Survive and thrive
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- identify things used in their everyday lives that are sourced from food and fibre production.
- recognise products from sheep that help humans stay alive.
- identify the source of essential food and fibre products.
- determine the common needs of animals for survival.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- contribute to class discussions about the needs of sheep and the products they are used to produce.
- match food and fibre products to their sources.
- list the needs of an animal and answer yes/no questions about its needs.
In this lesson, assessment is summative.
Students working at the achievement standard should have:
- demonstrated an understanding of the basic needs of animals.
- communicated their understanding verbally to their peers.
- used scientific vocabulary when appropriate.
Refer to the Australian Curriculum content links on the Our design decisions tab for further information.
Whole class
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Image of a sheep (either source your own, or enlarge the one available on the Food and fibre match up Resource sheet)
An item made of wool (e.g. jumper, gloves, beanie)
Sam the Lamb - Properties of Wool video (2:54)
Cards made using Food and fibre match up Resource sheet, laminated for future use
Sam the Lamb - Needs of Sheep video (3:02)
Demonstration copy of My Animal Resource sheet
2 x A4 sized posters, one showing the word YES and one showing NO
Each student
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
My Animal Resource sheet
Lesson
Re-orient
Use the class science journal to review what students have learnt so far about the needs of 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 FrameworkMeeting human needs
Discuss items students use at home and school that have been made from parts of plants and/or animals.
- What did you eat for breakfast today? What is it made from?
- Other than food, have you used something made from a plant or animal?
- Pencils, timber desk, clothing such as leather shoes, cotton T-shirt etc.
- Students' prior knowledge will impact how they answer this question. If required, guide students through the process by identifying specific items and having a discussion about what each one is made of, and where that material comes from.
Go on a scavenger hunt around the classroom, to find things made from plants and animals. Discuss which items are needed to survive (clothing, shelter) compared to things that are nice to have/make our lives a bit better (pencils, baskets, door mats, etc.).
Ask students if they have heard of plants and animals being called ‘food and fibre.’ Discuss what the words mean and add them to the word wall.
Ask students if they have any other questions about ‘food and fibre’ and add them to the ‘our questions’ list.
Pose the question: How do humans use plants and animals to stay alive?
Food and fibre
How does this lesson link to Design and Technologies?
Food and fibres are the human-produced or harvested resources used to sustain life. They are produced in managed environments such as farms and plantations or harvested from wild populations. Challenges for world food and fibre production include an increasing world population, an uncertain climate and competition for resources such as land and water.
This teaching sequence introduces food and fibre in terms of the needs of plants and animals and how the places they live meet those needs (Australian Curriculum: Science content descriptions AC9S1U01.) This lesson explores how plants and animals are grown for food, clothing and shelter, and how they meet personal and social needs within local settings (Australian Curriculum: Technologies-Design & Technologies content description AC9TDE2K03.)
Going further—beyond this teaching sequence
In Years 1 and 2, students could continue on in Design and Technologies, to develop an understanding of how food and fibre are produced (planting, growing, harvesting and processing from paddock to plate, field to fabric, forest to building). They may investigate how resources are used and conserved in food and fibre production processes, including explaining the importance of water in the environment.
By the end of Year 2, students will have had the opportunity to create designed solutions at least once in Design and Technologies for the Food and fibre production; Food specialisations technologies context. Students identify safety issues and learn to follow simple safety rules when producing designed solutions, such as when growing plants and working in a kitchen garden to produce food for healthy eating.
Food and fibres are the human-produced or harvested resources used to sustain life. They are produced in managed environments such as farms and plantations or harvested from wild populations. Challenges for world food and fibre production include an increasing world population, an uncertain climate and competition for resources such as land and water.
This teaching sequence introduces food and fibre in terms of the needs of plants and animals and how the places they live meet those needs (Australian Curriculum: Science content descriptions AC9S1U01.) This lesson explores how plants and animals are grown for food, clothing and shelter, and how they meet personal and social needs within local settings (Australian Curriculum: Technologies-Design & Technologies content description AC9TDE2K03.)
Going further—beyond this teaching sequence
In Years 1 and 2, students could continue on in Design and Technologies, to develop an understanding of how food and fibre are produced (planting, growing, harvesting and processing from paddock to plate, field to fabric, forest to building). They may investigate how resources are used and conserved in food and fibre production processes, including explaining the importance of water in the environment.
