Finding features
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- explore the varying movements of animals based on their features.
- identify that humans are animals, and that we have some features the same as other animals.
- explore the depiction of animal features and movement in dance by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- mimic the movement of different animals.
- engage in group discussions to compare their ideas.
- contribute to a class ideas map about animal features that enable movement.
In this lesson, assessment is formative.
Feedback might focus on:
- Can students recognise humans as animals?
- Can students group animals according to movement (walk, fly, swim, wriggle/muscular contractions)?
Whole class
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Optional: Seeds planted in Lesson 2
Demonstration copy of Animal Movement Resource sheet
Animal cards created for Lesson 5
Demonstration copy of Code for caring and hygiene Resource sheet
Optional: glass if undertaking the no-tech critter expedition
Videos of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples traditional dances depicting animal movement & features, for example:
- Seagulls Dance—Naidoc Week 2020
- Brolga Dance—during the Barunga Festival
- Goanna, kangaroo, emu, echidna—at the Wagga Wagga Corroboree
Videos showing animal movement, for example:
- How do Earthworms Move? (0:22)
- Earthworm Under a Microscope (2:36)
- Slater Features (1:04)
- Ladybug Wings (1:25)
Each group
Parent/older student helpers for the critter expedition
Digital devices for filming videos and/or taking photographs
Lesson
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkRe-orient
If you are still observing the growth of students' planted seeds, add to the 'How seeds grow - Observation recording table' in the class science journal.
Revisit the mind map created in the previous lesson when students sorted animals with similar features.
Review the questions students asked about animals by referring to the class science journal page ‘What do we want to learn about plants and animals?’
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkIdentifying and constructing questions is the creative driver of the inquiry process. It allows students to explore what they know and how they know it. During the Inquire phase of the LIA Framework, the Question routine allows for past activities to be reviewed and to set the scene for the investigation that students will undertake. The use of effective questioning techniques can influence students’ view and interpretation of upcoming content, open them to exploration and link to their current interests and science capital.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to spend some time considering the mindset of students at the start of each Inquire phase. What do you want students to be thinking about, what do they already know and what is the best way for them to approach the task? What might tap into their curiosity?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkAnimal movement
Pose the question: How do animals move around?
Referring to the Animal movement Resource sheet, discuss how animals move.
- What animals can you see here?
- Note if students recognise humans as animals.
- How are the animals moving?
- They're walking.
- What feature do they use to do this?
- They use their legs.
- How do you know they're walking?
- Discuss and model with students to figure out the movements the body makes when walking.
- Why do animals need to move?
- To find food, water, shelter, mates. Students might not offer mates as a response, and that it okay.
- What is similar about the way the elephant moves and the way the human moves?
- What is different about the way the elephant and human move?
- Can you think of another animals that moves in the same or similar way to a human?
- With all those animals that move the same way as humans, would you also consider a human an animal? Why? Why not?
If required, confirm that, scientifically, humans are animals. If required, confirm that, scientifically, humans are animals. Scientists study features of humans in the same way they study other animals, with the hope of understanding humans better.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkAnimal parade
Using the Animal cards created for the previous lesson, select a random card, and without giving any clues, ask students to demonstrate how that animal moves around. If, after this first attempt, students require a prompt, provide ones such as ‘crawl like a crocodile', 'fly like a bat' or 'Swim like a fish'. Repeat with a variety of animals cards.
Optional: Afterwards, discuss if students were really moving like their animal, and why they were not. Asked what body movements they used to simulate the movement of the animals, and why they chose those movements.
Play a game of animal charades. Show 1 or 2 students a prompt card (and whisper the wording if needed). That student(s) then moves around the room like the animal while other students guess what animal it is. If students cannot guess by movement alone, the actors can also make animal sounds.
Optional: View and discuss Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ traditional dances depicting animal movement & features.
- Which animal features have the dancers shown in this video?
- How did they learn about these movements?
- Close observation of animals and learning the dances from their elders.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkCritter expedition
Take students on a 'critter expedition' through the school grounds, looking for small animals (slaters, snails, ants, lady bugs, worms, birds, etc.) for students to film and photograph. A No-tech investigation alternative is described below.
