Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

60 minutes	Part B: Recently Catalogued New Critters
15 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by asking students to close their eyes in order to participate in a visualisation. Read out the following to the students:

“We are sitting outside our classroom, listening to me read a story. All of a sudden, a turquoise blue lizard-like creature, about 20cm long, with curly yellow toenails and bright red wings, lands on (child’s name) hat. There is a hush over us, as we all peer at this strange looking creature none of us has ever seen before. We watch it in silence before it flies away.”

Once complete, engage students in a class discussion around the following question:

Do you think this could happen or the sort of thing that could only happen in a made-up story?

Step 2.

Differentiation -

If students have completed previous lessons in this unit:

Review the role of insects in our ecosystem. You might refer students back to their questions on the topic from the beginning of this unit to adjust or to their previous questions.

If students have not completed previous lessons in this unit:

Invite students to suggest what role insects might play in ecosystems. Suggest to students that some insects are pollinators and some are decomposers. You could use this Pollination and Decomposition Factsheet for more information.
Explain to students about why community groups might conduct a bush blitz of habitats to search for critters that live there. This clip (from 01:47 mins to the end) will help to explain the purpose of a bush blitz.

Step 3.

Now introduce EarthWatch Australia and ask students if they have heard of this environmental charity or any of the work they do across Australia. Explain to students that the Earthwatch program, Bush Blitz, is Australia's largest nature discovery project. They aim to work with all people in the community to identify all of Australia’s species. Currently, they have only identified one-quarter of the species found in Australia. With three-quarters of species yet to be identified, there’s every chance of finding that blue lizard-like creature!

Take the time to explore this last sentence and don’t shy away from using emotive language. When students realise they may be the next scientist to discover three-quarters of Australian species, students usually become empowered to know it could be them. Just knowing that this is live science is enough to get any curious mind interested.

Step 4.

Explain to students that in the rest of this lesson they will be exploring some of the animals recently uncovered through the Bush Blitz program.

Part B: Recently Catalogued New Critters

Preparation:

Print out image cards of Bush Blitz Species: you will need 11 image cards. In addition, separately print out and cut up the species information blurbs - you will distribute these to students at a different time to the images.

Step 1.

Using the Bush Blitz Slides, display the Mantice Lacewing. Look closer at this image and remind students that this species had never been discovered before. Ask the students to consider the following points:

I wonder how this species survives?
I wonder what they might eat?
I wonder what clues might help us?
I wonder if this is a pollinator or decomposer?

Step 2.

Next, invite students to complete a Think-Pair-Share routine around the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What are your wondering questions about this species? (Tip: Think like a scientist and start with appearance, habitat, predators and prey.)
If it (the animal) could talk, what would you like to ask the species?

Invite students to share their ideas and add these questions to the board.

Step 3.

Explain to students that scientists have since discovered that lacewings are a parasite, meaning they live on or inside another living animal but do not kill it immediately. You could invite students if they can think of any examples of a parasitic animal. An example might be fleas on a cat or a dog. The fleas bite and suck the animal’s blood while it is still alive, keeping the flea alive and harming the cat or dog at the same time.

In the case of the lacewing, the baby lacewings find a spider egg sac to burrow in, or climb aboard a female spider about to lay her eggs. The lacewing larvae feed on the spider’s eggs.

This is super exciting, with pretty gory details, but it's great science! Make sure when you tell this to use expressive hand, arm and body movements to explain this. There are some big science concepts (larvae, parasites, hosts, etc.) which students will understand better if we make it fun, gory and alive with detail.

Now ask students to consider if this new knowledge helps answer their questions (developed in Part B: Step 2) or whether it changes what they would like to know. Do they have more specific questions?

Step 4.

In eleven mixed groupings, hand out one species photo (not including lacewing) to each group. Remind the class that scientists have just discovered these species. Explain to students that in each group, they need to come up with wondering questions about this species. Ideas might include habitat, appearance, food sources, predators, prey and communication. Students need to choose one or two.

Step 5.

Hand out the relevant species blurb to each group and ask students to read this and reflect on their questions, or identify more questions to ask.

Then invite students to share their species photo with the rest of the class, and share the story of what scientists have found out. Students could dramatise this story using key concepts to explain how their species operates. At the end of their presentation, invite students to present any questions they have recorded about their species to the rest of the class.

You could keep a record of these questions: these could be used to guide further investigation or inquiry.

Part C: Getting To Know The Critters: Game

Step 1.

Recap with students that we have now learnt about the twelve newly discovered species in the Australian landscape that have been discovered by Earthwatch Australia. Introduce the (modified) headband game:

Print out/reuse the slides of the Bush Blitz Species (A4 would be ideal) or use the Headband Game templates
Using a peg, attach an animal to a student’s back (use the collar of their shirts/tops)
Students must try to guess which species they are by asking yes or no questions of their classmates
Students are only allowed to use the image on the card to answer questions and can only use yes or no responses.

Explain to students that it is a good idea to start with big, broad questions before narrowing down to more specific questions, To challenge students, you could say they are only allowed four questions. This way, students will need to think more carefully which questions they ask and how broad or specific they will be.

Step 2.

Demonstrate the game using a student volunteer. Ask the student to place the image card on the back of your top, and show the rest of the students the image. Remind the volunteer that they can only use the image to answer your questions and can only answer yes or no.

Here’s how the game might run:

Teacher (T): Does my species live on the water? (No)
T: So my species lives on land? (Yes)
T: Do I have legs? (Yes)
T: Hmmm, so I am not a worm or a slug?
T: Do I have 6 legs? (No)
T: Hmmm, so I am not an insect?
T: I must have 8 legs? (Yes)
T: Okay, I’m a spider and I’ll either be the jumping spider, the peacock spider or the ant-mimicking spider.
T: Do I do a dance? (No) So I’m not the peacock spider.
T: Do I disguise myself as something else? (Yes)
T: Am I the ant-mimicking spider? (Yes)

Step 3.

Students should find a partner to play the game with, with each student taking a turn to guess their species. You can play as many rounds of this game as you wish, with students swapping their species over and re-playing with different partners.

Step 4.

Invite students to reflect on this game. What worked and didn’t work? What could be better? How could they make it harder/easier? What different information should be on the card?

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to record their thoughts in response to the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What was your favourite animal species that you looked at in this lesson and why?
If you could be one of those animal species, what would you be and why?

Differentiated Learning

Extension -

Students could add to the headband game by adding species found in their school grounds. Students could design the image cards to include the photo and key information underneath and include key information such as pollinators, decomposers, etc.
Students could market this game as learning about their local species, to their local community to make revenue for the school/class. This could include traditional stories (as discussed in this lesson) as well as scientific knowledge.

Provisions for Learning Support -

In Part B, students with specific learning needs could use the lacewing species example as a way to share back their knowledge with the rest of the class.
To create a memory game, print out the cards twice in a smaller format. Students can put all the cards face down and need to match the cards.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Backyard Bush Blitz - Looking Closer at Species

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