Stage 3 Name of Unit: Survival Unit duration: 9 weeks Term 1 2
Content
Working
Scientifically
Working
Technologically
Physical World Earth and Space Living World Material World Built Environments
Outcomes ST3-4WS ST3-5WT
:
ST3-6PW
ST3-7PW
ST3-8ES
ST3-9ES
ST3-10LW
ST3-11LW
ST3-12MW
ST3-13MW
ST3-14BE
3
Information
ST3-15I
1 - Question and predict
From observations ask a question or pose a problem
Research: find out what is already known
Make a prediction
2/3 - Explore and define a task
Explore the needs for, opportunities to undertake the task - observations
Developing a design brief individually and in collaboration with others.
4 Odd Years
Products
ST3-16P
4/5 - Plan investigations
With guidance, collaboratively research and plan fair tests.
Select suitable methods for gathering data.
4/5 & 6/7 - Generate and develop ideas
Develop a design brief that will be your criteria to evaluate success.
Create initial design ideas – question and predict the suitability
4/5 - Conduct investigations
Work collaboratively in conducting fair tests to answer questions.
Use formal units for measuring and recording data.
Suggest improvements.
2/3 & 6/7 - Process and analyse data and information
Measure, analyse results, construct representations using tables/graphs.
Compare findings with predictions.
Reflect on process and knowledge and draw conclusions.
2/3 - Communicate
Use multimodal text to honestly and accurately communicate your findings? To whom does it need to be communicated?
7/8 - Produce solutions
Develop a plan and specifications to guide production
Construct your project, safely selecting and using appropriate tools, materials and techniques.
Carry out ongoing evaluation throughout the process.
9 - Evaluate
Identify strengths and limitations of the processes used.
Self/peer assessment of the final product using the established design criteria.
Post-test.
Assessment for/as/of learning
Individual assessment: 'Design a Species'. Create a design brief - a labeled and annotated diagram for one plant and one animal species designed to be a 'super survivor' in a selected habitat. Group assessment: Design & build a zoo exhibit/enclosure that represents your habitat and that could sustain all of the animal/plant species of the habitat group.

UNIT OVERVIEW
In order for species of plants and animals to survive in particular environments, they have had to adapt to the conditions of the environment in which they live. The adaptation to environmental conditions occurs over many generations. In order to survive in the environments in which they live, plants and animals develop both behavioural and structural adaptations. In this unit students initially share their current understandings of how plants and animals adapt to particular environments and how adaptations vary between environments. They then look more specifically at the adaptations of plants and animals in Australian and local ecosystems/habitats. Through class discussions, individual work, group research tasks, and investigations they develop an understanding of behavioural and structural adaptations that enable plants and animals to survive. Students have opportunities to pose testable questions, make predictions and investigate to gather data to support evidence based claims and develop explanations. Students plan and implement a design process to apply their knowledge to create a 'super survivor species' adapted to a particular habitat. They will also have the opportunity to design an enclosure/zoo exhibit for their plant and animal species.
OUTCOMES AND CONTENT: LIVING WORLD
ST3-10LW - describes how structural features and other adaptations of living things help them to survive in their environment
Living things have structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment.
Students:
 observe and describe the structural features of some native Australian animals and plants
 present ideas and explanations about how the structural features and behaviour of some plants and animals help them to survive in their environment, eg shiny surfaces of leaves on sand dune plants and nocturnal behaviour in some animals
 research the conditions needed for a particular plant to grow and survive in its environment, eg an indoor plant, plants in deserts, drought-resistant wheat or salt-tolerant plants
OUTCOMES AND CONTENT:
ST3-11LW
- describes some physical conditions of the environment and how these affect the growth and survival of living things
The growth and survival of living things are affected by the physical conditions of their environment.
Students:
 identify some physical conditions of a local environment, eg temperature, slope, wind speed, amount of light and water
 make predictions about how changing the physical conditions of the environment impacts on the growth and survival of living things, eg different amounts of light or water on plant growth or the effect of different temperatures on the growth of yeast or bread mould
 use gathered data to develop explanations about how changing the physical conditions of the environment affects the growth and survival of living things
OUTCOMES AND CONTENT: WORKING SCIENTIFCALLY
ST3-4WS investigates by posing questions, including testable questions, making predictions and gathering data to draw evidence-based conclusions and develop explanations
Students question and predict by:
 with guidance, posing questions to clarify practical problems or inform a scientific investigation
 predicting what the findings of an investigation might be
OUTCOMES AND CONTENT: WORKING TECHNOLOGICALLY
ST3-5WT plans and implements a design process, selecting a range of tools, equipment, materials and techniques to produce solutions that address the design criteria and identified constraints
Students explore and define a task by:
 constructing and using a range of representations, including tables and graphs, to represent and describe observations, patterns or relationships in data including using digital technologies as appropriate

