by answering questions related to the visible features of that organism. The EXPLORE word dichotomous comes from two Greek words that together mean “divided in two parts”.

The key consists of a series of questions that describe the characteristics of the organisms. At each stage you are presented with two choices. Once you have made a decision you follow the path and look at the next question or criterion. Eventually you will end up at the name of the organism you are trying to identify.

When creating a dichotomous key the first step is to look at the features of the objects and then separate them into two groups based on a single distinguishing feature. You continue to separate each of the groups into two until you end up at the individual item with its own set of individual characteristics. It is important that the choices you give are clearly observable and unlikely to change, e.g. if using a dichotomous key to separate students in a class it would not be advisable to use characteristics such as wearing a jumper or not wearing a jumper as the students are not likely to always be wearing the same clothes.

Dichotomous keys can be recorded in two different ways. They can be recorded in a written or graphical form. What follows is an example of each.

Written form GO TO

1a Is a vertebrate 2

1b1a Is an invertebrate 7

2a1b Is warm blooded 3 2a 2b Is cold blooded 8 3a2b Covered in fur or hair 4 3b3a Covered in feathers parrot 4a3b Live young 5 4b4a Lays eggs echidna

5a4b Has 2 pairs of legs dog

55b5a a Has modified appendages 6

6a5b Modified limbs for swimming seal

6b6a Modified limbs for flying bat 6b 7a Is soft bodied earthworm 7b Has an exoskeleton 9 8a Has lungs lizard 8b Has gills fish 9a Has 3 pairs of legs bee

9b Has 4 pairs of legs spider

Primary Maths and Science 42 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Graphical form EXPLORE

Classification example

This example of a dichotomous table has used information based on the classification of animals. The animals have been grouped by using questions which relate to predetermined, scientifically agreed information. This example gives a scientifically accurate representation of the relationship between the animals e.g. all the mammals branch from the same stem.

Graphical form Sorting example

This dichotomous table has sorted the animals using random criteria. In this example related animals such as the seal, dog, bat and echidna (all mammals) are not grouped together. It does not give a clear indication of the scientific relationship between animals.

Taxonomy Taxonomy is the science of naming and identifying species of life forms and arranging them into a classification system. Arranging and classifying provides order. It is a word derived from the Ancient Greek - taxis "arrangement" and νομία nomia "method".

Primary Maths and Science 43 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Preparation Organise copies of Resource Sheet 11 for each student Organise the animal pictures used in previous lessons – Resource Sheet 7 EXPLORE

Lesson Outline Key words: dichotomous key, classification, taxonomy, sort 1. Remind students of the key question - How and why do we classify things around us? Ask them to discuss the meaning of the word classify and the different criteria that they think scientists use to classify animals. Make a list of all the different criteria the students think of.

2. Explain to the class that they are going to explore sorting and classifying further through the development of a dichotomous key using some students as the organisms. Introduce them to the examples of the two dichotomous keys – Resource Sheet 11. Discuss the structure and purpose of a dichotomous key and then ask eight students to stand.

3. Once the students are standing, ask them to divide themselves into two groups using a criterion of their choice. The groups do not have to be of equal size. The obvious first choice is to divide male – female but this is not the only way it could be done. Students could divide in several ways, e.g. according to height, eye colour, year level at school etc.

4. Once the first division has occurred record the criterion used to separate the groups.

Teacher tip:

At this stage it does not matter what criteria the students choose to use to separate themselves. If

they do choose something that may make it difficult at a later stage, e.g. wearing green or wearing

purple, this can be part of the discussion at the completion of the task.

5. These two groups then develop criteria to separate themselves once again into two smaller groups. This process continues until all students are down to an individual level. Record the criteria or questions

used.

6. Once the eight students have separated down to an individual level show them how the questions used can then be used to help identify individual students. Link this back to the copies of the dichotomous keys that were handed out to the students earlier. Can they see how animals can also be sorted and classified using a similar process?

7. Ask them to compare the two dichotomous keys and see if they can identify the differences between them. Which one do they believe is more scientifically accurate and why? Spend time looking at the differences between the two.

8. Work with the class to develop a dichotomous table using the information provided in one of the dichotomous keys.

9. Ask students to choose eight animals from Resource Sheet 7 and develop a dichotomous key or table to classify or sort them. As well as recording their key, students need to identify whether they have sorted or classified the animals.

