Sustain the chain
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- investigate food preferences of ants.
- use scaffolding to plan and conduct an investigation into the food preferences of ants.
- observe the behaviour of ants and discuss how this behaviour is linked to seed dispersal.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- construct and use representations of ant behaviour.
- use discussions to compare their findings with those of others.
- use discussion to clarify ideas, make predictions and explain observations.
In this lesson, assessment is formative.
Feedback might focus on:
- descriptions of how ants are connected to other living things in the habitat.
- planning of investigations using scaffolds.
- construction of representations to organise data and identify relationships.
- comparisons of findings to assess the fairness of investigations and conclusions.
- communication of ideas and findings using scientific words where appropriate.
Whole class
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Materials to create a word wall
Demonstration copy of Ant dispersal investigation planner Resource sheet
Low tech option: digital camera
ABC video Meet the germinator: Meat ant (2:40 min)
Each group
A variety of cut fruits
Each student
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Ant dispersal investigation planner Resource sheet
Note: You may wish to identify likely locations of ants in your school grounds so that you can point students towards them during the Ant dispersal investigation.
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
Discuss the relevant context for this teaching sequence, focusing on:
- the organisms observed.
- diversity and variety in the organisms observed.
- how the organisms acted on one another.
- whether the organisms should be encouraged in the area, and how they could be.
- Were all the animals observed the previous lesson similar sizes or shapes?
- How did the animals affect the plants? Did they just eat the plants? What else did they do?
- Did anyone observe an insect?
- How many different types of insects were there?
- Do we need to encourage insects like ants? Why?
- How could we encourage more insects to live in our habitat?
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 FrameworkSmall but mighty
Pose the question: Do ants help or hurt plants?
Refer to a student question (if one has been asked) as a jumping off point for the following investigation about the complexity of relationships between plants and animals.
- What do ants eat?
- Are all ants the same? Do they come in different sizes/colours?
- Do all ants eat the same thing?
If students haven’t asked any questions that challenge the assumption that plants are only food for animals, add one to the list of class questions and discuss how answering this question will be the centre of today’s investigation.
Ants
Australia has a high diversity of seed-collecting ants that occur in most habitats across the continent.
Australia has a high diversity of seed-collecting ants that occur in most habitats across the continent. More than 1500 plant species in Australia rely on ants for seed dispersal.
Ants, like bees, have many close relationships with plants. Plants offer food, such as nectar, which attracts foraging ants which in turn helps control other insect predators on plants. Some plants encourage ants to disperse seed by having an ant food body attached to the seed which attracts the ants to move the seed to its nest, hence replanting the seed elsewhere. This is called myrmecochory (from the Greek ‘myrmeco’ meaning ants and ‘chory’ meaning dispersal).
Ants are a very important indicator of the health of a habitat. They disperse seeds for native plants, and they act as decomposers dragging down rotting material into their nests which then add nutrients to the soil. They also act as pollinators and their underground activities also aerate the soil.
Australia has a high diversity of seed-collecting ants that occur in most habitats across the continent. More than 1500 plant species in Australia rely on ants for seed dispersal.
Ants, like bees, have many close relationships with plants. Plants offer food, such as nectar, which attracts foraging ants which in turn helps control other insect predators on plants. Some plants encourage ants to disperse seed by having an ant food body attached to the seed which attracts the ants to move the seed to its nest, hence replanting the seed elsewhere. This is called myrmecochory (from the Greek ‘myrmeco’ meaning ants and ‘chory’ meaning dispersal).
Ants are a very important indicator of the health of a habitat. They disperse seeds for native plants, and they act as decomposers dragging down rotting material into their nests which then add nutrients to the soil. They also act as pollinators and their underground activities also aerate the soil.
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 FrameworkFollow the trail
Watch, then discuss, the video Meet the germinator: Meat ant (2:40 min).
- Did the ants eat the seed? What did they eat off the seed?
- No, they ate the white ‘eliasome’ attached to the seed.
- What did the ants do to the seeds when they had eaten the eliasome?
- They threw the seeds in the underground rubbish heap.
