habitats - nspri.co.uk · this unit is designed to be a whole-school study of habitats. the...

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fieldworkeducation.com/curriculums/primary-years/ipc

Habitats

http://fieldworkeducation.com/curriculums/primary-years

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Contents

Contents

Basic Information

Learning Goals

Assessment for Learning

The Entry Point

Knowledge Harvest

The Big Idea

Explaining The Theme

The Big Picture

Science Learning Goals

Science Task 1

Science Task 2

Science Task 3

Science Task 4

Science Task 5

Science Extension Task

Technology Learning Goals

Technology Task

International Learning Goals

International Task

International Extension Task

The Exit Point

Resources

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2Downloaded for use by North Somercotes CofE Primary School on 23 July 2019.

From Fieldwork Education, a part of the Nord Anglia Education family. © WCL Group Limited. A ll rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Basic Information

This section details the time allocation for this unit of work, links to other subjects and Assessment forLearning opportunities.

Timings

This unit of work is intended to last about 5 ¼ weeks.

The following suggested timings are approximate guides and are dependent on each school's individualcontext.

No of Hours No of Weeks

Entry Point, Knowledge Harvest, Explain the Theme 6 ¾

Science 24 3

Technology 4 ½

International 4 ½

Exit Point 4 ½

Links to other IPC subjects

ICT & Computing learning goals are included in the subject learning. Links to geography and history areprovided at the end of tasks where appropriate.

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Learning Goals


Children will:

3.03 Know about ways in which the lives of people in the countries they have studied affect eachother

3.05 Be able to explain how the lives of people in one country or group are affected by theactivities of other countries or groups

3.06 Be able to identify ways in which people work together for mutual benefit


Children will:

3.01 Know that the study of science is concerned with investigating and understanding the animateand inanimate world around them

3.02a Be able to conduct scientific investigations posing scientific questions

3.02b Be able to choose an appropriate way to investigate a scientific issue

3.02c Be able to make systematic and accurate measurements from their observations

3.02d Be able to explain and justify their predictions, investigations, findings and conclusions

3.02e Be able to record and communicate their findings accurately using the most appropriatemedium and the appropriate scientific vocabulary and conventions

3.03 Be able to gather evidence from a variety of sources

3.04 Be able to discriminate between evidence and opinion

3.05 Understand the importance of using evidence to test scientific ideas

3.06 Understand some of the effects of what they learn on people's lives

3.07 Know about the major classifications of living things

3.08 Know about the effects of food chains in a variety of environments

3.09 Know that changes in the environment have effects on living things

3.11 Be able to recognise and name the major plants and animals in the host country

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3.12 Be able to classify locally occurring plants and animals according to their features

3.13 Be able to recognise and name the major plants and animals in their home country

3.14 Understand the relationship between living things and the environment in which they live


Children will:

3.06 Be able to devise and use step-by-step plans

3.07 Be able to consider the needs of users when designing and making

3.08 Be able to select the most appropriate available tools and materials for a task

3.09 Be able to work with a variety of tools and materials with some accuracy

3.11 Be able to investigate the way in which simple products in everyday use are designed and madeand how they work

ICT & Computing Opportunities

The table below shows you where you can cover the following ICT & Computing Learning Goals.

Task Goals

International Task 3.8, 3.13

Science Extension Task 3.6, 3.7, 3.8

Science Task 1 3.6, 3.7

Science Task 2 3.6, 3.7, 3.8




Technology Task 3.8

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Assessment for Learning

Are your children busy, or are they busy learning? This is the question that we need to be able to answerthroughout each IPC unit – what improvements are being made to children’s learning as a result ofstudying this theme?

There are three areas of learning to reflect on, and three types of learning to assess.

The Three Areas of Learning: Academic, Personal and International

The three areas include academic, personal and international learning. To reflect on these, you will needaccess to the IPC Learning Goals for each subject (including International) and the IPC Personal Goals – alist of these can be found in Appendix A of the IPC Implementation File. You can also find a full list of IPCLearning Goals in the Assess section of the Members’ Lounge.

The Three Types of Learning: Knowledge, Skills and Understanding

The three types of learning include knowledge, skills and understanding. We believe that differentiatingbetween knowledge, skills and understanding is crucial to the development of children’s learning. Wealso believe that knowledge, skills and understanding have their own distinct characteristics that impacton how each is planned for, learned, taught, assessed and reported on. The implications of thesedifferences are therefore far-reaching and deserve proper consideration.

Knowledge refers to factual information. Knowledge is relatively straightforward to teach and assess(through quizzes, tests, multiple choice, etc.), even if it is not always that easy to recall. You can ask yourchildren to research the knowledge they have to learn but you could also tell them the knowledge theyneed to know. Knowledge is continually changing and expanding – this is a challenge for schools thathave to choose what knowledge children should know and learn in a restricted period of time.

The IPC does not provide examples of knowledge assessment (tests or exams) as the knowledge content of thecurriculum can be adapted to any national curricula requirements.

Skills refer to things children are able to do. Skills have to be learned practically and need time to bepracticed. The good news about skills is the more your practice, the better you get at them! Skills are alsotransferable and tend to be more stable than knowledge – this is true for almost all school subjects.

The IPC supports skills tracking and assessment through the IPC Assessment for Learning Programme. Thisprogramme includes Teachers’ Rubrics, Children’s Rubrics and Learning Advice.

Understanding refers to the development or ‘grasping’ of conceptual ideas, the ‘lightbulb’ moment thatwe all strive for. Understanding is always developing.

The IPC units can’t assess understanding for you, but they do allow you to provide a whole range of differentexperiences through which children’s understandings can deepen.

(Please note: as well as the IPC Assessment for Learning Programme, we also offer an online AssessmentTracking Tool, developed in partnership with Classroom Monitor. Please [email protected] for more information on how to sign up to this tool.)

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https://members.greatlearning.com/ipc/documents?category=31

https://members.greatlearning.com/ipc/assess/learninggoals

https://members.greatlearning.com/ipc/assess/

mailto:[email protected]

Planning for Assessment

Once you have planned for the different IPC Learning Goals for each subject it is important to plan forassessment opportunities within each unit of work. Assessment needs to be balanced but rigorous toensure that the children have learned what we planned for them to learn. The diagram below illustratesthe processes you may want to use to ensure this happens.

Helping Children Reflect on Their Own Learning

In addition to teacher assessment, it is also vital to include children in reflecting on their learning andsetting next steps for improvement. Ask the children to carry out self-assessments throughout each unit(using the Children’s Rubrics to assess skills, and other methods chosen by the school for knowledge andunderstanding).

They could use the following headings to list/make notes on their newly acquired knowledge, skills and

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understanding – ‘new things I now know’, ‘new things that I can do ’ and ‘new things I am beginning tounderstand’.

Ask the children to evaluate different aspects of their learning – what did they do well, what couldimprove next time and how, what did they find the most/least interesting? How did they prefer to learn –as an individual/in pairs/small groups/large groups/as a whole class? What was their preferred method ofresearching and recording - writing/talking/making, etc.? This evaluation aspect will also support thedevelopment of the IPC Personal Goals.

Further Information

For more information on assessment, and knowledge, skills and understanding, please refer to:

The IPC Implementation File

The Assessment for Learning Implementation File

The IPC Self-Review Process

Or contact the Membership Support team at [email protected]

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https://members.greatlearning.com/ipc/documents?category=31

https://members.greatlearning.com/ipc/assess/aflfile

https://members.greatlearning.com/ipc/bottomline9/


The Entry Point

This unit is designed to be a whole-school study of Habitats. The research carried out by the differentmileposts could be shared with other age groups across the school in the form of science presentationsand reports. The main focus of this unit is on extreme environments and the plants and animals that haveevolved and adapted to survive in the world’s most hostile habitats.

There are links to the Milepost 2 unit I’m Alive and the Milepost 3 science units: Roots, Shoots and Fruitsand Existing, Endangered, Extinct.

The desert is one of the most inhospitable places on Earth yet it is home to a great variety of wildlifewith plants including cacti and animals such as the gila woodpecker, the wind scorpion and the meerkat.How is life in the desert possible without water?

For the entry point, you could make a mini cactus garden in a large shallow container or washing-up bowl.The main purpose of this activity is to find out how cacti are different from other plants. How can theysurvive for months without water when other plants would die in the same conditions?

You will need:

Shallow container with drainage hole

Stones for drainage

Variety of cacti

Compost *

Coarse sand *

Pebbles for decoration

* Equal amounts of compost and coarse sand to fill the container.

Most garden centres will have a separate cactus section where you can choose suitable plants and ask theexperts for information and advice about cacti.

Safety note: choose carefully, some cacti have tiny hairs that can enter the skin like splinters and aredifficult to remove. You should try to avoid these varieties. When planting, always wear thick gardeninggloves for protection and cover any prickles with several layers of newspaper.

1. Place a few stones in the bottom of the container for drainage.

2. Put half of the coarse sand into the container.

3. Mix the rest of the sand with the compost and place on top.

4. Wearing gloves for protection, carefully add the cactus plants.

5. Water your plants with a little water.

During the planting process, draw the children’s attention to the structure of the cactus plant, i.e. the longroots, thick stem, prickles, any flowers and the absence of leaves. Encourage the children to look close upat the plants using hand magnifiers.

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The following website and videos provide tips for teachers on how to create a cactus garden:

bbc.co.uk/gardening/gardening_with_children/homegrownprojects_cactus.shtml – BBC website,gardening with children section, tells you how to make a cactus garden.

youtube.com/watch?v=vKKbSwY2T1I – YouTube has this video showing how to make a cactusgarden.

marthastewart.com/252901/cactus-garden#252901 – YouTube has this video about differentvarieties of cactus plants and how to grow them.

(To watch a YouTube video in safe mode, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the ‘Safety' tab which brings up the 'Safety

mode' information. Under this section, select the 'on' option, then click 'save')

From this activity, the children will be able to observe how cacti are different from other plants. But whyare they different? Ask the children…

Why does the cactus have prickles and thorns?

How does it make food if it doesn’t have leaves?