10. Revisit the key question - How and why do we classify things around us? How does the task they have just completed help them answer this question?

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DichotomousDichotomous KeyKey SortingClassification Dichotomous Key Classification

Resource Sheet 11 Primary Maths and Science 45 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 11

Lesson 9: Session 1 Binomial Nomenclature EXPLAIN

At a Glance: To support students understanding of scientific classification and the way names are organised.

Assessment Focus: Formative Assessment is an important aspect of the Explain phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing understanding and giving feedback that extends their learning.

Assessment Opportunities: Formative Assessment  Follow up discussions  Completed table – responses to questions  Journal entries

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Identify some animals through their scientific names  Explain how the scientific naming system works

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Complete a table to demonstrate their current understandings of binomial nomenclature

Equipment for each team:  A copy of Resource Sheet 12 – cut into separate pieces

Equipment for each student:  Copy of Resource Sheet 13  Journals

Teacher background information Binomial nomenclature involves organising an organism's scientific name into two parts: the genus name and the species name.

Classification was originally based on the visible structures of organisms and groups of organisms. These structures related to the function of the organism, e.g. locomotion, numbers and types of legs, stance, feeding, and reproduction. For example the classification of birds is based on their beaks (related to what and how they eat) and their feet (related to their method of movement).

The structures on which organisms are classified are those that can be found across the range of individuals in a group. It does not relate to features, such as colour or size, which can vary between individuals of a species.

DNA technology can now be used to clarify classification of organisms. The relationships between organisms are much clearer and have led to significant changes in classification. Giant pandas and red pandas are now not thought to be closely related and are now placed in quite different family groups.

Taxonomy is a way of naming organisms that have been sorted out through a classification system. There are conventions used in binomial nomenclature as suggested by Linnaeus.

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 Taxa are normally written in Latin EXPLAIN  Genus name is first  Genus name has uppercase first letter  Species name is second  Species name is all lower case  Genus and species names are always in italics  Genus and species are always written the same way regardless of the language of the rest of the text  Where reference is made to several species of the same genus the genus name may be shortened to the first letter of the genus, in upper case and with a full stop after that letter.

Some examples of full taxonomy and the names of several organisms Sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomic_rank

Rank Fruit Fly Human Pea Fly Agaric E.coli (taxa)

Kingdom Animalia Animalia Plantae Fungi Bacteria

Phylum or Arthropoda Chordata Magnoliophyta Basidiomycota Proteobacteria Division

Class Insecta Mammalia Magnoliopsida Agaricomycetes Gammaproteo- bacteria

Order Diptera Primates Fabales Agaricales Enterobacteriales

Family Drosophilidae Hominidae Fabaceae Amanitaceae Enterobacteriaceae

Genus Drosophila Homo Pisum Amantia Escherichia

Species D. melanogaster H. sapiens P. stivum A. muscaria E.coli

A useful mnemonic to help students remember the classification hierarchy is:

Keep Ponds Clean Or Frogs Get Sick.

There are many other mnemonics available. The students may like to create their own to help them remember this information. http://www.abc.net.au/acedayjobs/cooljobs/profiles/s2599749.htm interview with a taxonomist

Preparation Organise copies of Resource Sheet 12 for each team. Cut each page into individual pieces and ensure they are jumbled before giving them out.

Organise a copy of Resource Sheet 13 for each student.

Some of the animal photos (Resource Sheet 7) used earlier in the unit.

Teacher Note: Students will need to be able to access the internet for the latter part of this lesson.

Primary Maths and Science 47 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Lesson Outline Key Words: EXPLAIN hierarchy, scientific name, binomial nomenclature, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species 1. Show the students some of the animals used earlier in the unit and ask them to name them. Record the names of the animals on the board and explain to the students that these names are the common names used by everyday people and that scientists have scientific names for each of these animals. Ask students if anyone knows the scientific name of any animal. Record them if they do.

2. Give students some examples of an everyday name and a scientific name for a common animal: cat – Felis catus guinea pig – Cavia porcellus human – Homo sapiens. Ask students to discuss how the scientific names are recorded e.g. which words are capitalised, what style of writing is used? (Italics) Explain the conventions behind the recording of scientific names.