 applying experience from similar situations in the past to predict what might happen in a new situation
Students plan investigations by:
 with guidance, planning appropriate investigation methods to test predictions, answer questions or solve problems including surveys, fieldwork, research and fair tests
 deciding which variable should be changed and measured in fair tests while keeping everything else the same
 collaboratively and individually selecting suitable methods for gathering data and information first-hand and from reliable secondary sources
Students conduct investigations by:
 working individually and collaboratively in conducting a range of appropriate investigation methods, including fair tests, to answer questions or solve problems
 using suitable equipment and materials, checking observations and measurements by repeating them where appropriate
 using equipment and materials safely, identifying potential risks
 accurately observing, measuring and recording data, using digital technologies as appropriate
 using formal units and abbreviations for measuring and recording data
 suggesting improvements to the methods used to investigate a question or solve a problem
Students process and analyse data and information by:
 constructing and using a range of representations, including tables, graphs
(column, picture, line and divided bar graphs) and labelled diagrams
 using numerical techniques to analyse data and information, including calculating the means and percentages of small sets of data
 drawing conclusions and providing explanations based on data and information gathered first-hand or from secondary sources
 comparing gathered data with predictions, and using as evidence in developing explanations of events and phenomena
 reflecting on their gathered evidence in relation to:
 the process used to gather, process and analyse their data and information
 their own prior knowledge as well as accepted scientific explanations

their own and others' conclusions
Students communicate by:
 constructing and using a range of representations, including tables and graphs, to represent and describe observations, patterns or relationships in data including using digital technologies as appropriate
 using a variety of ways to honestly and accurately communicate ideas, explanations and processes, including multi-modal texts, labelled diagrams, as well as written and oral factual texts as appropriate
 exploring needs for, or opportunities to undertake, the task
 identifying the users' needs and wants using techniques, eg observations, surveys, interviews and market research
 developing a design brief individually and in collaboration with others
 developing design criteria that considers, where relevant, function, aesthetics, social and environmental considerations
 planning the process considering constraints where relevant, eg time, finance, resources and expertise
Students generate and develop ideas by:
 selecting and using creative thinking techniques, including mind-mapping, brainstorming, sketching and modelling
 selecting and using research techniques appropriate to the task
 selecting and using techniques for documenting and communicating design ideas to others, eg drawings, plans, flow charts, storyboarding, modelling and presentations, using digital technologies
 identifying a range of appropriate materials for the task
 selecting and using techniques to investigate the suitability of materials
 applying established criteria to evaluate and modify ideas
Students produce solutions by:
 testing the suitability of materials, considering whether the test was fair or not
 developing a plan and specifications to guide production
 using their plans and production sequence
 for a design project, selecting and safely using a range of tools, equipment and related techniques to cut, edit, join, manipulate and shape materials and/or information
Students evaluate by:
 identifying the strengths and limitations of the process used
 self or peer assessing the final product by using the established design criteria

Reading texts
Comprehension
Vocabulary knowledge
Aspects of writing
Aspects of speaking
Cluster 11 -
Analyses and evaluates the relative importance of key ideas and information in a text to construct an overview.
Responds to and analyses texts by discussing the ways language structures and features shape meaning.
Responds to and interprets texts by integrating sources of information in texts.
Cluster 11 -
Manipulates multiple texts that include a variety of purposes and modes to locate information for a specific purpose.
Uses text navigation skills such as skimming and scanning to efficiently locate specific information in literary, factual and electronic texts.
Cluster 11
Demonstrates an understanding of new words for new concepts
Cluster 10
Shows awareness of the need to justify opinions with supporting evidence.
Cluster 10
Listens attentively and responds appropriately to spoken and multimodal texts that include unfamiliar ideas and information.
Cluster 11
Uses multimedia to enhance meaning when communicating ideas and information to others.
Counting sequences
Early arithmetical strategies
Pattern and number structure
Place value
Multiplication & division
Fractions
Selecting and applying an appropriate scale when presenting data.
Reading markings on measuring device.
Measurement
Selecting and interpreting an appropriate unit of measurement.
Learning sequence 1: pre-test handouts + unit notebook
Learning Sequence 2: unit notebook

Learning Sequence 3: unit notebook + teacher created task cards (paper or digital)
Learning Sequence 4: unit notebook + bird beak investigation student booklet (provided) + investigation equipment
Learning Sequence 5: unit notebook + teacher created claim cards + student investigation booklet + students/teacher to organise necessary equipment
Learning sequence 6: unit notebook (as stimulus)
Learning sequence 7: unit notebook + assessment task proforma (design brief)
Learning sequence 8: unit notebook + student resourced equipment for 3D model & group habitat enclosure
Learning sequence 9: unit notebook & jointly constructed rubric
Learning Sequence
1
2
Teaching Learning and Assessment
Question and predict/what is already known?
Brainstorm and discuss what animals and plants need in order to survive and reproduce?

Animals - food, water, shelter, a mate.

Plants - water, air, sun and soil? (SWAN)
Pre-test 1
Questions
What are adaptations?
Why are adaptations important to a species' survival?
Pretest 2:
What I already know
Look at a picture of a plant/animal species and annotate the picture describing the features that enable it to survive.
Suggested resource: resource sheet 2 'comparing plants and animals' from Desert
Survivors, Primary Connections.
Pretest 3:
Misconceptions about adaptations: agree/disagree statements (resources) administer as pre and post test.
Explore a task - guided Research
Define Adaptations - the way in which a species becomes better suited to living in its environment unique adaptations that organisms have in response to their
Learning Adjustments

3 environment
Why do animals adapt? What happens if they don't adapt?
Discuss evolution and extinction.

Darwin's finches & the theory of evolution/natural selection/variation = genes
+ environment

Video - introduction to adaptation (Unit Notebook)
Discuss quality examples of labelled and annotated diagrams (Unit Notebook)
Define task/pose question: what are survivor qualities? can we design a supersurvivor?
Explore and define a task - guided research
Identify physical conditions of our various environments:
 introduce biomes/ecosystems/habitats - as a place that provides a group of plants and animals shelter and food.
Our local environment:
 bushland
 sub tropical rainforest
 salt water mangrove estuaries/lagoons
 fresh water wetlands
 rocky foreshore and sand dunes
 deep ocean
Other Australian habitats:

Australian desert/Outback

Gondwana Rainforest

Antarctica
Task cards - guided research (mixed ability group work). Students research adaptive features of three animals and three plants in allocated habitats.
Teacher creates a range of task card in order to ensure a wide variety of data (could be digital with embedded pathfinder links). Adjust the task cards prompts to suit ability levels.
Cards can require students to either:
Modify/scaffold task cards as required.
Mixed ability groups.

4
5 o research a habitat and the features needed to survive (ie: salt water estuary, rainforest, rocky foreshore, desert) o research a particular species and its adaptive features (water holding frogs; thorny devils; seagrass; mangroves; spinifex) o research an adaptive feature and identify a variety of species that utilise this feature
Communicate: Each group presents a brief multimedia presentation and whole class adds new information to class data retrieval chart (AaL).
*First hand observation opportunities: arrange a guided visit to a zoo/botanical garden. Have a local expert lead students on a guided walk of local habitats.
Model how to plan/conduct investigations; process/analyse data; communicate

Look at a range of pictures of birds and discuss the habitats they live in, how they get food and water, what they use for shelter and what may prevent them from surviving in their habitat

Guide students to plan and conduct Investigation using 'Brilliant Bird Beaks'
(resources)
 graph and analyse data - discuss scientific process
Independently plan/conduct investigations; process/analyse data; communicate

Reflect upon bird beak investigation procedure. Revise the steps/factors involved when investigating using the correct scientific process.

