Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes

Tune In: Staying alive, and thriving

25 minutes

Find Out: Our environment’s biodiversity

25 minutes

Take Action: Knowing our habitat

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

examine what animal populations need to survive and how their habitats provide this.

Success criteria

Students can:

explain how wildlife can co-exist in specific human habitats
identify the habitat needs and threats of a chosen species, and propose realistic actions to provide more habitat and reduce threats within the school grounds.

Tune In: Staying alive, and thriving

Step 1

Explain that all animals need some things to survive. Ask the class, ‘What do pets need?’

Step 2

Invite students to respond to the question by facilitating a Think, Pair, Share using the following prompts:

Do you or someone in your family have a pet? What type?
What do you need to provide for it to survive?
What does it need to eat?
Where can it safely rest?
What do you need to protect it from? What could harm it (for example, cars, or being attacked by dogs, cats and/or foxes)?

Aim to elicit a variety of pet animal types, such as cats, dogs, birds, reptiles, and fish.

Find Out: Our environment’s biodiversity

Step 1

Tell students that we are now going to think about wild animals that might live around us. Just like pets, different animals need different types of food and shelter, and can be harmed by different things.

Step 2

On the whiteboard, make a table with 4 animal types across the top row, and ‘When it is active?’, ‘food’, ‘shelter’ and ‘threats’ down the left column. Choose animals that could occur within your school grounds. You can look up animals that occur in your area on the Atlas Living of Australia or iNaturalist.

Ask students to suggest when that animal is likely to be active, what it eats, where it might shelter, and things that might harm it, which we also call threats. Instead of just saying ‘predators’ among threats, try to say what type of animal could be the predator. Remind them that many native animals are nocturnal and might use the school grounds as a habitat at night but sleep out of sight during the day when students are at school.

Potential answers:

Step 3

Explain to students:

A place where an animal species can survive, live and reproduce because it has enough food and shelter, and is free from threats, is called its habitat. When it can do these things easily, the animal species will thrive.
Some animals live only in natural habitats, but some can adapt to environments that humans have altered, like farms, suburbs, and school grounds, using them some or all the time. Some animals do not move far and so need to get what they need within a small area, but some, like bats and large birds, can travel far to get everything they need.

Step 4

As a class, go on a biodiversity walk around the immediate area of your school. Provide students with a clipboard, a pencil and a blank sheet of paper each. If your school is resourced to allow it, devices that can capture photos could be used instead.

During this walk, students are to note:

Animals that catch their attention and where they see them, such as a lorikeet in a flowering gum or skinks in garden beds. Note what they are doing. Are they resting or feeding?
Signs of animals like poos, scratchings, burrows, feathers, webs and skins.
Things that they think could provide food or shelter for animals.
Things that they think might be a threat to animals and stop them from using the school grounds.

If they are unsure of the species' name and do not have a camera, they can quickly sketch it and note any identifying features to assist in searching for it later. If students have devices, they can use the iNaturalist app to help identify the species.

Learning support: Ensure you brief your students about important safety and respect considerations relevant to your school environment, such as sticking to walking tracks or footpaths, crossing roads at appropriate places, or being mindful of other people sharing the space. If it is not possible to do this walk, use your school grounds as an example of the human environment that you are a part of.

Step 5

Upon returning to the classroom, allow students to research the species that they were unsure about by using identifying features and the area in which they live as search terms, and using an image search.

Collate the examples of living things that were noted by students into a list, based on animals they observed, saw signs of, or have previously seen in the area. Next to each species, note whether the species is native, introduced, or unsure.

Take Action: Knowing our habitat

Step 1

Ask students to select 1 species of interest from your class list. Explain that they are going to find out more about this species, including its natural habitat, any threats that it faces, and other species it depends upon for survival.

Set up each student with a device where they can research and record the following information about their selected species:

name
activity period
shelter and nesting places
diet
dependence on other species (if any)
threats

Step 2

On a large piece of paper, ask each student to draw a map of the school grounds and mark on the map the places that the animal can use for habitat. Where does it find food, water, and shelter? Are there any threats to the animal? Threats could be just outside the school (for example, cats from neighbouring houses and cars on nearby streets).

Step 3

After completing the map, ask students to use a different colour to draw their ideas for how to give that animal more habitat within the school, and how to reduce threats to that animal in the school. For example, if it is a nectar-feeding bird or possum, where could you plant more flowering plants? If houses are beside the school, could you send a letter to neighbours asking them not to let their cats roam?

Step 4

Instruct students to get together in small groups with others who chose the same animal. Students should compare their habitat maps, and ideas for how to help give that animal species more habitat. Each group should tell the class what their animal is, and some of their ideas for helping it by providing more habitat and fewer threats.

Reflection

Step 1

Provide students with 3 sticky notes each. Ask students to use the following sentence stems to reflect on their new knowledge:

One thing I know about how our school grounds can be an important habitat for animals is...
One new thing I found surprising/interesting was...
One thing I still wonder/want to know is...

Step 2

Ask students to pair up and share their reflections with each other. Encourage the listener to respond to the ‘I still wonder’ question with a suggestion on how they could start the process of finding out!

Understanding Habitats and Biodiversity

Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

Understanding Habitats and Biodiversity

Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables