Activity Introduction
Quick summary: In this lesson, students learn about the land in which their school or home is located. They are led by their teachers on a school incursion to explore nature and capture various types of flora and fauna which they will later create a classification system. Students make a plan of action to Regenerate Australia with their newfound knowledge of local flora and fauna.
Subjects: Science
Year Levels: 5 & 6
Topics: Sustainability, regeneration, critical and creative thinking, experiment, native plants, exotic plants.
Teaching Time: 140 mins (best spread over two lessons).
21st-century skills:
Australian Curriculum Mapping
Content descriptions:
Year 5 Science:
- Living things have structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment (ACSSU043)
- Construct and use a range of representations, including tables and graphs, to represent and describe observations, patterns or relationships in data using digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS090).
Year 6 Science:
- Construct and use a range of representations, including tables and graphs, to represent and describe observations, patterns or relationships in data using digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS107).
Syllabus outcomes Year 5&6: ST3-10LW, ST3-4WS.
General capabilities: Literacy, Numeracy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Intercultural Understanding and Personal and Social Capability.
Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.
Relevant parts of Year 5 achievement standards:
By the end of Year 5, students classify substances according to their observable properties and behaviours. They analyse how the form of living things enables them to function in their environments.. Students construct tables and graphs to organise data and identify patterns in the data. They compare patterns in their data with predictions when suggesting explanations.
Relevant parts of Year 6 achievement standards:
Relevant parts of Year 6 achievement standards: By the end of Year 6, students describe and analyse relationships in data using appropriate representations and construct multimodal texts to communicate ideas, methods and findings.
Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – Will need to discuss the concept of Country, Classification and basic use of a spreadsheet
Resources required:
- Butchers paper (1 sheet per group)
- Collection of lego bricks
- Marking pen (1 per group)
- Student worksheets – one copy per student.
- Sticky tape dispensers (1 per group)
- Access to the film Regenerating Australia.
Keywords: Regenerating Australia, transpiration, sustainability, regeneration, experiment, native, exotic, Australian, plants
Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.
