Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Popular pets

15 minutes

Find Out: Caring for wildlife

35 minutes

Take Action: Threatened species report

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

explore native species of Victoria.

Success criteria

Students can:

identify the difference between domestic pets and wildlife
create an informative piece on threatened or non-threatened species
reference a regulation that protects species in Victoria.

Tune In: Popular pets

Step 1

Create a T-Chart on a whiteboard with two headings, such as type of pet and number of pets.

Your T-Chart should look like the following example:

Step 2

Ask your students to raise their hands if they have a pet at home. Based on the show of hands, invite each student with a pet to share what type of pet/s they have at home. As students respond, keep a running tally in the second column. Students may have pets such as:

dogs
cats
birds
lizards
rabbits
livestock.

Step 3

Based on the data you have collected, lead a discussion by asking students what makes these animals good pets and their needs.

Suggested response: We have bred them over many generations to become friendly and not afraid of humans, unlike wild animals.

Explain to students that there are many different kinds of animals, and we can categorise them into three groups: pets, domestic animals and wildlife. Pets are animals kept for companionship and enjoyment rather than work or food, such as dogs and cats. Domestic animals have been tamed and kept by humans for work and food or as pets, such as sheep, cows, horses, and chickens. Wildlife are animals that live in their natural habitat and are generally not tamed or kept by humans, such as eagles, kangaroos and wombats.

Step 4

Invite students to consider what could happen if they kept wildlife as pets. Ask students to share their thoughts with the student next to them before encouraging students to share their thoughts with the class.

Find Out: Caring for wildlife

Step 1

Explain to students that some wildlife species can be kept as pets, but you must hold a Basic Wildlife License. Ask students to conduct a quick research on one of the wildlife species using the Species List or the shortened list below and use the Student Worksheet to record their findings.

Australian king parrot
Magpie goose
Bearded dragon
Centralian blue-tongued lizard
Leaf green tree frog
Common ringtail possum
Common wombat

Literacy extension: What about native plants? Invite students to research native plants of Australia to discover the advantages and disadvantages of having native plants in our backyards.

Step 2

Bring students together with their findings. Lead a discussion with students highlighting that whilst we can apply for a Basic Wildlife License, there are many more benefits for our environment and our wildlife if we keep them wild.

Take Action: Threatened species report

Step 1

Provide each student with an Understanding Threatened Species factsheet. You can lead the reading or invite students to take turns reading aloud to the class. If there are any terms students are unfamiliar with, direct them to use the glossary in the Student Worksheet.

Step 2

Watch the following videos with your students about the brush-tailed phascogale and the threatened aquatic species of East Gippsland.

Video 1: Supporting the brush-tailed phascogale (youtube.com/watch?v=F2AJblwED4g)

Video 2: Going home - threatened aquatic species return to East Gippsland (youtube.com/watch?v=5X7mjkyVE74)

Video 3: New Tunnel of Love for the endangered Mountain Pygmy Possum (youtube.com/watch?v=6vCNAMgpmbA)

After viewing, ask students to share one interesting fact they learned about threatened species with the class.

Step 3

With a new understanding of threatened species, your students’ task is to create a science communication piece about a threatened species from Victoria of their choice. This could be threatened flora or fauna in Victoria. Students can select a species from here.

Direct students to use the glossary in the Student Worksheet when confronted with unfamiliar words or phrases in their independent research.

Students can choose the desired format of their piece, such as:

Newsletter or newspaper article
Informative poster
Infographic
Short video or podcast
Written letter

The science communication piece should contain the following information:

The common and scientific name of the species
Facts about where they live (habitat)
Reasons outlining why the species is threatened
Actions are being taken to help protect this species (rules or regulations)
Images of the species (if suitable for the chosen format).

Learning support: For students requiring additional support, you can modify the task to allow students to research a non-threatened species so they can access information that may be easier to understand.

Reflection

Students swap their science communication piece with peers to learn about a different threatened species!

Keeping the Wild in Wildlife

Go to

Summary

Lesson guides and printables

In this lesson