How does the cactus use its thick stem?

Discuss the children’s hypotheses and how they might go about finding the answers. You may be able toarrange a visit to a botanical garden that has a display of cacti and where you could ask an expert. Seealso ‘Cactus’ in the big picture.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/gardening_with_children/homegrownprojects_cactus.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKKbSwY2T1I

http://www.marthastewart.com/252901/cactus-garden#252901

Knowledge Harvest

The main focus of this Milepost 3 unit will be on the plants and animals that survive in hostileenvironments in some of the remotest places on Earth. These environments may be extremely…

Hot – e.g. desert

Cold – e.g. polar ice caps

Deep – e.g. ocean trenches

Dark – e.g. underground caves

High – e.g. mountaintops

Recall the entry point: how does the cactus survive in the extreme heat and drought experienced in thedesert? Discuss the special adaptations of the cactus. Does anything eat cactus plants? Remember plantsare at the beginning of all food chains – can anything bite through the tough stem? Challenge thechildren to find out during the course of the unit.

The cactus is an example of an extreme survivor in the plant world. Are there any other types of plantsthat have special strategies for survival in extreme conditions? Deciduous trees in northern climates are acommon example – they lose their leaves and lie dormant during the dark and cold winter months toconserve energy. Without sunlight they can’t make enough food to grow. Losing their leaves also protectsthe tree from the danger of being blown over in a winter storm. Like the cactus, deciduous trees displaysurvival strategies.

Can the children think of any examples in the animal kingdom of extreme survival strategies? Thechildren might say hibernation is one strategy to escape the cold. But how does hibernation work? Itconserves energy when food is scarce. Are there any other strategies that animals use to survive inextreme habitats? For example, in the hot desert animals such as the scorpion bury themselves during theboiling heat of the day and hunt at night when the temperatures are cooler. Find out what the childrenalready know about how animals adapt to hostile environments by asking them to create a group or classmind map. Think about the hottest, coldest, deepest, darkest and highest places on Earth. Recall priorlearning in other IPC units, particularly the science unit Existing, Endangered, Extinct. Ask the children toidentify any extreme survivors living in their host and/or home countries.

The mind maps should also include the children’s own questions to which they would like to find theanswers. Ask the children: how can we investigate your questions in a scientific way? Invite their ideasand try to include their hypotheses within the following tasks.

Display the children’s ideas and hypotheses as part of your knowledge harvest. You could create a huge‘Extreme Survivors’ display to which the children can contribute their drawings, photographs, field notes,reports, videos and pod-casts as they work through the unit. The children can add their new knowledge,findings and conclusions to the display over the coming weeks.

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The Big Idea

If you lived in a harsh environment, for example, in the driest desert or on Earth, your body and behaviourwould need to adapt in order to survive. So a cactus in the desert adapts by growing a thick stem to storewater. But how would you survive if you were a small fish in the deepest, darkest ocean?

Explaining The Theme

In Science, we’ll be finding out:

How living things survive in the hot, dry desert

How animals adapt to living in freezing cold temperatures

About the fish that live in the deepest parts of the ocean

How cave-dwelling creatures adapt to life inside the cave

How animals live in the highest places on Earth

Which invertebrates live in micro-habitats

About a variety of food chains and webs

About the effects of global warming

In Technology, we’ll be finding out:

How to make a bathyscope

In International, we’ll be finding out:

Which world habitats and species deserve protection

About Earth Day and how we can help our planet

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The Big Picture

The Earth is full of life. Over 2 million species of living things inhabit our mountains, deserts, forests,caves, lakes, rivers and oceans. Every part of our land, sea and sky is inhabited by life that has evolvedfrom simple forms 3,000 million years ago. Plant and animal life has become more complicated over timeas it has adapted to different environments. How do we know this? The evidence is found in fossilremains. Most plants and animals exist today because they have successfully adapted to theirenvironment. Many are uniquely adapted to a particular habitat so that they can only live in one place andnowhere else. Plants and animals that have not been able to adapt have perished or become extinct.

Adaptation

Every species is uniquely adapted to its own special way of life.

Plants and animals can adapt to living almost anywhere on Earth. In the hot, dry desert a prickly pearcactus can survive on the small amount of water stored in its stems; scorpions can bury themselves in theground during the day and come out only at night to feed. In polar regions, adapting to the cold presentsdifferent challenges. Plants stay small and close to the ground to avoid the cold, harsh wind; and animalsgrow thick layers of fat or fur as protection from freezing temperatures. While down in the deepestoceans, fish adopt the strangest of adaptations to make themselves at home in the murky depths, e.g.seeing in the dark is not a problem for the giant squid because it has developed the largest eyes of anycreature – they are the size of dinner plates.

Desert

Geographer’s define a desert as being a place that has less than 25 cm (10 in) of rain per year. TheAtacama Desert in Chile and the Namib Desert in Africa are two of the driest places on Earth. Deserts arefound on every continent. The daytime temperature in the Sahara can reach up to 50 degrees C (122degrees F) in the shade. At night this can drop by as much as 30 degrees C (86 degrees F). The resultingmist and fog provides enough moisture for desert plants and animals to survive. However, there are colddeserts too such as the Gobi desert in Asia. Not all deserts are covered in sand, some are mountainous.

It is a common misconception that deserts are devoid of life when, in fact, deserts have a rich variety ofplant and animal life that has adapted to dry conditions. Many desert animals are nocturnal or burrowingcreatures so they avoid the fierce heat of the Sun. People live in the desert too – one-sixth of the world’spopulation lives in desert regions. Dubai is a city built in the desert.

(source: nationalgeographic.com)

Cactus

Transpiration is the process whereby plants lose water from the tiny pores on their leaves. This loss ofwater can be as much as 90%. Over millions of years the cactus has lost its leaves – these have shrunk sosmall that they are no bigger than thin thorns or hairs so that transpiration is reduced to a minimum. Thethorns also serve another purpose: to offer protection from animals who might want to eat the water-filled cactus. At the same time the cactus stem has grown thicker to store water and to make food for theplant using green chlorophyll and the Sun’s energy.

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http://www.nationalgeographic.com

Camel

The camel is beautifully adapted to life in the hot dry desert…

It can store and recycle water in its digestive system

It has a smaller bladder than a human to minimise loss of water from urination

It has a special cooling mechanism in its head to stop its brain from over-heating

It stores fat in one place in its hump so that the rest of its body stays cool

It has a support pillar under its ribcage to lift its body clear of the hot sand while it is lying down

Its teeth and mouth are designed to eat the toughest desert plants by constantly regurgitating

It has soft pads underneath its toes to give it stability on uneven sand

Polar ice caps

Water expands as it freezes and as solid ice it takes up about a tenth more volume than water. Ice floatson water, holding the heat of the water in; if ice sank and lakes and oceans froze from the bottom upthen life could not exist in the polar ice. 90% of the Earth’s ice is in Antarctica in the South Pole, where itis 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) thick. The ice in the North Pole in Greenland is thinner at just 4.5 metres (15feet) thick.

The Arctic is a very fragile environment that is vulnerable to human activity and climatic change. Globalwarming is melting the ice and this is a major problem. Without sea ice, seals can’t build ledges on whichto rest, eat and rear their pups – pups are plunged into the sea before they have enough blubber towithstand cold water and die as a result. The melting of sea ice is having a disastrous effect on the polarbear. They are good swimmers but can’t swim indefinitely in open water without stopping to rest, huntand feed on the ice. The melting of the polar ice means starvation for the polar bear. If the thawcontinues at the current rate, scientists predict that the polar bear could be extinct before the end of thecentury.

Hibernation and torpor

Bears, bats and rodents such as marmots and squirrels, hibernate in cold weather when food is scarce.Some reptiles such as snakes and insects such as butterflies also hibernate. They do so to slow down theirmetabolic rate and therefore conserve energy. Some birds on long migrations use torpor, which is asimilar resting state designed to lower their consumption of energy.

Oceans

The ocean is the largest habitat on Earth. 97% of all the water on Earth is in the ocean. The world’s rivers,lakes, seas and oceans are not separate – they are one body of water that is being continually recycled.Oceans are not level; they are different depths because of the tilt and spin of the Earth. Imagine theoceans are like water in a bowl, when we tilt the bowl the water rushes to one end – towards the Pacificwhere we find the deepest water. Most aquatic creatures like to live in shallow waters where there isplenty of light, warmth, oxygen and food. That’s why coral reefs have about 25% of the world’s fish.Only 3% of the Earth’s water is fresh – this is mostly in the form of ice fields and only a tiny fraction ofthis is in rivers and lakes.

(Source: A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson)

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Until the second half of the 19th century, it was assumed that life could not exist in the deepest parts ofthe ocean because, without light, there would be no plants. Everything we knew about the ocean waslearned from what we caught in fishing nets or from what was washed up on the beach. Deep-seaexploration only really began in the 1930s with Charles William Beebe and Otis Barton’s invention of the‘bathysphere’. In 1934 they made a brave and historic dive to a depth of 922 metres (3,028 feet) – a worldrecord at that time. At this depth, every square inch of their bathysphere would have been subjected to19 tons of pressure. In subsequent books and articles, Beebe reported their sightings of giant seaserpents and strange-looking creatures the likes of which had never been seen before.

Ocean trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean and because of this, even today, many remainunexplored. The Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is deeper (at 11,022 metres/36,161 feet) thanEverest is high (8,848 metres/29,028 feet). Similar to deep chasms on dry land, they occur as a result oftectonic plates slipping underneath each other. They are a harsh and hostile environment where there islittle or no light, high pressure, extreme cold, low oxygen and scarce food. Photosynthesis cannot occurhere. Sea creatures live in constant darkness so have adapted by creating their own source of light called‘photophores’ – these are cells on their bodies that light up to attract prey or to find a mate.

Caves

Scientists believe that 90% of the world’s caves remain unexplored because they have no entrances thathumans can access. ‘Troglobite’ is the scientific name we give to a group of cave-dwelling creatures thathave adapted to the dark cave environment so that they can no longer live outside. (Bats are nottroglobites because they leave the cave to find food.) Troglobites are expert at hiding in thin cracks andtiny spaces between rocks so many species remain undiscovered. Being small is an advantage when foodis scarce so troglobites have developed super-slow metabolisms and many can live for up to 100 years.