3. Organise the class into cooperative learning teams and give each team a pack containing the cut up pieces of Resource Sheet 12. Ask the students to work together as a team to match the common name of an animal with its scientific name.

4. Once completed meet together to discuss the strategies used and what clues were there in the names to help with the task. Check answers and revisit the conventions behind scientific names as well as the hierarchy of Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. Highlight the fact that the scientific names just investigated gave us only the genus and species.

5. Show the class an example of an animal incorporating all levels of the hierarchy e.g. house mouse. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Teacher note: We are using binomial nomenclature for all Class: Mammalia scientific names within this unit. Some resources use an Order: Rodentia additional layer of taxonomy (trinomial nomenclature). For Family: Muridae example the common dog is Canis familiaris within this unit. It Genus: Mus can also be described as Canis lupis familiaris. Species: musculus Remind students how this links in a way to their address – each level becomes more and more specific.

6. Working in pairs, provide students with access to the internet and the time necessary to investigate the scientific and common names of everyday animals e.g. what is the scientific name for a dog? A red back spider? A polar bear? How is the name recorded?

7. Ask students to spend time looking at the completed table on Resource Sheet 13. What conclusions can be drawn about the relationship between some or all of the animals? Complete a table comparing the scientific classification of four different animals (Resource Sheet 13).

8. Record responses to the following in journals.  How and why do we classify things around us?  Describe the relationships, if any, between the animals you have investigated as well as the animals in the original table.

Website to assist with the scientific names of animals

http://a-z-animals.com/animals/ - does not go to the species level http://animals.about.com/od/animal-facts/a/animals-atoz-scientific.htm

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/wildlife-ecosystems/wildlife/az_of_animals/index.html

Primary Maths and Science 48 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Dog Canis familiaris

Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops truncatus

Red Kangaroo Macropus rufus

Cat Felis catus

Tiger Panthera tigris

Lion Panthera leo

Sheep Ovis aries

Panther Panthera pardus

Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus

Horse Equus caballus

Primary Maths and Science 49 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 12

Mountain Zebra Equus zebra

Donkey Equus asinus

Brown Bear Ursus arctos

Leafy Sea Dragon Phycodurus eques

Scorpion Euscorpius flavicaudis

Eastern Grey Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis

House Mouse Mus musculus

Hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius

Coyote Canis latrans

Mountain Lion Puma concolor

Primary Maths and Science 50 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 12

Classification

PET DOG PET CAT WOLF BROWN BEAR

animalia animalia animalia animalia Kingdom

chordata chordata chordata chordata Phylum

mammalia mammalia mammalia mammalia Class

carnivora carnivora carnivora carnivora Order

canidae felidae canidae ursidae Family

Canis Felis Canis Ursus Genus

familiaris catus lupus arctos Species

Classification

Kingdom

Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Genus

Species

Primary Maths and Science 51 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 13 Lesson 9: Session 2 What makes it that? EXPLAIN

At a Glance: To support students‟ understanding of scientific classification and the features that are specific to different groupings of animals.

Assessment Focus: Formative Assessment is an important aspect of the Explain phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing understanding and giving feedback that extends their learning.

Assessment Opportunities - Formative Assessment:  Linking of descriptions to animal groups  Journal entries  Creation of fact and fiction statements

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Identify the key features of different animal classifications  Use scientific terminology to describe relationships between animals

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Read information from a visual classification chart

Equipment for each team:  A copy of Resource Sheet 15 and 16 cut into individual pieces  Photos from Resource Sheet 7

Equipment for each student:  A copy of Resource Sheet 14  Journals

Teacher background information The information that follows on Resource Sheet 14 does not include all phyla, orders or classes. It is only a snapshot of information designed to demonstrate to students how animals are categorised and includes those that may be of relevance to the students or that the students may have encountered previously. For example the class Mammalia contains over 5000 species in 26 orders.

There is still discussion around the placement of animals in different categories and how animals are related to one another. With increasing technological advancement in molecular testing, the discovery of new fossils and new knowledge becoming available, scientific understanding of many groups is changing.

