Lesson Plan – Car Classification
Aims:
For students to develop the skills needed to classify plants and animals in a different context: that of classifying
cars. They will develop these skills through playing a familiar game, and apply the skills to plants/animals next
lesson. With luck, some students may also be able to understand why it is important to learn skills rather than
just learning facts, and why skills are more widely useful than facts.
Since I know almost nothing about cars myself, students can also see that: a) teachers don’t know everything;
and b) you don’t need to know loads of facts about cars/plants/animals to be able to start classifying them.
Learning objectives:
Know: that plants and animals are classified into different categories.
Understand: how the skills practised in identifying cars can also be applied to plants and animals.
Be able to: group objects into larger (more general) and smaller (more specific) categories; ask appropriate
yes/no questions leading to the identification of a particular object.
Lesson Timing
Activity: starter – how can we classify vehicles?
Differentiation Assessment / Questioning
Accessible to all How can we classify road vehicles? (e.g. cars, lorries, bikes,
etc.)
Can we put some of those into larger groups? (e.g. 2 wheels, 4
wheels; with/without motor, etc.)
What about subgroups – can we split the cars group into
smaller groups? (e.g. estates, saloons, etc. or countries where
the cars are made)
What if you asked me, “What kind of vehicle do you use?” and
I answered “A green one”. How useful would my answer be?
(Not very – doesn’t give much useful information.) “A
bicycle” would be a more useful answer.
Introduction: we are starting a biology topic, yet we will spend most of the lesson thinking about cars…
Class discussion on how we can group road vehicles in different ways.
Try to show that there are different ways to classify vehicles, and some are more useful than others (e.g.
classifying by number of wheels may be more useful than classifying by colour).
0-15 min
Resources
Created by Dr. George
15-40 min
Activity: main 1 – ‘Guess Who’ with cars
Resources
Differentiation
‘Classification Cars Guess Who
In this activity, students can learn
game sheet 1’ (laminated) – 1 each at their own pace. Some will gain
for half of the students, and
a deeper understanding than others
‘Classification Cars Guess Who
of e.g. what makes a good
game sheet 2’ (laminated) – one
question, what the difficulties are,
each for the other half of the
etc. There is scope for them to
students.
learn from each other by playing
1 board marker per student
in pairs.
Assessment / Questioning
What makes a good first question?
What makes a poor first question?
Give two minutes for students who know how to play ‘Guess Who’ to explain how it works to students who
don’t know.
We will play ‘Guess Who’ with cars. Only yes/no questions allowed. Depending on ability of students, ban
the use of names (e.g. “Is it a Jaguar?”) and logos.
Hand out cards and pens. (Note: each pair of cards shows different photos of the same models of car. In
some cases, the cars are different colours in the two photos, so colour cannot be reliably used in this game to
identify the type of car.) Model how to play, by playing as a class first: I select a car, and students put their
hands up to ask yes/no questions until they have narrowed it down to my chosen car.
Students now play against each other, in pairs. In each pair, the two cards show the same models of car, but
often at different angles and in different colours. Scoring: one point for each question asked. Lower score
wins (like golf).
Draw out some of the difficulties they may have had in playing, e.g. not knowing the names of car parts,
finding it hard to see the differences between cars (some are very similar-looking), difficulties with questions
like ‘Is it long/sporty?’ because we may not all agree on what counts as a long/sporty car, etc.
40-60min
Activity: plenary – make a key (for more able students)
Resources
Differentiation
Assessment / Questioning
paper for groups to write key on
Mixed ability groups
If trying to identify a car using a written guide, the guide can’t ask you questions – or can it?
Students may be familiar with gamebooks such as the ‘Give Yourself Goosebumps’ series – the book asks
you a question and depending on your answer, it sends you to a particular page.
In groups of about three, students will create a key for identifying five cars on the sheet, using yes/no
questions. e.g. 1) Is it an estate? If yes, go to 2. If no, go to 3, etc.
40-60min
Activity: alternative plenary – using a key (for less able students)
Resources
Differentiation
Assessment / Questioning
“Can You Use a Car Key”
Students work in mixed ability
worksheet – one per student (note: groups
I found that black and white
version worked fine, but
photocopies were not clear
enough, so I had to print each
copy instead
Students use a ready-made key to identify organisms.
Created by Dr. George