Over time their colour pigment and eyes have disappeared in favour of larger jaws or other sensoryreceptors to sense minute changes in temperature, sound vibrations and smells. Many troglobites living indark caves are invertebrates such as spiders, millipedes, beetles and worms. They have extremely longlegs with sticky feet for climbing over slippery rocks. In wet caves, we find blind salamanders, crabs andfish.

Mountains

Mountains can range in height from small (1,000 feet/304 metres) to tall Everest at 29,028 feet – that’sover five and half miles high – or around 8,848 metres). How were mountains created? Some werecreated from volcanic activity millions of years ago, e.g. the highlands of Ethiopia. Others were formedwhen continents collided, e.g. the Himalayas were formed when India collided with Tibet – and they arestill rising. The rocks forming the Alps were once an ocean floor but were pushed up when Africa collidedwith Europe. We can see the evidence from fossils of sea creatures in their limestone structure.

Rocks

Igneous rocks such as granite are among the oldest rocks on Earth. They were ‘formed from fire’, hencethe name ‘igneous’; and were the first rocks to cool down before there was any life on our planet. As theycooled down, crystals formed. Look closely for three crystals in granite: quartz which looks like glass,feldspar which is pink in colour and mica which is black.

Sedimentary rocks are formed in one of two ways: by weathering, which is the wearing down of rocks by

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wind, water and ice; or by compression of the dead remains of plants and animals. These sediments pileup and press down one on top of the other, and over millions of years harden to make layers of rock. Sandbecomes sandstone; shells and sea creatures turn into limestone or chalk; plant remains form coal, andmud turns into shale.

Metamorphic rocks begin as one type of rock and are later changed (‘morphed’) into another kind byintense heat and pressure. Many metamorphic rocks are formed deep beneath the Earth’s surface and arethe result of the movement of tectonic plates or the heating up of nearby rocks by molten magma frominside the Earth’s core. The new rocks can look totally different; their structure and often their colour canchange. For example, limestone becomes marble, shale becomes slate and sandstone becomes quartzite.

Global warming

Global warming is the warming of the atmosphere by ‘greenhouse’ gases that are trapping energy withinthe atmospheric system. It has resulted in an increase in the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere andthe ocean. When we burn fossil fuels, clear forests and intensify agriculture we are releasing carbondioxide into the atmosphere and this is resulting in global warming.

Global warming is responsible for the melting of the ice caps. This means that more water is beingreleased into the oceans and sea levels are rising. Land around the ice caps that has been permafrost isalso starting to thaw and this is releasing methane gas into the atmosphere which will create furtherglobal warming. Ice lost from Greenland has doubled over the last decade. If the thaw continues the polarice cap could disappear and most of the world’s glaciers could be gone by the end of the century.

Changing Earth

The Earth is changing because:

World population is growing. There is more pressure to turn land over to houses and farms becausepeople need to live and eat. Today there are 7 billion people in the world but by 2050 there will be10 billion people.

Industry is growing. As world population continues to rise the demand for manufactured productsincreases and factories expand into wilderness areas.

The planet is getting warmer. The icecaps are melting and the seas are rising. By the end of thecentury the ice in the Alps and much of the Arctic and Antarctic ice will have gone.

Endangered species

The planet has changed before but the crisis we face now is the rate of extinction of species. It is not onespecies we are losing but many. It is not one habitat that is changing but many. The organisms that mattermost are the plants because without plants the Sun’s energy cannot be transformed into energy that wecan use.

In every country across the world, species of animals and plants are endangered. The greatest threat towild animals comes from people destroying their natural habitats by building farms and urbandevelopments, polluting and over-exploiting resources, introducing non-indigenous species andunsustainable harvesting. Conservationists suggest there are currently around 35,000 animal species thatneed protection. Every year the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) produces a RedList of animals, plants and fungi that are threatened in the wild – and the lists gets longer each year. Partof the problem is that recognising the threat to some animals can become a political or economic

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argument between governments and conservation groups. For protection policies to work, our firstchallenge is to get all parties to reach an agreement.

The Five Kingdoms

About 2 million species of different living things have been discovered and named by scientists and somethink there are ten times as many species yet to be discovered. In order to make sense of this hugevariety of life on Earth, scientists have named and classified all living things and fossils by grouping theminto five * large kingdoms:

Monerans – single-celled microscopic organisms without a nucleus, e.g. bacteria and algae

Protists – single-celled microscopic organisms with a nucleus, e.g. amoeba

Plants – multi-cellular organisms that contain a chemical called chlorophyll that they use to maketheir own food, e.g. trees, flowers, grasses

Fungi – they lack the green pigment chlorophyll so are distinct from plants; they live off dead anddecaying organisms, e.g. mushrooms, toadstools, yeasts, mildews and moulds

Animals – these can be split into vertebrates (with a back bone, e.g. people, mammals, birds, reptiles)and invertebrates (without a back bone, e.g. insects, crustaceans, worms); they eat other living things

* Some microbiologists recognise 12 or more kingdoms

Identification and classification

The best way to identify an unknown species is to compare it with other specimens. Museums holdspecimens of natural life. The scientists who use these collections and identification keys to identifyorganisms are called ‘taxonomists’ and the science of naming and classifying fossils and organisms iscalled ‘taxonomy’.

The classification methods we use today (i.e. species, genus, family, order, division, kingdom, domain) arebased on the system pioneered by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th Century. Classification is useful becausealthough there are 600 species of conifers these can be divided into just 8 families. It is also useful as anevolutionary history, e.g. if you know which group an organism belongs to, you can trace its origins.

Classification keys

A simple classification key asks a series of questions in order to identify specific species. Here is anexample of a basic animal classification key:

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The seven signs of life

How do we know when something is alive? Scientists look for the seven signs of life that most livingthings demonstrate – these are called the ‘life processes’:

1. Feeding

All living things need food for energy, growth and repair.

Wild animals need to work hard to find enough food to survive, while at the same time avoiding predatorswho want to eat them! Life is easier for humans - we can buy or grow all the food we need. Plants aredifferent to both animals and people because they can make their own food through photosynthesis.They do this by using energy from the Sun to create food in the form of sugars and by absorbing waterand nutrients from the soil.

All food chains start with a producer, usually a plant that can make its own food using the Sun’s energy.Animals are consumers in the food chain because they eat other animals or plants to survive. Withoutplants, animals and people could not exist.

A food chain follows a single path but a food web is more complex, with interconnected pathways, e.g. inthe food chain below the hawk eats the snake, but the hawk might also eat the frog as shown in the foodweb.

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Food chain

Food web

2. Moving

People and animals move. Plants move too, but so slowly that we only notice their movement over aperiod of time. Plants don’t need to move around in the way that animals do because they can usesunlight to produce their own food by photosynthesis. Animals have to be continually on the move,always on the look-out for food or ready to retreat in the face of danger.

3. Growing

Living things are growing, repairing and renewing all the time. These processes occur by cell division.When cells divide they specialise so they are adapted to carry out a particular function, e.g. a foetus formsfrom a bundle of cells that divide and specialise into different organs.

4. Reproducing

Life is finite. If living things did not reproduce, then life on Earth would quickly die out. New plants growfrom seeds, people and animals have babies. Reproduction of living things often results in a miniature ofthe adult but much more exciting are the life cycles of animals that undergo a metamorphosis, i.e. atransformation, where the young change significantly on their way to becoming an adult – tadpoles tofrogs, caterpillars to butterflies, maggots to flies.

5. Breathing

Most living things need oxygen. Mammals and birds breathe in oxygen using their lungs and breathe out

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carbon dioxide. Most fish breathe using gills. Amphibians and some small water creatures, such asmolluscs and earthworms, breathe in oxygen and filter out carbon dioxide through their skin. Plants, onthe other hand, do the opposite: they take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen.

6. Responding

Living things are aware of what is going on around them and respond accordingly. We respondunconsciously when we enter a darkened room and our pupils grow larger but we respond consciouslywhen we have a conversation with our friends on the phone.

Living things are sensitive and non-living things are not. Green plants will grow towards the sunlight.Sunflower heads turn to follow the Sun during the day (heliotropism). Dogs can detect and distinguishthousands of smells. People can identify a huge range of colours.

7. Removing waste

Excretion is common to everything that lives. Some of it is gaseous (carbon dioxide from our lungs) andsome is liquid and solid waste.

For some smaller animals, waste gases seep through their skin. With other animals and humans, bloodcirculates oxygen and nutrients through the body to the cells and carries away waste.

The oxygen cycle

Animals and humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants and trees take in carbondioxide and release oxygen.

Scientists are concerned that human activity is disrupting this cycle because by burning fossil fuels,clearing rainforests and intensifying farming we are releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphereand this is resulting in global warming and climate change.

Habitats vocabulary

Amphibian – a cold-blooded vertebrate that spends time both in the water and on land

Arthropod – an invertebrate that has an exoskeleton, jointed limbs and a segmented body, e.g. insect,spider, centipede

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Biodiversity – the range and number of different species in an ecosystem

Biome – a large area with a specific type of flora and fauna, e.g. a rainforest or desert

Bird – a warm-blooded animal with two legs, wings, feathers and a beak

Ecosystem – an interaction of plants and animals within an environment

Environment – the area that surrounds living things, including humans

Fish – a cold-blooded vertebrate that lives in water; it typically has gills, fins and scales

Food chain – the feeding links and connections between plants and animals in an ecosystem

Food web – more complex and more common than a food chain, it includes animals that have more thanone source of food

Insect – an invertebrate arthropod with a segmented body including a head, thorax, abdomen, antennae,six legs and two sets of wings

Invertebrate – an animal with an exoskeleton, jointed limbs and a segmented body

Life cycle – the different stages of development of a living organism

Mammal – a warm-blooded vertebrate that has milk organs for feeding its young

Metamorphosis – a complete transformation of an animal as it develops into an adult

Micro-habitat – a small specific location, e.g. under a leaf or stone

Reptile – a cold-blooded vertebrate that lays eggs, has scales or plates and a skeleton

Vertebrate – an animal with a spinal column

Scientific Investigation

Scientific enquiry

Scientific enquiry is the process of questioning, investigating, interpreting results, drawing conclusions,communicating findings and reflecting on what we have discovered. It is the way we discover how theworld works. Scientific enquiry is ‘doing’ science.