- Why was the meat ant called an accidental gardener?
- They carry seeds underground just like a gardener plants seeds.
- How did the ant pick up friends from foes?
- Antenna pick up pheromones that are released by other ants.
- How would this help ants find food?
- Do you think both the ants and the plants helped each other? What evidence do you have for this claim?
Pose the question: Do all ants prefer the same food?
Discuss:
- the types of food that ants might like.
- how students could test which foods ants prefer/like most.
Referring to the demonstration copy of the Ant dispersal investigation planner Resource sheet, explain the investigation:
- Students will choose types of foods that ants might like.
- They will place a small amount of each type of food on a piece of card a small distance from an ant nest or trail, and measure the number of ants on the card every minute for fifteen minutes.
- They will create a storyboard of the investigation.
- A storyboard is used to show the important steps of a process in the order that they happen.
- A storyboard includes a title and a series of drawings. Each step in the storyboard is numbered and includes a caption describing the step.
Model how to complete the planning section of the investigation planner as they complete their individual investigation planners.
- Change: type of food.
- Measure/Observe: the number of ants and the dispersal of food.
- Keep the same: the distance of the food from the nest or trail, the mass of food, the type of card, the size of the card.
Allow time for teams to complete their investigations.
Fair-test investigations
All scientific fair tests involve variables.
All scientific fair tests involve variables. Variables are things that can be changed (independent), measured/observed (dependent) or kept the same (controlled) in an investigation.
When planning a fair test investigation, to make it a fair, we need to identify the variables.
By planning for and conducting a fair test, students can make claims about how the variable they have changed in their investigation may have affected what is being measured and/or observed.
To support students to identify variables, and use those variables to inform their planning of a fair test, we suggest this handy mnemonic ‘Cows Moo Softly’. This helps students remember the letters C, M and S, representing the three types of variables in a fair test:
- Cows: Change one thing (independent variable)
- Moo: Measure/Observe the outcome (dependent variable) and
- Softly: keep the other things (controlled variables) the Same.
Developing complex understanding
A series of visits to a natural environment supports students to observe and identify features with increasing detail.
Developing an understanding of the interdependence of living and non-living things in a natural environment can require a series of visits to a natural environment, supporting students to observe and identify features with increasing detail.
During their first visit, students will randomly identify and observe the plants and animals in a simplistic manner, without any understanding of the way they interact with each other.
In a subsequent visit, students may observe a single animal and gain an understanding of how it moves through and relies on different parts of its habitat. This encourages empathy for the organism.
Further visits allows this to be extended to other organisms as a student starts to hunt for new organisms to observe interactions and their importance in the larger food webs that exist.
Developing an understanding of the interdependence of living and non-living things in a natural environment can require a series of visits to a natural environment, supporting students to observe and identify features with increasing detail.
During their first visit, students will randomly identify and observe the plants and animals in a simplistic manner, without any understanding of the way they interact with each other.
In a subsequent visit, students may observe a single animal and gain an understanding of how it moves through and relies on different parts of its habitat. This encourages empathy for the organism.
Further visits allows this to be extended to other organisms as a student starts to hunt for new organisms to observe interactions and their importance in the larger food webs that exist.
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 FrameworkAnt farmer
Teams share their findings with the class.
Model and support students to ask questions of other teams using the science questions starters, as appropriate.
- What food type did your ants prefer? How do you know that?
- What did you notice about the way the ants shifted the food?
- Were the different food types shifted in different ways? Why do you think that happened?
- What was similar about all the teams’ results? What was different?
- Different species of ants prefer different types of food. For example, some prefer seeds, some like sweet food, others prefer protein such as meat.
- Do you think that our school grounds might have more than one species? Why do you think that?
- How could we find out more information about the species of ants in our school grounds?
- Scientists think that ants are the most efficient insect dispersers of seed. What thoughts do you have after completing your investigation?
Optional: Make observations of the food cards over the course of a day.
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- update the TWLH chart by inviting students to add what they have learned (L) and the evidence/observations that show how (H) they now know that.
- update the class word wall with relevant words and images.