Term:
Year: Lesson
Subject Focus: Managing and
Timing:
Summer –
2
number:
: ICT
classifying
1 hour
nd
2 half
3
information
Resources:
N.C. links
Cross Curricular / SMSC:
 A selection of
ICT 1b, 5a, 5b
 Links to maths – features of
shapes
EN2 1i NLS Y2T3 SL
shapes
 Strips of paper
6&7
 Links to English – types of
 Red and green
MA3 1a & d, 2a &b
questions.
arrows
 Animal picture
cards
Learning objectives:
 To learn that some questions have only yes or no answers and have to be
phrased carefully.
 To learn that yes or no questions can be used to differentiate between items
of data.
Key questions:
How can we tell those two shapes / animals apart? Could we use a yes / no
question to tell them apart?
Key vocabulary:
- Information, data, question, differentiate, classify, binary tree
Lesson Structure:
Input
Warm up – Children use yes / no questions to try to find out which soft toy was
spotted stealing from the biscuit jar.
Distribute copies of the classification key that could be used to identify pond
creatures. Explain that yesterday when we visited the pond you found a creature
and you weren’t sure what it was. They work in pairs to identify the creature
using the information on worksheet A.
Explain that the classification tree was a type of binary tree. Go on to explain
that a binary tree is a way of classifying information according to certain
criterion. Explain that over the next few weeks we will be constructing our own
binary trees.
As a class construct a paper based binary tree using shapes. Teacher to scribe
questions onto strips of white paper. Use red arrows for no answers and green
for yes. Initially select 2 shapes, ask a question to distinguish between them e.g.
Does it have more than 4 sides? Continue adding more shapes and questions to
produce a tree.
Group activity
 Children work in groups. They are given a set of animal cards to make a
paper based binary tree for.
 Less able supported by an adult during this activity.
Plenary
One group shares their binary tree. As a class we test their tree. One child
from the class picks an animal card. The rest of the class must determine which
animal it is by following the binary tree and asking the appropriate questions.
Did the class get to the correct answer?
Assessment: Can the children form yes or no questions? Can they choose
appropriate questions to differentiate between different objects?