Children should be actively involved in decision-making. In a science context this means havingopportunities to decide aspects of what they investigate and how to investigate.

Ways to investigate in Science

There are many different types of scientific enquiry. Children need opportunities to explore andfamiliarise themselves with this full range. Listed below are some common approaches to scientificenquiry. Although not all of the methods are investigated during this unit, we have listed them here sothat you can get a big picture of the range of possible ways to ‘do’ enquiry science. The list is notexhaustive.

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Modelling

A model can be used to help children understand how a process works, or to explain ideas or a concept.In this unit we will be looking at examples of computer-simulated and stop-frame animation videos tostudy the growth of plants and animals. We will also be creating a mini cactus garden to serve as a modelfor life in the desert.

Pattern seeking

This method involves observing and recording natural events, or carrying out experiments where thevariables can’t easily be controlled. In pattern seeking, it is still important to note and record variables.The investigator needs to try to identify patterns that result from these variables. This method is wellsuited to the study of living things. Plant and animal life cycles, adaptations and behaviour followpatterns. For example, the Artic hare changes the colour of its fur from brown to white in the wintermonths as camouflage against the snow.

Research

Researching in the scientific sense, involves gathering and analysing other people’s opinions or scientificfindings in order to answer a question or to provide background information to help explain observedevents. In the primary school, this might mean searching in non-fiction books, using the internet andutilising experts in the community, for example, you could ask a local gardener, geographer, biologist orornithologist to come in to school to talk to the children about habitats.

Challenges

These sorts of investigations involve some kind of design task and/or a problem to solve. Challenges aremost often suited to the study of materials and physical processes. In such situations children apply theirscientific knowledge, skills and understanding to make (or design) something. Challenges can also beused as effective assessment tasks. In this unit, the children will be faced with the challenge of makingtheir own bathyscope – an underwater viewing instrument.

Fair testing

Fair testing finds relationships between factors (variables). A single variable is changed – this is thevariable you are testing. All other variables are kept the same, which is why it is said to be fair. Anydifferences are said to be the result of the changed variable. So, if you wanted to test what food beetlesprefer to eat then the variable you should change is the food. However, the way you carry out the testmust be kept the same. Fair testing is particularly well suited to investigations that record measurements.The fair test planning board (see below) will be useful for this task.

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Identifying and classifying

Identifying and classifying involves sorting objects or events into groups or categories, for example,sorting animals into different types or species. We will be teaching identification and classification in thisunit by exploring how we can group animals in different ways.

Observations

We can learn a great deal about the world around us from using our senses – through direct observation.In this unit, the children will be observing invertebrates in the local environment, and how they grow andadapt to living in micro-habitats.

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Children will:


















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Science Task 1

Learning Goals







This task uses the following scientific enquiry methods:

Pattern seeking

Research


Observations

Research activity

Water is essential to all life yet plants such as the cactus manage to survive in the desertwithout water for many months. Recall the entry point and how this is possible due to thespecial adaptations of the cactus plant. Can desert animals do the same? Invite the childrento discuss examples of desert animal adaptations or behaviours that help them survive thedesert environment (link to Geography below). The children will probably mention thecamel and its ability to store water in its hump – in fact, this is not true, the camel stores fatin its hump not water! Challenge the children to find out whereabouts in its body the camelstores water. (It stores and recycles water in its digestive system.) Provide reference booksand internet resources for their research.

Scientist, Richard Dawkins said that “The camel is a triumph of Darwinian evolution…” Ask thechildren what they think this means – who was Darwin, what is evolution, and why is thecamel ‘a triumph of evolution’? Observe a camel in the zoo, if you have an opportunity to doso, or look for information in books and from videos to work out what Dawkins meant by thisstatement. Invite suggestions from the children. See ‘Camel’ in the big picture.

The following websites are also useful for research:

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darwin200.christs.cam.ac.uk/pages/index.php?page_id=j4 – Christ’s College Cambridgewebsite features Charles Darwin and Evolution, 1809-2009.

vtaide.com/png/camel-adaptations4.htm – vtaide website features photographs and anexplanation of how the camel has adapted to life in the desert.

Compare the camel to humans and ask the children: why do people need to drink morewater in hot weather? We lose water from our bodies when we sweat and go to the toilet.Without water, our body would dehydrate and we would die. Tell the children that they aremade up mainly of water, i.e. 75% of their body is water. We need water to keep our bodycells alive. Recall any prior learning about how the body uses water and nutrients, e.g. waterand nutrients are absorbed by our digestive system and then transported to our body cellsthrough our blood. Ask the children: how much water do we need to drink each day toreplace fluids lost? (About 6-7 glasses of water, depending on our body weight, how muchexercise we do and the surrounding air temperature.) So how can camels survive in thedesert when we can’t?

More of the big picture:

A camel can safely drink much more water than we can (drinking too much water can bedangerous for humans) and it can store and recycle water in its digestive system. A specialcooling system in its head stops its brain from over-heating and a bony chest pillar supports itsbody above the hot sand when it lies down. This allows air to circulate underneath its body. Forthese reasons, the camel sweats and urinates less that we do so it loses less water and cansurvive in the desert when we can’t.

Besides the camel, what other animals can survive in the hot desert and what adaptations orsurvival strategies do they have? In pairs, or individually, the children could research thefollowing desert survivors: the sidewinder snake, Namib desert beetle, Gila Monster of NorthAmerica, wind scorpion of the Mojave Desert, termites, silver ants of the Sahara, ThornyDevil lizard of the Australian outback, monitor lizard e.g. Komodo dragon of Java,sandgrouse, jerboas, gerbils (some children might keep these as pets), fennec foxes,meerkats, etc. What special adaptations and behaviours do these animals employ to keepcool in the desert? What do they eat? We’ve seen that cactus plants are well-armed withthorns and prickles. Can anything eat a cactus? Are there any other plants in the desert apartfrom cacti? (e.g. succulents)

The following websites are useful for research:

bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/how-cacti-survive-in-the-drydesert/66.html – BBCwebsite has this video that explains how cacti survive in the desert.

youtube.com/watch?v=7N58Z8uIVS0 – YouTube has this video of desert survivors,including the camel.

youtube.com/watch?v=5scAt0hasIg

YouTube has this video that explains how animals are adapted to life in the desert.

(To watch a YouTube video in safe mode, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the ‘safety’ tab which brings up the

‘Safety mode ’ information. Under this section, select the ‘on’ option, then click ‘save ’)

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http://darwin200.christs.cam.ac.uk/pages/index.php?page_id=j4

http://www.vtaide.com/png/camel-adaptations4.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/how-cacti-survive-in-the-drydesert/66.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N58Z8uIVS0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5scAt0hasIg

Are there any deserts in the host or home countries? See Geography link below.

Extension activity

The camel is fairly widespread in desert areas around the world such as in the Middle East,Africa and Australia. Can the children think why? Humans have domesticated camels andintroduced them to different continents. Camels are strong and hardy animals and they havebeen used for transporting people and goods across the world. For example, camelswere introduced into Australia to help in the construction and building industries butbecause they have no native predators in Australia the numbers of wild camels havemultiplied enormously to the point where they are now considered a nuisance because theyare eating farm crops. Consequently, camels are being culled (killed) to control theirnumbers. Help the children to see how non-native species can upset the local food chainwhich has taken millions of years to evolve. Is there a lesson to be learned from this? Haveany non-native species been introduced into the host or home countries with similarnegative effects? Invite suggestions from the children. They could ask an expert from theircommunity or contact a local wildlife organisation to find out.

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Recording activity

The children could create a ‘Desert Survivor’s’ report for each of their chosen animals toinclude annotated drawings or photographs and an explanation of how this particular animalis specially adapted to life in a hot, dry habitat. Ask the children to draw desert food chainsand food webs linking the plants and animals from their research. Are all desertanimals carnivores?

The children could group or classify the animals they have researched in different waysaccording to observable characteristics. Firstly, they could classify the animals into two maingroups: vertebrates (with a backbone) and invertebrates (without a backbone). Then theycould further subdivide these groups into mammals, reptiles, insects, birds, arachnids,arthropods (i.e. invertebrates with an external skeleton), etc, by asking whether they havescales or fur or feathers; gills or lungs; six or eight, or more legs? The children should beable to discuss the reasons why living things belong in one group and not another. If youhave already completed the Milepost 3 science unit Existing, Endangered, Extinct then youcan recall prior learning about the classification of animals, plants and micro-organisms. Seethe big picture for further information. You could also take this opportunity to look at theclassification of plants, e.g. consider the ways in which cacti are similar and/or differentfrom other plants. Do they belong in a separate group?

The children should use their research findings to look for and identify any patterns. Forexample, does their research show that desert animals are mainly nocturnal and mainlycarnivores? Do desert invertebrates such as the scorpion tend to move slowly or quicklyacross the sand? You could create a list of common characteristics of desert creatures, e.g.they are often: nocturnal, carnivorous, fast-moving, burrowing creatures, etc.

Encourage the children to draw conclusions from their research findings and to ask furtherquestions about their results, e.g. does their research suggest that there are there no fish oramphibians in the desert? Is this a reasonable assumption to make or does this point to afault in their research?

Refer back to the knowledge harvest and the children’s mind maps. Highlight the questionsyou have answered in this task, revise any hypotheses, if necessary, and add yourconclusions, photographs and drawings to the ‘Extreme Survivors’ display.

Geography link: what is a desert? See the big picture – it is a place that has less than 25cm(10 in) of rain per year. Locate some of the world’s deserts on a globe or atlas, e.g. Sahara,Kalahari, Namib, Gobi, Atacama, Mojave, etc. Zoom over these areas using Google Earth toobserve and discuss geographical features of the landscape and environment. Ask thechildren if there is a desert region in the host or home countries, and if not, why not?Compare the climate in the desert to the climate in your region, host or home country.Draw graphs to compare monthly rainfall and average daytime and night time temperatures.Compare photographs of wildlife in the desert with wildlife in your region, host or homecountry and ask the children to suggest reasons for any differences or similarities.

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Personal Goals

Adaptability

Communication

Cooperation

Enquiry

Respect

Thoughtfulness

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Science Task 2

Learning Goals



















Modelling

Pattern seeking

Research

Fair testing

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Observations

Research activity

Take the children from hot desert habitats in the previous task to cold polar habitats in thisnext task.

How cold is cold? What is freezing cold? Look at a classroom thermometer and ask thechildren to tell you at what temperature water freezes and turns to ice, i.e. temperatures of0 degrees C (32 degrees F) or less. How low does the temperature normally drop in the hostor home countries? Draw on the children’s own knowledge and experiences. Now look ata globe and ask the children to identify the coldest places on Earth, e.g. the Arctic,Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, Baffin Bay, northern Canada, Antarctica, Gobi desert, Himalayas,Siberia, parts of northern Europe, glaciers of Peru and Argentina. The children may say thereare cold places deep under the ocean, too (more about this in the next task) but for this taskthe children will be focusing on the polar regions of snow and ice.

Does anything live in these cold regions? Will plants grow? Refer back to the knowledgeharvest and ask for the children’s suggestions. Invite them to set up a fair and controlledexperiment to compare the life cycles, the germination and growth of a variety of plantseeds, seedlings, bulbs or tubers at different temperatures, e.g. will potatoes grow shoots ifplaced in a refrigerator? Encourage the children to hypothesise, make predictions andexplain what they think might happen. The children should make observational notes andvideos over the course of a few days. Link to the Milepost 3 plants-themed unit, Roots,Shoots and Fruits. Recap on what all plants need for survival: light, warmth, food, water andair. How then do any plants survive in frozen ponds and lakes? Invite the children to set upan investigation to observe how water freezes. Does it freeze from the bottom up or fromthe top down? Ask the children to hypothesise based on their own knowledge andexperience then to devise a test to see if they were right. What would happen to plant andanimal life if water froze from the bottom of lakes upwards?

Now consider people living in cold climates. What do people do to keep warm in coldweather? The children might say they:

Put on extra layers of warm clothes

Insulate and heat their homes

Eat hot foods and drinks

Huddle together to keep warm

Go to bed earlier

Go on holiday to a warmer place

Do animals use the same strategies as people? For each of the points above discuss how wecan relate this to animal adaptation or behaviour, for example:

Animals wrap themselves in fat, fur and feathers

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Animals dig cosy winter dens or take shelter

Some animals save a winter store of food for energy, e.g. squirrels

Emperor penguins huddle together to limit heat loss

Some animals hibernate, e.g. bears and marmots

Some animals migrate, e.g. swallows – it’s their equivalent of a holiday

Recall any prior learning about the classification of animals into warm-blooded and cold-blooded. Mammals and birds are warm-blooded. Reptiles and fish are cold-blooded. Whatdoes ‘warm-blooded’ or ‘cold-blooded’ mean? Invite suggestions from the children. Warm-blooded animals generate heat inside their body and they lose heat from their skin.That’s why people put on warm clothes when it’s cold to keep the heat in and to insulateour body. Cold-blooded animals take on the temperature of the environment around them.That’s why the reptile house at the zoo is kept at a warm temperature. So why don’t fishfreeze up in cold water? Invite the children’s ideas. (Coldwater fish have layers of fat tokeep them warm and they keep moving – movement creates heat. Some fish living in thedeepest, coldest parts of the ocean have developed a kind of anti-freeze in their blood, forthe same reason we put anti-freeze in our cars.)

Now ask the children, in small groups or pairs, to research the following:

Do any plants and animals in the host or home countries have to adapt to cold weather?If so, how? Consider plant and animal life cycles, biology and behaviour, e.g. deciduoustrees lose their leaves and lie dormant in winter while some animal species go intohibernation. Which animals can survive in extreme cold temperatures and how? Whatlife cycle, biological or behavioural adaptations do they have? Compare the different lifecycles of Arctic penguins, hares, foxes, polar bears, seals, fish and birds.

Are there are any reptiles or insects in Antarctica? Ask the children to hypothesise andthen to find out. This question could form the basis of a home-learning task.

Are there any patterns to be observed in polar animals’ life cycles,adaptations andbehaviour? For example, the Arctic hare changes the colour of its fur from brown towhite in the winter months as camouflage against the snow.

The children should find out about:

Arctic food webs including polar bears, ringed seals, elephant seals, beluga whales,narwhals, walruses, Arctic foxes, hares, terns, Greenland sharks, etc.

Antarctic food webs including krill, shrimps, crabs, anemones, lion’s mane jellyfish,crabeater seals, dolphins, orca whales, minke whales, emperor penguins, albatrosses, etc.

The following videos are useful for research:

topdocumentaryfilms.com/march-of-the-penguins/ – this website features the March ofthe Penguins, the documentary that films the treacherous journey of the emperorpenguins across the Antarctic to find a mate.

bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004gxs5 – BBC nature website has this

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http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/march-of-the-penguins/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004gxs5

video about the Weddell seal of Antarctica, narrated by naturalist David Attenborough.

The emperor penguins in Antarctica have to withstand temperatures of -60 degrees C (-75degrees F). Watch the documentaries (above) and ask the children to make notes on howthe penguins’ biology and behaviour are adapted to their environment.

The following links are also useful:

education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/arcticadaptations/?ar_a=1 –National Geographic website has this video about Arctic adaptations.

a-z-animals.com/reference/polar-regions/ – A-Z animals website has photographs andinformation about different world habitats including the polar regions.

Can layers of fat and fur offer protection from freezing temperatures? You could set up yourown experiments to find out by insulating plastic gloves with fat and fur. The following linkexplains how you might do this with your class:

education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/whales-benefits-of-blubber/?ar_a=1 – National Geographic website has this lesson about the benefits of blubber.

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http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/arcticadaptations/?ar_a=1

http://a-z-animals.com/reference/polar-regions/

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/whales-benefits-of-blubber/?ar_a=1

Recording activity

The children should write a scientific report of their experiments to compare the life cycles,the germination and growth of seeds, seedlings, bulbs or tubers at different temperatures.They should be able to say why their investigation was fair and explain any differences inthe rate of germination and growth. Can they apply what they have learned to plant lifecycles found in the polar environment or to winter in their host or home country?They should look for photographic evidence to support their conclusions.

The children could create a ‘Polar Survivor’s’ report for each animal they study to includeannotated drawings or photographs and an explanation of how this particular animal isspecially adapted to life in a cold habitat. Ask the children to draw polar food chains andwebs linking the animals from their research.

The children could group or classify the animals they have researched into mammals, birds,fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects, etc, according to observable characteristics and differentlife cycles. Consider whether they have fur or scales or feathers; gills or lungs; two or four,or more legs; how they reproduce; whether they lay eggs; and so on. You will findsome interesting examples among polar animals, e.g. the shark is a fish, the whale is amammal and the penguin is a flightless bird. When in doubt, encourage the children to lookfor clues found in the different animal life cycles. Are there many reptiles or insects in polarhabitats? If not, why not? If you have already completed the Milepost 3 science unitExisting, Endangered, Extinct then you can recall prior learning about the classification ofanimals. Refer also to the big picture for further information. If your host or homecountry has a cold winter season with low temperatures you will be able to make usefulcomparisons with the polar environment and its wildlife. Encourage the children to look forany similarities and differences.

The children should then use their research findings to look for and identify any patterns.For example, does their research show that polar mammals are often warm-blooded, fatterand bigger than animals living in other warmer habitats? What is the advantage in this?Compare to the desert animals from the previous task.


Geography link: what affect do freezing air temperatures have on the environment? Invitesuggestions from the children. Look at photographic images and videos of ice fields in thepolar regions and ‘fly over’ using Google Earth. Ask the children to identify icebergs,ice floes, ice fields and glaciers. Links to the Science Extension Task later.

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Personal Goals

Adaptability

Communication

Cooperation

Enquiry

Respect

Thoughtfulness

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Science Task 3

Learning Goals















Pattern seeking

Research

Challenges


Observations

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Research activity

There is another harsh and hostile environment where there is extreme cold, little or nolight, low oxygen and scarce food. Where is this nightmarish place? And who would want tolive here? Invite ideas and hypotheses from the class. The children might suggestunderground caves or the deep ocean. In this task, the children will be focusing onthe deepest parts of the ocean and in the next task they will be investigating undergroundcaves.

Look at a globe and identify the major seas and oceans. Where is the nearest sea or ocean inrelation to the host or home country? Ask the children: do all seas and oceans run into eachother? They might be surprised to discover that they do! All seas and oceans on Earthare connected. They are one body of water. Where is the deepest part of the ocean? Try tolocate the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean – this is the deepest place in the world’socean at 11,022 metres or 36,161 feet. It is deeper than Everest is high. Can anything livehere?

Show the children a collection of images including the angler fish, viper fish, wolf fish,fangtooth fish, giant tube worm and giant squid. Why do they look so scary? Encourage thechildren to offer their hypotheses then challenge them to find out about some of thesecreatures: what do they eat and why do they look like this? How do they manage to survivewith so little oxygen, food and light, and with such bone-crushing water pressure andextreme cold? To find the answer they will need to research the life processes, i.e. lookingat the creature’s movement, nutrition, growth, reproduction, respiration, senses andexcretion. (Refer to the big picture.)

Ask the children to find out how plants and animals reproduce in the deepest oceans. Forexample:

Consider how some ocean plants are different from land plants – many don’t need lightand are asexual.

