Feathers, fur or leaves addresses the AC Science Understanding ACSSU044 Living things can be grouped on the basis of observable features and can be distinguished from non-living things, in the context of thinking and working like taxonomists (scientists who group and classify similar organisms).
Feathers, fur or leaves provides students with hands-on opportunities to:
- inquire about living and non-living things
- learn how to think like scientists to distinguish between living and non-living things
- explore and describe observable features of plants and animals
- group animals based on observable features
Students apply their new learning by:
- planning and conducting an investigation of the animal groups present in the leaf litter in the school grounds
Linking science with literacy
In the Primary Connections approach, students are supported to create representations that draw on and strengthen their literacy development. In Feathers, fur or leaves, students represent and explain their understanding about how living things can be grouped on the basis of observable features and can be distinguished from non-living things, by creating these representations:
- Science chat-board
- Labelled diagram
- Data table
- T-chart
- Branching key
- Procedural text
- Line drawing
- Graph
- Word wall