Websites to assist with classification: http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/index.html http://www.kidport.com/reflib/science/animals/animals.htm http://www.animalsworlds.com/ http://a-z-animals.com/animals/ http://www.nclark.net/Classification http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html

Primary Maths and Science 52 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Invertebrate

Animal KINGDOM

PHYLUM Chordate Arthropod Annelid Mollusc Echinoderm (worms) (starfish and sea urchins)

Sub phylum Vertebrate

CLASS Fish Amphibian Mammal Reptile Bird Insect Crustacean Arachnid Gastropod Bivalve Cephalopod (snails and (cockle (squid and (crabs, lobsters and sea snails) sand clams) cuttlefish) shrimp) Infra class Marsupial

ORDER Diprotodontia Primate Cetacean Carnivore Rodent Monotreme Scorpion Spider (kangaroos, wombats (apes, (whales and (platypus and and possums) monkeys dolphins) echidnas) and humans)

Family Macropodidae Felidae Ursidae Canidae (kangaroos)

Genus Panthera Ursus Canis

Species

Primary Maths and Science 53 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Mammal Invertebrate Vertebrate Class - Mammalia  Without a backbone Sub phylum - vertebrata  Have body hair  Have a backbone  Are warm blooded  Possess an internal skeleton  Give birth to live young (endoskeleton)  Breathe air through lungs  Are all chordates  Move around using limbs  Produce milk and suckle their young (feed them milk)

Marsupial Monotreme Reptile Class – Mammalia Order - Montremata Class - Reptilia Infraclass: Marsupialia  Type of mammal  Are cold blooded  Type of mammal  Lays eggs  Are covered in scales  Have a pouch  Most primitive mammal  Majority lay eggs  At birth babies are born live but not fully developed  Young continues to grow and develop in pouch

Bird Fish Amphibian Class - Aves Class - Chondrichtyles (sharks and Class - Amphibia  Have wings rays) - Osteichthyes (bony fish)  Lay eggs in water  Covered in feathers  Most can walk and swim  Have a beak rather than teeth  Are vertebrates with a skeleton  Begin their life with gills and tails  The claws of the foot are designed made of bone or cartilage and live in the water to lock and hold  Exchange gas through gills  Develop legs and lungs for life on  Live in water land  Many have scales  Cold blooded  Use fins to move and change direction

Insect Arachnid Primate Class – Insecta Class - Arachnida Order - Primates  3 pairs of legs  4 pairs of legs  Well developed hands and feet  3 body parts – head, abdomen,  2 body parts – cephalothorax, with fingers and toes thorax abdomen  Opposable thumbs  Have antennae on the head  Legs are attached to the  Eyes are on the front of the head  Exoskeleton – hard outer covering cephalothorax.  Large, highly developed brains  All legs are attached to the thorax  Lack wings and antennae  A type of mammal  Humans are in this category

Rodent Crustacean Arthropod Order - Rodentia Class - Crustacea Phylum - Arthropoda  Two long pairs of incisors which  A type of arthropod  Segmented body grow continuously  Live mostly in the ocean or other  Paired limbs waters  Exoskeleton – hard outer skin  Have a hard external shell  Bilateral symmetry  Body parts include a head and an abdomen  Have antennae  Many have claws to help with eating and crawling

Primary Maths and Science 54 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Mollusc Annelid Echinoderm Phylum - Mollusca Phylum - Annelida Phylum - Echinodermata  The majority are marine animals  Bodies are divided into segments  Marine animals but some live in fresh water and  Have a distinct head and soft body  Most have arms and spines that some live on the land  They don‟t have any limbs radiate from the centre of their  Are a type of invertebrate body  In the majority of cases the body  Some have a mouth underneath the is soft without limbs body for feeding  Many species have a hard shell covering the body

Cetacean Animal Chordate Order - Cetacea Kingdom - Animalia Phylum - Chordata  A type of mammal  Is made up of complex cells and  Possess a notochord during some  Live in the water are multi-cellular part of their development. A  Must come to the surface to  Gets the energy it needs to survive notochord is a rod that extends breathe from other living organisms. It the length of the body when it is cannot produce its own food. fully developed.  Is capable of movement  Most reproduce sexually

Gastropod Bivalve Cephalopod Class - Gastropoda Class - Bivalvia Class - Cephalapoda  A type of mollusc  A type of mollusc  A type of mollusc  Have a singular muscular foot  Have a two sided symmetrical shell  Inhabit marine environments  A single shelled animal  There are freshwater and marine  Are invertebrates  The shell is usually spiralled species  Can propel themselves through the water using jet propulsion  Most are able to produce ink when threatened by a predator  Have a beak  They have arms or tentacles  Have an ability to rapidly change colour

Primary Maths and Science 55 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Preparation EXPLAIN Photocopy Resource Sheet 14 for each student.