How do fish reproduce in the darkest depths if they can’t see each other? Find out howsome fish have evolved glowing light cells in their body that shine in the darkness (thisis called ‘luminescence’ – see below). Others use their keen sense of smell.

Try to place the creatures from your research in a deep-sea food chain or food web – willthey be at the bottom of the chain, in the middle or at the top? Ask the children to explaintheir reasoning. If you have sharp teeth and huge jaws and look like a ferocious predator areyou likely to be at the top or the bottom of the food chain?

The following websites and video are a useful starting point for research:

bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004t035 – BBC nature website has thisvideo about the evolution of the blue whale, narrated by naturalist David Attenborough.

bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004htvq – BBC nature website has thisvideo, narrated by David Attenborough, about ocean life and food chains based onbacteria living inside volcanic events under the deepest oceans.

youtube.com/watch?v=rlwHd7u9Q0U/ – YouTube has this video from SciShow about

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004t035

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004htvq

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlwHd7u9Q0U/

the adaptations of the barreleye fish.



Over millions of years deep-sea creatures have evolved and adapted in order to survive.Those creatures that haven’t adapted have become extinct. Can the children think of any seacreatures that have become extinct? Think about the dinosaurs of the sea – the plesiosaurs.How do we know plesiosaurs existed? Fossils provide the evidence. Show thechildren pictures of fossil trilobites, ammonites, sponges, etc. Are any of these sea creaturesalive today? Yes, many are, including the coelacanth – a rare fish that scientists call a ‘livingfossil’.

Consider how some species have evolved amazing strategies to survive in the ocean. Canthe children think of any?

Now write three words on the board:

Sonar

Echo-location

Luminescence

Have the children seen any of these words before and know what they mean? From priorlearning, they might know that sonar is the use of sound waves for underwater navigation.They will know what an echo is and from this they might be able to work out what echo-location means. They might see a connection between the word ‘luminescence’ and‘luminous’ which means ‘shining’ or ‘reflecting’. Write down the children’s ideas andtogether work out how you could investigate what these special abilities are and how theymight work as survival strategies for animals living in the deep ocean. The children might beable to suggest their own classroom experiments or you could try the following:

Sonar – what is it? Sonar is navigation by use of sound waves. Sonar is useful when youare travelling underwater and you can’t see where you are going! Investigate how sonarworks by banging together two heavy objects, e.g. bang two stones together in a bucketfilled with water and listen to the sound through a plastic tube placed in the water. Youcould cut out a tube from a plastic bottle. Sound waves from the stones travel throughthe water and you should be able to hear them through the tube. Do any animals usesonar? Link to the Milepost 3 sound and light unit, Look Hear!

Echo-location – try to make an echo somewhere in the school grounds. Rememberechoes bounce off hard surfaces such as the walls of an empty room or a tunnel.Alternatively, you could listen to a recording of an echo. Do any animals make use ofechoes? Bats use echo-location, do any sea creatures use it?

Luminescence – place a luminous object in a box lined with black paper and view itthrough a tiny ‘window’ cut out of the box at oneend. Luminous objects reflect lightback to our eyes so we can see the object. For what reasons might some sea creaturesuse luminescence?

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Some whales and dolphins use both sonar and echo-location for communication andnavigation. Many deep-sea fish such as the angler fish use luminescence to find a mate andto catch prey.

The following websites are a useful starting point for research:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_vocalization – Wikipedia explains how and why whalesand dolphins use sounds to communicate with and locate each other.

kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/mmp/mmlinks.html – Kids Do Ecology website has information,videos and sounds of marine mammals.

worldwildlife.org/blogs/wwf-travel-blog/posts/ten-interesting-facts-about-beluga-whales – World Wildlife website has ten interesting facts about beluga whales.

environment.gov.au/node/18411 – Australian environment website has links to whaleand dolphin sounds.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence – Wikipedia website has facts and photographsof some bioluminescent creatures.

Enter ‘luminescent fish’ into a computer search engine to find hundreds of spectacularimages.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_vocalization

http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/mmp/mmlinks.html

http://worldwildlife.org/blogs/wwf-travel-blog/posts/ten-interesting-facts-about-beluga-whales

http://www.environment.gov.au/node/18411

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence

Recording activity

The children could create a ‘Deep-Sea Survivor’s’ report for each animal they have studiedto include annotated drawings or photographs to describe life cycle stages, reproductionand adaptation to life in a deep-sea habitat. Ask the children to draw a deep-sea food chainor web to link the animals from their research.

The children could group or classify the animals they have researched into mammals, fish,crustaceans, molluscs, etc. Is a shark a fish or a mammal? Are whales and dolphinsmammals? How do you know? Recall the previous task.

The children should then use their research findings to look for and identify any patterns.For example, some animals living in the deepest oceans are small because food is scarcewhile other creatures that roam the oceans are huge. Compare the size of the blue whale orgiant squid with the angler fish. The blue whale is the biggest creature that has ever livedon Earth – it is bigger than the biggest dinosaur. Why are they so different in size? Considertheir different diets and life cycles, and that each has a unique place in evolution.


History link: ask the children to find out about the historical significance of William Beebeand Otis Barton’s Bathysphere. This will link to the Technology Task later.

The following websites provide useful reference:

blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2012/08/beebe-barton-andbathysphere.html –Biodiversity Library website has this feature about William Beebe and Otis Barton’shistoric and brave descent, 922 metres (3,028 feet) beneath the ocean, in theirBathysphere.

sites.google.com/site/cwilliambeebe/Home/bathysphere – the William Beebe websitedocuments the story of the building of the Bathysphere and the world-famous descentin 1934.

Personal Goals

Adaptability

Communication

Cooperation

Enquiry

Respect

Thoughtfulness

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http://blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2012/08/beebe-barton-andbathysphere.html

https://sites.google.com/site/cwilliambeebe/Home/bathysphere

Science Task 4

Learning Goals
















Pattern seeking

Research


Observations

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Research activity

In this next task, the children will be going deep into the Earth's caves to find out what anunderground habitat is like and what lives there. Have any of the children ever visited ashow cave? Invite the children to share their knowledge and experiences. Scientists havefound fossils and bones of prehistoric humans and animals in caves, providing informationabout living things that inhabited our Earth many thousands of years ago.

Humans visit underground caves today but they don't live there permanently – why not?Ask the children to describe what an underground cave is like, e.g. dark, cold, wet/dry (cavescan be wet or dry), rocky, lacking in oxygen, narrow, etc. Can plants live in caves? We dosometimes see plants growing in underground caves but how did they get there? Invitesuggestions from the children. (Visiting animals or people can carry plant seeds into a cavein their fur or on their shoes.) Some caves have an entrance that is too small for humans butbig enough for small mammals, reptiles, birds and invertebrates, e.g. bats, snakes, swallowsand spiders. There are some isolated caves, however, that are too narrow and difficult toaccess so that once inside it is difficult to find a way out again – creatures remain stuckthere for life, never leaving the cave. Ask the children: what do you think these creatureseat? They can only eat what they find in the cave and when food is scarce they eat eachother.

Let’s find out what these creatures might look like. Start by playing a game. Ask the childrenone question at a time (see below) before moving on to the next question. With eachquestion the children need to choose a suitable body part.

For example, if you were trapped in a SMALL, DRY, DARK cave and couldn’t find your wayout would it be better to…

Be big or small?

Be brightly-coloured or dull-coloured?

Have long legs or wings?

Have sharp pincers or a beak?

Have eyes or antennas?

Be quick or slow to move?

Ask the children to write down their choices each time and then to draw the creature theyhave imagined. They should annotate their drawing to name their creature’s body parts andexplain why it is suited to life in a dark cave. They could give their creature an inventedname. The children could then tell each other what they have drawn and why. The childrenmay have drawn a variety of creatures that look like mammals (such as bats), birds, reptiles,insects and other invertebrates. Link to the children’s prior learning about classificationsystems and keys. However, the best-suited cave-dwelling creature would be small; dull incolour (because bright colours wouldn't be seen in a dark cave); have many long legs forclimbing over rocks; sharp pincers (because it is likely to be carnivorous) and antennas usedto feel its way around the cave; and be a quick-mover to pounce on prey or get out ofdanger. It would most likely be an invertebrate arthropod (i.e. a creature with anexoskeleton) such as a spider, millipede, woodlouse or beetle. It might belong to a group of

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creatures known scientifically as ‘troglobites’.

Show the children what a troglobite looks like. See the links below.

ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/09/new-troglobites/newtroglobites-text –National Geographic has this feature about troglobites.

bbc.co.uk/nature/adaptations/Troglobite#p0037p2y – BBC nature website has thisvideo, narrated by David Attenborough, about the blind salamander.


Troglobites are cave-dwelling creatures that have adapted to the dark cave environment so thatthey can no longer live outside of it. (Bats are not classed as troglobites because they leave thecave to find food.) Many troglobites living in dry underground caves are small invertebrates suchas spiders, millipedes, woodlice and beetles. They find their food in tight spaces such as in rockveins, little cracks or holes so they need to be small. They tend to have lots of long legs and arefast-moving. In wet caves, troglobites include blind fish, crabs and salamanders. Troglobitesusually lack colour pigment and eyes – they don’t need either because they live in totaldarkness. They use their other senses: touch, taste, smell and sound to find prey and mates.Many are carnivorous: they can live for years on the decaying corpse of a bat but when food isscarce they resort to eating each other.

After viewing the videos ask the children to make notes describing what an isolated caveenvironment is like and how creatures have evolved and adapted to live here.

Could there be any troglobites living in the local area? By definition, you are unlikely to findthem even if they are because troglobites live in confined spaces, without contact with theoutside world! However, you will find invertebrates living in small spaces (these are called‘micro habitats’) underneath rocks and inside tiny holes and cracks in walls and pavingstones in your local area. Invite the children to hypothesise about the different types ofinvertebrates they think they will find. Arrange a field visit to test out the children’s ideasand hypotheses.

