Cross-curriculum priorities This unit provides opportunities for students to address aspects of the following cross-curriculum priorities: Sustainability Students will: recognise the dependence of living things on ecosystems identify how scientific knowledge, including understanding environments, informs personal and community decisions and actions for a sustainable future. Relevant prior curriculum Students require experience from Year 4 with: Science Understanding Biological sciences Living things have life cycles Living things, including plants and animals, depend on each other and the environment to survive Science as a Human Endeavour Use and influence of science Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions Curriculum working towards The teaching and learning in this unit works towards the following in Year 6: Science Understanding Biological sciences The growth and survival of living things are affected by the physical conditions of their environment Science as a Human Endeavour Use and influence of science Scientific knowledge is used to inform personal and community decisions
Lesson 4: How have fish adapted to survive in the environment they live in? Duration: 50 minutes Suggested learning sequence Introduction – How do fish swim? View footage on YouTube or other Internet sites to view different fish swimming. Include footage of fast fish (sharks, barracuda), slower moving fish (seahorses, whale sharks) and examples of different body shapes and colours (trigger fish, butterfly fish). Generate a discussion about four different fish body parts and how these adaptations help the animal survive in their environment. Show photos of different fish to guide the conversation. Examples include: Mouth shape Whale sharks have very large mouths to open and filter as much water as possible in each gulp. Sharks have very sharp teeth and large mouths to grip and rip the flesh off their prey. Parrot fish have strong beaks like teeth to scrape and bite coral to remove algae. Body shape Sharks have long, streamlined bodies and are for speed to catch prey. Slower moving animals like the seahorse have a body shape that helps them blend in and hide in their environment. Tail shape A lot of reef fish have short rounded tails for short bursts of speed to escape from predators. Bigger fish like sharks and sharks have larger, longer tails to swim long distances. Colour Brightly coloured reef fish blend in with the reef (camouflage). Bright colours can also be a warning to stay away. Some animals have dull grey colours so they do not stand out or can be hard to see in water. Activity – Create a fish Explain to students they are to draw a fish of their own design and explain their choice of adaptations. Students will consider four main parts of the fish: mouth shape, body shape, tail shape and colour. Have pictures for students to view to get ideas of the different types of shapes of the fish. (See ‘Useful web links’ for ideas). You could step through one fish first with the class to provide an example. With drawing, students will need to write an explanation of their choice of each of the four main parts of the fish and how these adaptations help the fish survive in their environment. Ask students to name fish and share their design with the class. Display the fish designs. Optional activity: Students could create a 3D fish model of their drawing and display these in class.
If there is time, students can build a digital fish and play a game to see if it survives in its environment. Build-a-Fish is at the website: Remind students the ‘amazing adaptations’ challenge. See if anyone can discover amazing adaptations for animals that live on the Great Barrier Reef or marine environments. Add new words to the word wall (See Resource 1 – Word bank for examples of vocabulary). Students add their learning and reflections to their science journal (See Resource 2 – Student reflections for examples of sentence starters you can use to guide student reflections). Opportunities to monitor student learning Resources
Lesson 5 and 6: What are structural adaptations? Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes Suggested learning sequence Introduction – visual explorations of structural adaptations Introduce and explore of structural adaptations in different animals. Consider using one or more of the following ideas: Read the story Tiddalik the Frog Tiddalick: the Frog Who Caused a Flood by Robert Roennfeldt (See ‘Useful web links’ for an audio or video version of this story). Pause at key points in the story and ask students to identify Tiddalik’s structural adaptations for life in the desert. Students could also identify the structural adaptations of other animals in the story. View the video of the catchy camel song Camel Adaptation Song with Subtitles – Lyrics at: Create 5 – 10 quiz questions about camel adaptations viewed in the video. Challenge students to watch and remember as much as possible from the video then run a short class quiz. Discuss the structural adaptations and how they help the camel survive. Explore a range of images of animals. As each animal is viewed, students brainstorm what they see and why they think the adaptation helps the animal survive in the environment they live in. Try to include adaptations such as camouflage. one or two videos that unpack structural adaptations of certain animals and take time to discuss them in detail (See ‘Useful websites’ for ideas). a ‘structural adaptations’ retrieval chart with students to sort different types of structural adaptations. Use an animal explored so far, e.g. camel, to start this chart. In the chart, include where the animal lives. Introduce new terms. Examples of adaptation types for the chart might include: body design e.g. monkeys moving through trees mouth and teeth shape e.g. crocodiles tongue shape e.g. giraffes tail shape e.g. kangaroos eye shape e.g. owls body fat e.g. seals and penguins camouflage e.g. some reef fish are patterned to blend in with their surroundings camouflage and body shape e.g. stick insects that are both shaped like a stick and coloured like a stick colour warnings e.g. the poison dart frog is brightly coloured to be a warning adaptations. Activity – Research Explain to students they are to form groups to research structural adaptations in different animals. At the end of the research, their group will need to present their findings to the class. Depending on students’ needs and resources available, have the Internet and a range of books available for them to research their animal.