Photocopy Resource Sheets 15 and 16 for each cooperative learning team. Cut theses pages up into individual pieces.

Organise the photos from Resource Sheet 7 for students to access.

Lesson Outline Key Words: animal, vertebrate, invertebrate, fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, mammal, echinoderm, arthropod, mollusc, annelid, marsupial, monotreme, insect, arachnid, crustacean, gastropod, bivalve, cephalopod, primate, rodent, cetacean, chordate

1. Organise students into cooperative learning teams and provide them with a copy of Resource Sheet 14. Ask students to look over the sheet and discuss its layout in their teams. Remind them of the key question - How and why do we classify things around us? What is the sheet representing? How has it been organised?

2. Spend time talking with the students about the relationships between the groups on Resource Sheet 14. How are they the same? How are they different? How do they or don‟t they link?

3. Once the discussion has finished give teams the cut out pieces of Resource Sheets 15 and 16 and the photos from Resource Sheet 7. Ask them to look at the information provided on each card and see if they can match this information with one of the headings e.g. which information card relates to mammals, which relates to vertebrates? Can they also match the animals from Resource Sheet 7 to these headings and information?

4. Meet together as a class to share information and complete a class example for display purposes. Discuss the information and ensure that students are aware that there are other phyla, classes and orders that have not been included on Resource Sheet 14 and that there are more specific levels of classification such as genus and species that have also not been included in detail.

5. Provide students with a copy of Resource Sheet 17 and give them time to look at and discuss and share their observations around the graphic representation of classification. Ask students to work individually and use the graphic representation to develop at least eight statements that are either true or false. Students can determine how many true or false statements they have e.g.

 Dogs belong to the order Canidae (False. They belong to the family Canidae)  All cats belong to the phylum Chordata (True)  The class Reptilia contains snakes, lizards and crocodiles (True)  An insect is more closely related to a crab than to a bird (True)  A pet dog belongs to the genus Canis (True)

6. Once the statements have been developed place students in pairs and have them swap statements and try to determine which are true and which are false. Working together the students then go through and discuss their responses against the information provided by Resource Sheet 17.

7. Develop a class collation of true and false statements and display them along with Resource Sheet 17.

Primary Maths and Science 56 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Animal KINGDOM

PHYLUM Chordate Arthropod Annelid Mollusc Echinoderm (worms) (starfish and sea urchins)

Sub phylum Vertebrate

CLASS Fish Amphibian Mammal Reptile Bird Insect Crustacean Arachnid Gastropod Bivalve Cephalopod (crabs, (snails and (cockles (squid and

lobsters and sea snails) and clams) cuttlefish) shrimp) Infra class Marsupial

ORDER Diprotodontia Primate Cetacean Carnivore Rodent Monotreme Scorpion Spider (kangaroos, wombats (apes, (whales and (platypus and and possums) monkeys dolphins) echidna) and humans)

Family Macropodidae Felidae Ursidae Canidae (kangaroos)

Genus Panthera Ursus Canis

Species

Primary Maths and Science 57 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 14

animal marsupial arthropod

vertebrate monotreme crustacean

fish rodent arachnid

amphibian primate insect

reptile cetacean mollusc

mammal invertebrate gastropod

bird echinoderm bivalve

chordate annelid cephalopod

Annelids

Molluscs

Cephalopods

Gastropods Bivalves

Primary Maths and Science 58 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 15

 Two long pairs of incisors which  Without a backbone  Have a backbone grow continuously

 Bodies are divided into segments  Type of mammal  Are cold blooded  Have a distinct head and soft body  Lays eggs  Are covered in scales  They don‟t have any limbs  Most primitive mammal  Majority lay eggs

 Have wings  Are vertebrates with a skeleton  Lay eggs in water  Covered in feathers made of bone or cartilage  Most can walk and swim  Have a beak rather than teeth  Exchange gas through gills  Begin their life with gills and tails  The claws of the foot are designed  Live in water and live in the water to lock and hold  Many have scales  Develop legs and lungs for life on  Use fins to move and change land direction  Cold blooded