Discuss importance of evidence-based claims in science.

Explain that pairs of students are going to select a claim and devise their own fair test to investigate this claim.
Scaffold students by providing investigation suggestions and data representation skeletons where required (see Primary Connections 'Desert Survivors' for examples).
*Students may need grid paper to prepare an accurate graph.
Organise students into pairs/teams and have them select a claim card to investigate.
Use teacher prepared claim cards with suggested investigation starters/materials OR students may be able to develop their own investigation, depending on their level of confidence.
Sample:
Claim Equipment

That the larger the ear, the cooler the animal. plate cup thermometer warm water
Devise a fair test to investigate this claim. Complete the investigation-planning sheet and have this checked by your teacher. Once you have been approved, conduct your experiment and record your findings carefully. Graph your data and analyse the results. Prepare a presentation to the class that either verifies or rejects the claim.
Possible claims for investigation include: o The waxy coating on leaves improves water retention? (Use petroleum jelly on the underside of leaves to simulate the waxy side of leaves. Use different fabrics/materials to represent leaves) o The shape and size of leaves impact on water retention? (Use kitchen sponges to represent leaves and determine how quickly water evaporates). o Curled leaves help retain water. (Use pieces of kitchen sponge to represent the curled and uncurled leaves) o Some plants grow in soil but not sand o All plants require light to grow o Some plants are more drought resistant than others o Rising temperatures affect the survival of plants (could investigate se plants as well) o The larger the ear the cooler the animal (surface area cooling investigation from PC) o Camouflage helps animals survive o Colouration affects heat retention and survival o Underwater plants cannot survive in fresh water o Fresh water plants are not salt tolerant

6
7
1.
Give each team a copy of the investigation booklet (resources) and discuss the various steps.
2.
Ask teams to discuss how they are going to set up their investigations. How will they ensure the test is fair? What does this mean? What will it look like during the investigation? What variables are they going to have to consider? Meet together as a class to discuss the possibilities and to highlight the need for fair testing.
3.
Ask students to complete the investigation planner and then share predictions with the class.
4.
Students consider how they will record and present their data prior to the investigation.
5.
Provide students with the time necessary to set up and conduct their investigations and complete the investigation booklet and prepare multi-modal presentations (use digital technologies to represent data accurately).
6.
Students present their investigation results and analysis to the class.
Process and analyse data and information/draw conclusions
Discuss some endangered or extinct Australian animals and plants (Unit Notebook)

Are humans accelerating the rate of biodiversity loss?

Which adaptations are most likely to ensure survival?

Revisit Darwin's notion of variation (genes + environment).

Discuss idea that species adapted to a range of extreme habitats are most able to /likely to survive.
Generate and develop ideas and design brief to produce solutions

Select a habitat 'Design a Species' prompt card (there should be 5/6 to choose from - students form groups according to their selected habitat) (these are teacher created - some examples provided in notebook)

Jointly construct product evaluation criteria rubric
Modify task/scaffold with annotation sentence stems.
Individual assessment:
Create a design brief - a labeled and annotated diagram for one plant and one animal

8
9
EXTENSION species designed to be a 'super survivor' in a selected habitat. Student plant/animal species will be fictional, but the adaptations are factual. Student annotations will clearly justify adaptive feature selections.
Follow the design brief to create a 3D model of your animal and plant species.
Group assessment:
Design & build a zoo exhibit/enclosure that represents your habitat and that could sustain all of the animal/plant species of the habitat group.
Produce solutions
Allow student time to create their models.
Peer and self evaluation of design process and product according to agreed criteria.
 discuss genetically modified foods/cloning and speculate whether the animal/plant species they designed could be feasible in the future.
 explore biomimicry design challenges (see notebook links)