For each behavioural adaptation shared, ask the students and/or the whole class, to explain why it helps the animal to be suited to and more able to survive in its particular environment. Add this to the chart. Review the answers from the Hot Potato activity in Lesson 1. What are behavioural adaptations? Were some of the answers true? Were some false? Can we answer the question better with our new knowledge? Add new words to the word wall (See Resource 1 – Word bank for examples of vocabulary). Students add their learning and reflections to their science journal (See Resource 2 – Student reflections for examples of sentence starters you can use to guide student reflections. Opportunities to monitor student learning Resources
adapted to aid survival e.g. wings for wind dispersal or burrs to stick to animals. Remind students that they are challenged in this unit to discover the strangest, most interesting adaptations for the class display. This includes amazing plant adaptations. Add new words to the word wall (See Resource 1 – Word bank for examples of vocabulary). Students add their learning and reflections to their science journal (See Resource 2 – Student reflections for examples of sentence starters you can use to guide student reflections). Opportunities to monitor student learning Resources
Lesson 11 and 12: Why is the cane toad so successful? Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes Suggested learning sequence Introduction – Introduced species Review learning so far in this unit by looking at the class displays and retrieval charts of animal adaptations. Explain to students that animals often have to change their behaviour when their environment changes. One way their environment may change is when a new type of animal moves in. A classic Australian example of this is the introduction of the cane toad. Ask students if they know anything about the cane toad, when it was introduced or why. Read Resource 5 – Cane Toads, and ask students to identify structural and behavioural adaptations of cane toads that contribute to their survival success in a variety of environments. Can students identify any adaptations that may have happened to native animals because of the introduction of the cane toad? Are there native animals that are unable to adapt and their population numbers decreasing because of the cane toads? Ask students if they know of examples of introduced species impacting on native animals. Provide more examples if necessary e.g. tilapia, northern pacific sea star, foxes, rabbits or camels. Activity – Cause-and-effect charts Ask students to create a chart on the introduction of the cane toad. Teachers may need to demonstrate how to do this. How detailed the chart is will depend on the needs of the class (see Resource 6: Cause-and-effect charts for examples). Ask students to about the effects of the introduction of cane toads or other animals on habitats, native animals, the economy, or even tourism. Get students to add their responses to the chart. With their chart, students should also include some ideas about what might be done to help get rid of harmful, introduced species. You may need to give some examples e.g. a disease was created to eradicate rabbits, events are held to humanely kill as many toads and tilapias in one day as possible to reduce their number and also to raise awareness. If time allows, you could then research more about introduced species and how native animals have had to adapt to them. This information could be used to write reports for newsletters, class books or community awareness pamphlets and/or posters. Add new words to the word wall (See Resource 1 – Word bank for examples of vocabulary). Students add their learning and reflections to their science journal (See Resource 2 – Student reflections for examples of sentence starters you can use to guide student reflections).
Resource 7 – Cassowaries – Adapting to development Photos and information from Mission Beach Bulletin March 2010 No. 153, The Community for Coastal and Cassowary Conservation Inc. (C4) Porter Promenade, Mission Beach Tel. (07)4068 7197,Fax (07)4068 7298 The photos below show an area of coastal development at a place called Garner’s Beach. Garner’s Beach is a special area as it is home to a number of cassowaries. They use the area to find food and shelter, lay their eggs and raise their young and are even known to visit the beach while searching for food. Cassowaries eat native rainforest fruit found in the rainforest. They spend each day walking through large areas of rainforest looking for fruit to eat. Discussion questions Look at Figure 1. Describe what you can see. How would cassowaries use this as a part of their habitat? Look at Figure 2. How has the habitat changed over the after Cyclone Larry? How would this be affecting the cassowaries? Look at Figure 3. The numbers all represent blocks of land that have been approved for residential development. How will these houses change the cassowaries’ habitat? Look at Figure 4. The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection map shows how the houses and roads will clear the land. What will happen to the cassowaries that use the area to find food and shelter, lay their eggs and raise their young? Will they still safely be able to do all these things in this area? Where will they go? What if the other areas they go to are being developed as well? Describe how cassowaries have had to adapt to development in their habitats. Think about people, roads, cars, dogs, houses and fences. Figure 1. 2005 Pre cyclone Larry Figure 2. Dwellings 2010 Figure 3. Approved configuration of lots and infrastructure Figure 4. EPA vegetation mapping showing unprotected area