You might like to partner/group students and assign them an adult or older (Year 5 or 6) student helper to support them. If there are not enough iPads/digital cameras are available, multiple pairs/groups can share the available resources.
Before beginning the 'critter expedition', explain the meaning of the word critter if necessary, or simply use the term animal if more appropriate for your students.
Use the Code for caring and hygiene resource sheet to discuss safety and hygiene rules.
Also remind students:
- which areas of the school they will visit (and any that are out-of-bounds).
- to stay with their partner/team and/or helpers at all times.
Upon return to the classroom, direct each pair/group to select one image or video to share with the class.
Share the videos in a yarning circle or via a gallery walk. Focus students with discussion prompts and specific vocabulary.
- What animal have you observed?
- Where was it found?
- How long did you observe it for?
- What would you like to tell us about the observation?
- What are the animal's features?
- How does the animal move? Do they walk, fly, swim, wriggle?
- What features of their bodies did they use to help them move?
- How could the animals be grouped together based on their movements?
Optional no tech investigation
As a class sort the Animal cards into two groups:
- Likely to be in the school yard
- Not likely to be in the school yard
Take the critter expedition as a whole class, keeping together to spot animals.
When a critter is located, if practical, place a glass over it, then provide an opportunity for all students to observe how it moves.
Students then use their own bodies to replicate the movement of the animal.
After all students have had a change to mimic the animal’s movements, assign a small group of students to that animal. These students will 'act' as this animal in a 'critter concert' upon returning to the classroom. Record student names and the animal they will be 'acting' if required.
Repeat as needed until enough animals have been spotted and all students have been assigned a role in the 'critter concert'.
Find a location to stage the 'critter concert', either inside or outside—perhaps in a yarning circle.
Students act out the body movements of their assigned critter. You may do these individually, in groups, or all together. Consider grouping the animal performances according to their movements, for example creatures that hop/jump such as grasshoppers and crickets can act together, or animals that fly such as birds, butterflies, flies and bees.
Optional: Students can mimic the noises (known or imagined) that their animal makes.
Small animals likely to be found in a school environment
Many small animals can be found in the schoolyard environment.
Many small animals can be found in the schoolyard environment. Animals are capable of actively moving from place to place at some stage in their life cycle, and they feed by consuming other living things—or parts of them. Most plants are fixed to one place and make their own food by photosynthesis, using energy from sunlight.
The schoolyard might have animals with a backbone (vertebrates) such as birds, lizards and some mammals such as cats and dogs. Many animals in the schoolyard are, however, likely to be very small and without a backbone (invertebrates) such as earthworms, snails, ants, slaters, beetles and spiders.
In this sequence, during their investigations, students may encounter three types of invertebrate animals:
- Annelids (‘ringed’): animals with no limbs and with bodies divided by rings into repeated segments, such as earthworms and leeches.
- Molluscs: soft-bodied animals usually covered with a hard, outside shell that provides protection, such as snails and oysters.
- Arthropods: animals with a hard, external covering (exoskeleton) and jointed limbs. The exoskeleton provides protection and a framework to which muscles are attached and which allows them to move. The arthropods include:
- crustaceans, such as, slaters and crabs.
- arachnids, which are animals with eight legs, a head and abdomen, such as, spiders and ticks.
- myriapods have many legs, such as, centipedes and millipedes.
- insects, the largest groups of arthropods, have a head, thorax and abdomen, six legs and antennae, such as, ants and bees.
Scientists have developed different classification systems for animals based on the features and/or the origin of species. These are being revised constantly as new knowledge emerges.
Many small animals can be found in the schoolyard environment. Animals are capable of actively moving from place to place at some stage in their life cycle, and they feed by consuming other living things—or parts of them. Most plants are fixed to one place and make their own food by photosynthesis, using energy from sunlight.