On the visit, the children should take photographs or videos and draw sketches of theinvertebrates they find. They should annotate the images to name the body parts andexplain how invertebrates are adapted to the environment in which they live. The childrenshould know how to use accurate vocabulary to describe the structure of invertebrates, e.g.thorax, abdomen, exoskeleton, segmented body, hard wing case, mandible, pincer, jaw,compound eye, antenna. After they have identified the body parts, the children should thenbe able to use this information to classify invertebrates into worms, insects, arachnids,crustaceans, etc.

Encourage the children to ask their own questions, to hypothesise and then to look for theanswers. They might ask where the sense receptors for sight, hearing, smell, touch and tasteare. The eyes and mouth parts are generally easy to recognise, however, the other sensereceptors are less so; for example, many invertebrates detect sound vibrations, smells andtextures through their antennas, feet, and tiny hairs on their legs.

Ask the children to research diet, food chains, reproduction and life cycles. Someinvertebrates undergo a metamorphosis (a transformation) as they grow from egg to adult.

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http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/09/new-troglobites/newtroglobites-text

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/adaptations/Troglobite#p0037p2y

Spiderlings, however, come out of eggs looking like mini-adults. The children could tryfeeding a beetle or woodlouse to find out what it likes to eat. Put it in a glass tank withsome damp soil and stones collected from its immediate environment but don’t keep itcaptive for more than an hour. Is it a carnivore or a herbivore?

Do invertebrates hibernate? (Recall Task 2.) Many invertebrates spend the winter as eggs,caterpillars or pupae though some do find shelter and sleep for the winter. Some even comeinto our homes where it is warmer, e.g. spiders! Others migrate using the Sun to find theirway, e.g. monarch butterflies from North America fly south.

Recording activity

The children could create a ‘Dark Cave Survivor’s’ report to include drawings or photographsof troglobites and an explanation of how these creatures are specially adapted to life in adark cave habitat.

How do troglobites compare with the invertebrates found on the field trip? What are thesimilarities and differences? Encourage the children to compare the evidence they havefound against their original opinions and hypotheses. The children should be able todescribe the life cycles, reproduction and structure of the invertebrates from their researchand name their body parts. They should know that an insect has a head, abdomen, thorax, sixlegs and one or two pairs of wings; and that not all invertebrates are classed as insects.

Using classification keys, the children could group or classify the creatures they haveresearched into insects (with six-legs), arachnids (with eight legs such as spiders),crustaceans (with a hard shell such as woodlice) and arthropods with many legs such ascentipedes and millipedes.

The children should then use their research findings to look for and identify any patterns.For example, many creatures living underground are small because food is scarce. Beingsmall gives them an advantage because it slows down their metabolism and this results inthem living longer lives.


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Personal Goals

Adaptability

Communication

Cooperation

Enquiry

Resilience

Respect

Thoughtfulness

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Science Task 5

Learning Goals







Research


Observations

Research activity

Where are the highest places on Earth? Look at a globe and try to find Mount Everest, thehighest mountain on Earth. Now find the Himalayas, the Rockies, the Andes, the Patagonianmountains, the highlands of Ethiopia, the Alps, etc.

What features characterise mountain habitats? Ask the children for their ideas andhypotheses. They might say: snow, ice, blizzards, avalanches, glaciers, rocky peaks, boulders,sharp ridges, steep slopes, lack of trees and vegetation, and so on. Remind the children thattropical mountains in Africa, southeast Asia and South America have a warmer climate. Haveany of the children ever climbed a high mountain or travelled up in a cable car or skieddown a mountain? What did they see on the mountain? They might have photographs theycould bring in to school.

Does anything live on the highest mountains? Invite suggestions from the children. OnEverest, nothing can live permanently (because there isn’t enough oxygen and it is too higheven for birds) but on the lower slopes there is life. Beyond a certain point, known as thetree line, there are no trees, just sparse low-growing plants peeping out of cracks in therocks. How is being small and low-growing an advantage for a mountain plant? Consider thelife cycles of some mountain plants and how they reproduce. Are they different from plantsfound in the ocean, caves and deserts?

Discuss the climate and weather on mountaintops: the weather is often exposed, windy andstormy. What characterises the weather most of all on mountaintops is that it is changeable.

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In just one day all the seasons can be experienced, with temperatures plummeting from hotto cold. What creatures eat the hardy shrubs that cling to life? Mainly goats, llamas, deerand ibex (such as the markhor). What eats the goats and ibex? Large predators such aspumas, snow leopards, cougars, mountain lions, mountain gorillas, wolves, golden eagles,grizzly bears, coyotes, etc. Why are many mountain animals endangered? Challenge thechildren to find out. They could research the snow leopard, amur leopard and mountaingorilla.

The following websites are a useful starting point for research:

awf.org/wildlife-conservation/mountain-gorilla – the African Wildlife Foundationwebsite has information and photographs about the mountain gorilla.

snowleopard.org – the Snow Leopard Trust explains why snow leopards are threatened.

worldwildlife.org/species/amur-leopard – WWF website explains why the amur leopardis critically endangered.

The children could research high mountain habitats in their own country or continent to findout what lives there, how they are adapted to their environment and how they areconnected by food chains. Don’t forget the birds of prey and scavenging birds found nestingon cliffs and rocky ledges because they are often an important link in many mountain foodchains and webs. Compare these to the birds we find in other extreme habitats such as thedesert or polar regions.

The following websites provide a useful starting point for research:

bbc.co.uk/nature/habitats/Mountain – BBC Nature website has information,photographs and videos about mountain wildlife.

a-z-animals.com/reference/mountains – A-Z animals website has photographs andinformation about mountain habitats and the plants and animals living there.

In today’s world, mountain habitats are changing - ask the children if they know why thismight be. Invite their suggestions and hypotheses. Quarrying, deforestation and tourism (e.g.the development of ski-resorts) are the biggest threats to mountain environments. Dividethe class into three groups to examine each of these factors.

How does quarrying, deforestation or tourism affect plants and animals? Many mountainplants and animals are threatened with extinction: the snow leopard (about 4,000 left),the mountain gorilla (only 900 left) and the amur leopard (only 30 left)!

How is the mountain food chain affected? Remember plants and animals are dependenton each other

Is the host or home country affected by changes in mountain habitat? If so, why andhow are local plants and animals affected?

Encourage the children to see different points of view: are these changes bad or wrong?They may be bad for plants and animals but are they bad for people? Have a class debate onthe issues raised, for example a poor local farmer might say: is it wrong to cut down a treeto grow food to help feed my family? On the other hand, is it wrong to cut down a tree to

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http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/mountain-gorilla

http://www.snowleopard.org

http://worldwildlife.org/species/amur-leopard

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/habitats/Mountain

http://a-z-animals.com/reference/mountains/

provide meat for rich people living in other countries where there is no lack of food?

Extension activity

We can work out how mountains were created by studying geology. Sort a collection ofdifferent rocks into igneous (the oldest rocks made from firewhen the Earth was formed),sedimentary (made from layers, e.g. sand and shell deposits) and metamorphic (made whenrocks have been changed by heat, e.g. from volcanoes). Rocks and soils tell us howmountains were formed. We can examine the evidence by looking closely at crystalsor fossils or texture to tell us how a rock originated, e.g. you can see crystals in granite,fossil sea creatures in limestone (refer to Science Task 3 earlier in this unit), and feel thesmooth texture of a metamorphic rock such as marble. Link to the Milepost 3 groupingmaterials unit, From bronze to bioplastic – see Science Task 2.

Recording activity

The children should be able to locate and label the mountain ranges from their research ona blank outline map of the world. They should know about the environmental issues facingmountain regions and be able to express their views about whether mountain habitats needto be protected and preserved, and present their ideas about how this might beachieved. Alternatively, you could ask the children to present any facts and figures withillustrated charts, graphs, diagrams and photographs. Additionally, they should be able todraw and explain how a mountain food chain (or web) works and how an environmentalchange can affect the links and connections in the chain.

Geography link: are there any hills or mountains in your local area or region? Look forevidence to suggest how they were formed and what rocks they are made from. (See thebig picture.) How high is the highest mountain in your host or home country?

Personal Goals

Adaptability

Communication

Cooperation

Enquiry

Morality

Respect

Thoughtfulness

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Science Extension Task

Learning Goals






Extension activity

Recall Science Task 2 and the coldest habitats on Earth, i.e. the polar ice caps. Askthe children if they know of any changes affecting polar habitats? From their previousresearch, they may have read that the ice caps are shrinking. Ask the children: whatevidence do scientists have to prove this claim? (Using satellite imagery, scientists can lookfor changes over time.) Can the children think of reasons why? They might say because ofglobal warming but what is ‘global warming’ and what causes it?


Global warming is the warming of the atmosphere by ‘greenhouse’ gases that aretrapping energy within the atmospheric system. It has resulted in an increase in thetemperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and the ocean. When we burn fossil fuels, clear forestsand intensify farming we are releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and this is resultingin global warming.

Discuss the children’s hypotheses and look for further information in books and on theinternet. Consider what evidence there is for a ‘big thaw’. (The melting of the polar icemeans that more water is being released into the oceans and sea levels are rising.)Challenge the children to find out why the polar ice is melting and if this continues whatthe world might look like by the end of the century.

The following websites will provide a useful starting point for research:

a-z-animals.com/reference/polar-regions/ – A-Z Animals website has facts andphotographs about the polar regions.

worldwildlife.org/habitats/polar-regions – WWF website has an overview of the threatsfacing the polar regions.

How will the melting of the ice caps affect plants and animals? If there was no Arctic

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http://worldwildlife.org/habitats/polar-regions

ice, what would happen? Refer back to Task 2 and recall the plants and animals that livein the polar regions. Invite suggestions from the class. The children could find out whythe melting of the ice is disastrous for the polar bear. Think about how it hunts on theice. Polar bears are good swimmers but they can’t swim indefinitely in open waterwithout stopping to rest and feed on the ice. Can the polar bear adapt to this change in itshabitat or should we be protecting the polar bear? Animals have successfully adapted tochanges in climate through their evolution over thousands of years but adaptation is a veryslow process. Can the polar bear adapt quickly enough? If not, then it will face extinction.Can we slow down the process of change to allow the polar bear time to catch up?