By the end of Year 2, students will have had the opportunity to create designed solutions at least once in Design and Technologies for the Food and fibre production; Food specialisations technologies context. Students identify safety issues and learn to follow simple safety rules when producing designed solutions, such as when growing plants and working in a kitchen garden to produce food for healthy eating.
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 FrameworkSheep helping people
Show students an image of a sheep and identify the animal.
Students share what they know about products used by humans that are made from parts of a sheep. Record their ideas in the class science journal.
Show the students a woollen item and discuss what it is used for. Encourage students to touch it and describe how it feels.
Watch the video Sam the Lamb - Properties of Wool. Discuss the video and add more student ideas about the ways people use the parts of a sheep to the class science journal.
- What are some of the ways people use wool that Sam the lamb told us about or that you can see in the video?
- The video begins by using the terms clothing, textiles, furnishing and insulation. However, it focuses mostly on clothing and blankets.
- What shape is the wool fibre?
- Why does this shape make it useful?
- What are some of the other useful things about wool?
- It returns to its shape after being stretched, so it doesn't get wrinkled easily, and it stretches with your body as you play.
- It's soft because it is really fine—finer than a human hair.
- It reacts to body temperature, helping you stay warm when its cold and and cool when it's hot. This also makes it a good choice of material for blankets.
- It doesn't burn easily, doesn't melt, and won't keep burning.
- It doesn't stain easily.
- It can protect your skin from sunburn.
- It's 100% natural, renewable, biodegradable and recyclable.
Optional: Allow time for students to examine the woollen item with magnifying glasses/microscopes to see if the shape matches what is described in the video. Discuss why it might or might not. Watch Wonderful wool! or Wool Production and Processing to see how wool goes from the sheep, to being used for the product identified in the lesson.
NOTE: The Wonderful Wool! video is aimed at students of this age group. It explains the process in a much simpler way, using age appropriate vocabulary. The Wool Production and Processing video is aimed at an adult audience and uses much more complex vocabulary. However, it shows the process in much more detail, and will allow students to see more clearly how the wool goes from being on the sheep, to becoming the fibres they looked at under the magnifying glass/microscope.
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 FrameworkMatching products and their sources
Using the cards made from Food and fibre match up Resource sheet, work together as a class to match each product to its source.
Support students to make a claim about how plants and animals help humans to stay alive by completing the sentence:
‘Plants and animals are used by humans for ____________. This helps humans to stay alive (grow and be healthy).’
Record the agreed upon completed sentence (claim) in the class science journal.
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 FrameworkComparing the needs of different animals
Revisit the class science journal and discuss the needs of the peregrine falcon that have been studied over the previous lessons.
Pose the question: Do all animals have the same needs?
Watch the video Sam the Lamb - Needs of Sheep and compare the needs of a peregrine falcon to Sam the Lamb.
- What does Sam the Lamb need to help it to stay alive?
- Which needs of Sam the Lamb are the same as a peregrine falcon?
- Which needs are different?
Using My Animal Resource sheet, model for students how to:
- Select an animal (pet at home, a peregrine falcon, Sam the Lamb, a human).
- Draw what the animal looks like.
- Draw or list the things the animal needs to stay alive.
Allow time for students to complete the activity, ensuring a variety of animals are being represented (as their needs will be compared later in the 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 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 FrameworkYes or no?
Place Yes and No posters on opposite sides of the classroom.
Ask the following questions one at a time, allowing students (with My Animal Resource sheet in hand) time to move to the Yes or No side of the room after each question.
- Does your animal need food to stay alive?
- Does your animal need music to stay alive?
- Does your animal need water to stay alive?
- Does your animal need clothes to stay alive?
- Does your animal need air to stay alive?
NOTE: These questions highlight needs, wants, and the differences between animals’ needs (for example, humans need clothes to stay alive, but peregrine falcons do not). You may modify or add to these questions as desired, whilst still ensuring they maintain this focus.
After each question students might share the animal they wrote about, and why they think the animal does/does not need the thing in question, with someone standing near them.
Record the most common answer given by students for each question.
Discuss and compare the needs of different animals.
- Did all animals need the same things? Why do you think that is so?
- Can you think of something that only your animal needs? What is it?
Ask students what words they can use to complete the sentence (claim): ‘Animals need ____________ to stay alive (grow and be healthy).’ Record the agreed upon sentence (claim) in the class science journal.
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- add to the class word wall of vocabulary related to food and fibre, and different animal needs.
- encourage students to ask their family which items at home are made of natural fibres (carpets, rugs, baskets, blankets, clothing), which of those items are needed for survival and which ones are ‘nice to have’ but not ‘needed.’