The schoolyard might have animals with a backbone (vertebrates) such as birds, lizards and some mammals such as cats and dogs. Many animals in the schoolyard are, however, likely to be very small and without a backbone (invertebrates) such as earthworms, snails, ants, slaters, beetles and spiders.
In this sequence, during their investigations, students may encounter three types of invertebrate animals:
- Annelids (‘ringed’): animals with no limbs and with bodies divided by rings into repeated segments, such as earthworms and leeches.
- Molluscs: soft-bodied animals usually covered with a hard, outside shell that provides protection, such as snails and oysters.
- Arthropods: animals with a hard, external covering (exoskeleton) and jointed limbs. The exoskeleton provides protection and a framework to which muscles are attached and which allows them to move. The arthropods include:
- crustaceans, such as, slaters and crabs.
- arachnids, which are animals with eight legs, a head and abdomen, such as, spiders and ticks.
- myriapods have many legs, such as, centipedes and millipedes.
- insects, the largest groups of arthropods, have a head, thorax and abdomen, six legs and antennae, such as, ants and bees.
Scientists have developed different classification systems for animals based on the features and/or the origin of species. These are being revised constantly as new knowledge emerges.
Yarning circle
Yarning circles are an enriching way for students to engage with First Nations methods for sharing knowledge, ideas and points of view.
Yarning circles are an enriching way for students to engage with First Nations methods for sharing knowledge, ideas and points of view. It is a practice that has been an effective teaching method for thousands of years, providing a safe place to be heard and to offer an opinion, as well as naturally building connectedness.
DeadlyScience share 5 tips for a yarning circle in their resource The DeadlyScience Guide to Innovation (2023).
For more information about designing and using a designated space outdoors for a yarning circle, watch the Creating a yarning circle (4:33) video created by Junior Landcare.
Yarning circles are an enriching way for students to engage with First Nations methods for sharing knowledge, ideas and points of view. It is a practice that has been an effective teaching method for thousands of years, providing a safe place to be heard and to offer an opinion, as well as naturally building connectedness.
DeadlyScience share 5 tips for a yarning circle in their resource The DeadlyScience Guide to Innovation (2023).
For more information about designing and using a designated space outdoors for a yarning circle, watch the Creating a yarning circle (4:33) video created by Junior Landcare.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkFollowing an investigation, the Integrate routine provides time and space for data to be evaluated and insights to be synthesized. It reveals new insights, consolidates and refines representations, generalises context and broadens students’ perspectives. It allows student thinking to become visible and opens formative feedback opportunities. It may also lead to further questions being asked, allowing the Inquire phase to start again.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment that was undertaken during the Launch phase. Consider if alternative conceptions could be used as a jumping off point to discussions. How could students represent their learning in a way that would support formative feedback opportunities? Could small summative assessment occur at different stages in the teaching sequence?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkExploring movement
Referring back to the ideas map created in Lesson 5 highlight the features of animals that help them move, for example legs, wings, tails etc.
Create a new ideas map where the organising categories focus exclusively on the features of animals that support movement. Start with the movement, and further categorise the features that enable that movement to happen. See sample ideas map below.
If the mind map created in the previous lesson is already organised into appropriate categories that will support the recording of ideas this way, add to that instead of creating a new one. The ideas map will be added to in subsequent lessons, adding categories about animal body coverings and features that enable them to eat.
Optional: Discuss which animals move in multiple ways and the features they use to make these movements. For example a duck can walk (legs), swim (webbed feet) and fly (wings).
Optional: Discuss the differences and similarities between arms and legs, and how they can be tricky to categorise sometimes, like, for example, on a kangaroo.
Further explore some of the students’ interests and clarify student understanding of how different animals move by viewing and discussing videos showing animal movement, or the features that make movement possible.
Optional: Sing and dance to critter songs such as
- The Millipede March (3:13)
- The Ants go Marching- The Wiggles (4:23)
Optional: View this animation of the children’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (3:13), discussing how the caterpillar/butterfly moves.
Optional: Group all the animals on the Animal cards according to movement.
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- add relevant words and images to the class word wall.
- discuss whether the students have any new questions about animal features and add them to the first page of the class science journal.