 3 pairs of legs  4 pairs of legs  Well developed hands and feet  3 body parts – head, abdomen,  2 body parts – cephalothorax, with fingers and toes thorax abdomen  Opposable thumbs  Have antennae on the head  Legs are attached to the  Eyes are on the front of the head  Exoskeleton – hard outer covering cephalothorax.  Large, highly developed brains  All legs are attached to the thorax  Lack wings and antennae  A type of mammal  Humans are in this category

 Have body hair  A type of arthropod  Are made up of complex cells  Are warm blooded  Live mostly in the ocean or other  Cannot produce its own food.  Give birth to live young waters  Gets the energy it needs to survive  Breathe air through lungs  Have a hard external shell from other living organisms.  Move around using limbs  Body parts include a head and an  Are capable of movement  Produce milk and suckle their abdomen  Most reproduce sexually young (feed them milk)  Have antennae  Many have claws to help with eating and crawling

 The majority are marine animals  A type of mollusc  Marine animals but some live in fresh water and  Inhabit marine environments  Most have arms and spines that some live on the land  Are invertebrates radiate from the centre of their  Are a type of invertebrate  Can propel themselves through the body  In the majority of cases the body water using jet propulsion  Some have the mouth for feeding is soft without limbs  Most are able to produce ink when underneath the body  Many species have a hard shell threatened by a predator covering the body  Have a beak  They have arms or tentacles  Have an ability to rapidly change colour

 A type of mammal  A type of mollusc  Possess a notochord during some  Live in the water  Have a two sided symmetrical shell part of their development. A  Must come to the surface to  There are freshwater and marine notochord is a rod that extends breathe species the length of the body when it is fully developed

Primary Maths and Science 59 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 16

 Is a type of mollusc  Segmented body  Type of mammal  Have a singular muscular foot  Paired limbs  Have a pouch  A single shelled animal  Exoskeleton – hard outer skin  At birth babies are born live but  The shell is usually spiralled  Bilateral symmetry not fully developed  Young continues to grow and develop in pouch

Primary Maths and Science 60 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 16

KINGDOM Phylum Animalia Echinodermata

Phylum Arthropoda Phylum Class Mollusca Gastropoda Class Class Insecta Aves Class Phylum Amphibia Annelida Class Class Phylum Class Bivalvia Cephalopoda Chordata Crustacea Class Arachnida Order

Class Primates Class

Chondrichtyles Mammalia (sharks and rays) Order Cetacean Osteichthyes Order (bony fish) Class Monotremata Order Reptilia

Squamata Genus Order Order Canis Rodentia Carnivora Order Family Canis familiaris Family Family Crocodilia Canidae Gekkonidae Genus Elapidae Family Panthera Canis lupis Felidae Genus

Felis

Panthera tigris Panthera leo Felis catus

Primary Maths and Science Resource Sheet 17 61 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Lesson 10: ELABORATE At a Glance: To provide opportunities for students to investigate the influence of human activity on interactions between elements in an ecosystem.

Assessment Focus: Summative Assessment of the investigating outcomes is an important aspect of the Elaborate phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing skills and understandings of the Science Inquiry Skills and the investigative process.

Assessment Opportunities - Summative Assessment:  Participation in discussions  Journal entries  Presentation of research

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Give examples of human activity on interactions within an ecosystem  Explain both positive and negative effects of human interaction  Identify questions that can be investigated scientifically  Summarise data and use scientific understandings to identify relationships and draw conclusions  Communicate ideas, findings and solutions to problems using scientific language

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Locate information from relevant texts and websites  Organise and present this information to the class in an appropriate format

Equipment for each student:  Journals  Access to the internet and other relevant resources

Teacher Background Information Some of the investigations in this unit rely heavily on secondary source data and the analysis of this information. Secondary source data is data that involves the research of others. It uses data that has already been collected and collated by others for a range of purposes e.g. the collection of data on the impact of a new species such as foxes on the environment. It would be almost impossible for students to collect this data themselves.

Teacher Note: Students will need to be able to access the internet for the latter part of this lesson.

Teacher preparation Locate the brainstormed list from Lesson 6 to use again.

Photocopy Resource Sheet 18 for each student. It would be useful to photocopy this as an A3 sheet to provide more room for student responses.

Primary Maths and Science 62 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Lesson Outline

Key Words: impact, ecosystem, diversity, sustainability ELABORATE

1. Revisit the key question with the class - How do systems interact and respond to change? What do students understand about this question so far?

2. As a class revisit the brainstormed list from Lesson 6 of the different things they think could have an impact on living systems. Is there anything else that could be added to the list?

3. Explain to the students that they are going to be involved in an investigation into the impact of human activity on different systems and how these systems interact and respond to this change. For this task students can work individually or with a partner.

4. Look at the list used in Lesson 6 and focus on the impact of humans. Identify some specific examples which could be investigated further by the students.

 The impact of the introduction of a particular species e.g. rabbits, prickly pear, cane toads, foxes, feral cats, European Carp, Salvation Jane/Patterson‟s Curse etc.  The impact of development of areas for human habitation e.g. clearing of native vegetation to build housing estates or plant crops  Pollution of waterways, oceans e.g. the Great Pacific Garbage Patch  The use of fire by traditional Aboriginal people  Human impact on the Murray River – irrigators, pollution, salinity, environmental flows  Palm oil production in Sumatra and Borneo  Other relevant local issues

5. Ask students to choose an area for further investigation. Give them a copy of Resource Sheet 18 and work with them to develop an investigable question.  What happens to an ecosystem when a new species is introduced?  How does an ecosystem interact and respond to the introduction of a new species?

6. Organise students into small groups to share their questions and discuss their predictions. What do they think some of the consequences might be? After the discussion fill out the appropriate section of Resource Sheet 18.

7. Provide students with the time necessary to investigate their question using appropriate resources – internet, reference materials, talking with relevant people and develop appropriate responses to the remaining questions on Resource Sheet 18.

8. Students then prepare a short presentation for the rest of the class or a wider audience. Remember the science and the key scientific words – linking the presentation to how do systems interact and respond to change.

Primary Maths and Science 63 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

How do systems interact and respond to change?

What question are you investigating? What predictions can you make about some of the effects of this impact?

What happened/happens?

Why did it/does it happen?

What were/are the consequences, both What has been/is being done about the positive and negative of this action? situation?

What is your opinion about the question you Is there anything else that you think could or investigated? What action, if any, can be should be done? taken?

Primary Maths and Science 64 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 18

Lesson 11: Demonstrating the Understanding EVALUATE At a Glance: To provide opportunities for students to represent what they know about classification, food chains and webs, how humans impact on these systems and to reflect on the learning during the unit.

Assessment Focus: Summative Assessment of the conceptual learning outcomes is an important aspect of the Evaluate phase. It involves monitoring students‟ developing skills and understandings of the science concepts.

Assessment Opportunities - Summative Assessment:  Presentation of understandings in an appropriate form

Science Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Engage in discussions around their understanding of classification, food chains and webs and how human activity impacts on these interactions  Represent their understandings of science concepts in an appropriate format

Literacy Outcomes: Students will be able to:  Contribute to discussions  Explain their thinking to their peers using an appropriate format e.g. poster, labelled diagram, oral presentation, model

Equipment for each pair or individual :  A copy of Resource Sheet 19 and 20  Access to materials for presentation purposes

Lesson Outline Key Words: classification, food chain, food web, ecosystem, dichotomous key, human impact, sustainability 1. Remind the students of the key questions they have been focussing on throughout the unit - How and why do we classify things around us? How do systems interact and respond to change? What sorts of things have been covered in relation to these questions?

2. Hand out copies of Resource Sheets 19 and 20 to each student. Give them time to read through the information of Resource Sheet 19 and identify areas that need clarification. Explain to the students that they will have a set amount of time to complete all the tasks and present their information in an appropriate format. Students could work individually or with a partner on these tasks.

3. Develop criteria for success with the class. An example has been included for you to use as a starting point with your students - Resource Sheet 20. Go through criteria with the students before starting the task.

4. Give students the time necessary to successfully complete the task and organise their information for presentation.

5. Organise students into small groups for presentation purposes. Students will then be responsible for self assessment of their work against the success criteria as well as the peer assessment of another group using the same criteria.

Primary Maths and Science 65 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

The New Surtsey

The Brief

Create your own island – clearly explain its location, climate and the plants and animals found there.

Create a timeline of events showing how the systems on the island came into being.  What plants and animals are found there?  How did they establish themselves?  Where do they fit in the timeline?  What came first?  How did it get there?  What impact did they have once they had established themselves?

Show at least two examples of food chains or webs that may be found on or around your island.

Choose an event from the list below and demonstrate how the systems on your island might respond to the change. What might be the impact of this event?  Introduction of a new species of plant or animal  Extinction of a species of plant or animal  A natural disaster  Environmental pollution  Overpopulation by humans  Deforestation  Overfishing

Develop a classification system for some newly discovered animals recently found on your island (Resource Sheet 21).

Primary Maths and Science 66 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 19

Biological Sciences – The New Surtsey Success Criteria

Student Teacher

Does the location of the island match the Create your own information about the climate and the plants and island animals?

A clear explanation of the progression of living

things over time?

Timeline of events Information is scientifically realistic.

Scientific words are used as part of the explanation.

Information is clearly presented

Have you included at least two examples? Food chains and webs Are they scientifically accurate?

Have you used scientific terminology?

A clear explanation of the event

Significant event A clear explanation of the possible consequences of such an event? – including some second level consequences

Are the consequences scientifically plausible?

Is the classification system clear and easy to Classification follow? system Do the animals meet the criteria you described?

Have you explained your system of classification?

Have you used the observable features of the animals to assist with the classification?

Primary Maths and Science 67 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 20

Primary Maths and Science 68 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 21

Primary Maths and Science 69 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 21

Primary Maths and Science 70 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011 Resource Sheet 21

Links to Learning Beginning Achieving Advanced

Science Understandings Can explain the differences between Explains classification and how Clearly explains classification Journal responses to questions Demonstrates an understanding of some groups of organisms and give one organisms are organised through and is able to talk about Participation in discussions classification and gives examples or two examples binomial nomenclature organisms in terms of class, order, genus species etc Completed classification table with explanation

Attempts to create a dichotomous key Successfully creates a dichotomous Successfully creates a Creation of dichotomous keys for animals and key and can use it to give dichotomous key and is able to “newly discovered animals” information to others use scientifically correct Creation of true and false statements on terminology in the explanation classification example of its structure

Describes and gives examples of food Can create a basic food chain and web Able to create several food chains Provides several examples of Participation in discussions chains and webs and webs with accuracy and food chains and webs and can Journal responses to questions describe how they function clearly explain the complexities around them. Created food webs and chains with explanations

Describes how human activity can effect Can give two or three examples of Gives detailed examples of things Provides numerous detailed Participation in discussions interactions within ecosystems things that can impact on an that can impact on ecosystems. examples of things that impact Completed consequence wheel ecosystem Provides examples of possible on ecosystems. Able to discuss consequences first and second level Journal responses to questions consequences in detail.

Science Inquiry Skills Bases an investigation on a question Can identify a question suitable for Identifies several questions Identify question for investigation of human Identify questions and problems that can investigation relating to the topic and impact be investigated scientifically selects one for investigation

Make predictions based on scientific Makes predictions without providing Makes predictions based on Makes predictions and clearly Make predictions on possible future of Surtsey knowledge supporting information scientific knowledge – includes supports their thinking with Predict effects of human impact some supporting evidence scientific evidence

Summarise data from secondary sources, Attempts to draw conclusions from Draws conclusions based on the Draws relevant, appropriate Drawing conclusions on the future of Surtsey and use scientific understanding to data and evidence collected from data and evidence collected from conclusions based on the data Using data and information to draw conclusions identify relationships and draw research research and their own scientific and evidence collected from from research into human impact conclusions understandings research

Communicate ideas, findings and solutions Presents basic information with Uses scientific language to clearly Excellent use of scientific Participation in discussions to problems using scientific language and minimal scientific language and accurately present information language to clearly communicate Presentation of research into human impact representations using digital technologies in an appropriate format. their ideas and understandings as appropriate Representation of evaluate task “the New Detail is lacking in some areas Includes all information relevant to Includes detailed information Surtsey” the task on all relevant parts of the tasks

Science as a Human Endeavour Attempts to explain how scientific Gives an example of how scientific Gives several clear examples of Participation in discussions Scientific knowledge changes as new knowledge has changed knowledge has changed and a changes in scientific knowledge Responses to questions evidence becomes available reason for this change based on new evidence

Primary Maths and Science 71 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011

Primary Maths and Science 72 Year 7 Science Units - Draft December 2011