How will global warming affect the human population and our urban habitats? If theseas rise many homes in low-lying coastal regions will be in danger of flooding. Will low-lying countries such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh and smaller islands in the Indianand Pacific Oceans disappear under water? Are there any low-lying areas in the host orhome countries that may be flooded by rising sea levels?

Based on their research findings, ask the children if they believe we should and can stop orslow down the thaw? What will be the result of doing nothing?

Find out what happens when ice melts.

Create an iceberg in a washing-up bowl and put it in a sunny position. At regularintervals measure the dimensions of the iceberg and record how long it takes for theiceberg to melt completely. Measure also the level and temperature of the watersurrounding the iceberg.

What do you notice? Does the melting process accelerate towards the end of theexperiment? (Water absorbs the Sun’s heat more quickly than ice. White ice or snowwill reflect the Sun’s rays.) Does this result have implications for the melting of the polarice? (Once the melting process has started it speeds up.)

Are there any other threats to the polar regions? The children could also consideroverfishing, pollution, oil and gas exploration.

Invite the children to record their ideas about what would happen if there was no Arctic ice.They could create role plays or draw diagrams or use software to make an ICT presentation.

The children could present the causes and effects of global warming in reports,documentary-style presentations and/or group debates.

The children should be able to tell you what actions they would take to reduce globalwarming based on their research findings.

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Personal Goals

Adaptability

Communication

Cooperation

Enquiry

Morality

Respect

Thoughtfulness

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Children will:






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Technology Task

Learning Goals






Research activity

Recall Science Task 3 and the creatures you found living in the ocean depths. Recall thebathysphere (History link) and the first deep-sea dive to over 900 metres.

Ask the children if they have ever been snorkelling? Or have any of the children ever usedan underwater viewer or bathyscope? If not, show the children a picture of a bathyscopeand ask them to guess what it might be used for. Type ‘bathyscope’ into a computer searchengine to find a variety of images. Ask the children, when might a scientist use anunderwater viewer? In what circumstances might it be more useful than diving orsnorkelling? (When looking into shallow, fast-flowing water.)

The following websites are useful for research:

waternsports.com/store1/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=64&cat=Bathascope+Bathyscope– Water N Sports website sells bathyscopes to fishermen and shell hunters.

youtube.com/watch?v=F0OPtPIckp0 – YouTube has this video explaining how to makea simple underwater viewer.

youtube.com/watch?v=kP73ojqJQRE – YouTube has this video explaining how to maketwo different types of underwater viewer.



How could we make an underwater viewer? Together create a list of the objects you mightbe able to reuse, for example:

Plastic funnels

Lengths of plastic guttering or piping

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http://www.waternsports.com/store1/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=64&cat=Bathascope+Bathyscope

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0OPtPIckp0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP73ojqJQRE

Plastic cylinders from left-over food packaging

Cardboard cylinders – you may need to water-proof these beforehand

Transparent plastic food wrap (e.g. clingflim) or flexi plastic

Plastic lenses from old sunglasses

Discuss how a bathyscope is used and what features it needs to have, e.g. it will obviouslyneed to be waterproof, but does it need a handle?

Ask the children to draw their designs on paper first, with annotations to describe whatmaterials they will need and how these materials will be joined. Heavy-duty waterproof tapewill be useful for this purpose. They should also make a list of the tools they are going toneed, e.g. scissors, small saws, protective gloves, etc. Invite the children to share theirdesign ideas with the rest of the class and to comment on each other’s ideas. Will theirdesigns work and be suitable for the job?

Encourage the children to bring in recycled items from home so that the children can workin pairs or small groups to make their own bathyscopes.

Safety note: as with all practical technology activities, you will need to ensure that youfollow your school’s safety guidelines at all times during the making of your bathyscopes.

Recording activity

Check the children’s designs and assess what skills are required of the children in advanceso that you can address any safety issues before production begins. For example, you mayneed to help the children with any difficult cutting work.

Video-record the children as they work on their products. Are they working accurately andusing the tools correctly?

Product testing is an important stage in the process. Discuss with the children how theymight test their bathyscopes. For example, they could test out their bathyscopes in a bucketof water. If they place a small object in some gravel at the bottom of the bucket then theycould use the viewer to find it.

Can any improvements be made to the design of the product? Encourage the children tomake any necessary adjustments to improve their product’s design and usefulness.

Display the children’s plans and the finished prototypes at the exit point. The children couldexplain how their bathyscopes work and demonstrate them to the parents.

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Personal Goals

Adaptability

Communication

Cooperation

Enquiry

Resilience

Thoughtfulness

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Children will:




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International Task

Learning Goals




Research activity

Ask the children: are there any extreme habitats in the host or home countries? If not, whynot? Recall where we can find extreme habitats from the previous tasks. Many extremehabitats are in wilderness areas where humans have been only temporary visitors, however,wilderness areas are fast disappearing. Can the children think why? Humans are beginningto explore the wilderness in search of new opportunities. Their answers might include thefollowing:

Farming – the growing world population leads to an increased demand for food – landthat was previously wilderness is cleared and farmed

Industry – as world population continues to grow the demand for manufacturedproducts increases and factories expand into more remote areas

Mining – as industry expands, the search for energy sources increases and mineralexploration in wilderness areas intensifies

Climate change – the increased consumption of fossil fuels contributes to globalwarming and the melting of the polar ice caps

Tourism – people with increased wealth consume more and want new experiences –wilderness adventure holidays offer them something different and exciting

What does this mean for the plants and animals that live in wilderness areas? There are over2 million different species of living things in the world – does it matter if we lose some?We are losing more species than ever before in our history. It matters because of somethingcalled ‘biodiversity’. Biodiversity is the variety and number of organisms living in anecosystem. Tell the children to imagine that our Earth is a wall made of individual bricks –the bricks are different species of plants and animals. We can lose some bricks and the wallwill stay standing but if we lose too many bricks the wall will fall down. Biodiversity benefitsevery single species. If we continue to lose species we are undermining the foundations ofour planet. This image might form a display that you could share at the exit point.

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Scientists believe we have reached the point where we need to decide which habitats andwhich species to save. Some argue that we should save those habitats that support thegreatest number of species, i.e. those that are the most biodiverse such as the rainforestsand the coral reefs. Say to the children: if you had a choice, which habitat or which animalwould you save and why? Would you choose to save the rainforest or the polar icecaps? Would you choose to save a frog or a panda? Frogs may not look as cute as pandas butthey play an important role in the Earth’s ecosystem. For example, a frog is part of acomplex food web so that if the frog was to die out other animals in the same food web (i.e.those that eat the frog) would also die out.


Amphibians, particularly frogs, are struggling to survive. Frogs are vulnerable because theyabsorb moisture directly through their skin and a fungus in the environment, deadly to frogs, iskilling them. Scientists believe that one-third of the world’s frogs are in danger of extinction.

Saving an amphibian or an invertebrate may not be as glamorous or as appealing as saving afurry mammal. That’s why bigger and cuter animals are often used to highlightenvironmental issues because they stir people’s emotions. Arguably, it is the plants and theinvertebrates we should save first. Why? (Without plants the Sun’s energy cannot betransformed into food that we can eat and without invertebrates many food webs wouldfall apart and plants wouldn’t get pollinated.) Scientists have calculated how much it wouldcost the world’s economy to pollinate plants if animals didn’t already do it for us for free –and we wouldn’t be able to afford it. What other services do plants and animals provide forfree? (Plants take carbon dioxide gas from the air and supply us with oxygen-rich air;bacteria clean and purify our drinking water, decomposers enrich and fertilise our soil, etc.)When we try to put a monetary value on these services, it makes us realise how importantsome species and habitats really are and how our lives would not be same without them.

Divide the children into groups for their research and within their groups encourage thechildren to think about solutions. Each group could represent one of the continents: Africa,Antarctica, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America. Encourage thechildren to find out where the wilderness areas are in these continents, how theyare important and whether they deserve protection in the future. They may need toresearch the farming, industry, economy and politics of this continent. Is wildernessimportant to people who are struggling to feed their families? Wildlife is sometimes seen asa menace to local people so for conservation to work it needs to benefit and come fromwithin local communities.

Remind the children that we are the top predators. We are clever at predicting the future sonow we need to be clever at coming up with solutions. Some scientists believe we shouldtake DNA samples of endangered species and freeze them so that in the future we cangrow embryos of these animals and eventually produce babies.

Provide the children with reference books for research. Search for the latest world newsstories on this topic. The following websites are a useful starting point for research:

cf.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/biodiversity/index.cfm – Eco Kids website explainswhat biodiversity is and why it is important.

earthsendangered.com – Earth’s Endangered Species website has information and lists

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http://cf.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/biodiversity/index.cfm

http://www.earthsendangered.com/

of endangered species in each continent.

janegoodall.org/about-jgi – Jane Goodall Institute website explains why we need topreserve the great apes.

cf.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/climate_change%20/index.cfm – Eco Kids websiteexplains the issues surrounding climate change.

iucn.org – International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) website details what,where and how they work to find solutions to the challenges threatening theenvironment.

iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/red_list – IUCN’s website publishes a RedList of endangered species.

worldwildlife.org – World Wildlife Fund website homepage.

Recording activity

The biodiversity wall display from your research could form the backdrop to your recordingactivities below.

Invite the children, in their research groups above, to discuss their ideas at a ‘world summit’meeting to which you could invite older children (if you have connections with a local highschool) or other teachers in order to give it more importance.

Which habitat or species should we save for the future well-being of our planet? (Links tothe International Extension Task.) Each group could prepare a presentation or campaignaddressed to parents, the local community or an environmentalist group to explain why andhow they would save their chosen habitat or animal. Through their presentation orcampaign, the children will need to demonstrate how they will satisfy the many conflictinginterests of industry, farming, mining, tourism and the environment. This process will helpthe children to appreciate that difficult decisions have to be made.

The children could create their presentations on a computer using software such asMicrosoft PowerPointTM or Prezi. Alternatively, they could make a spoken presentation withflipcharts, posters, maps, video footage and other visual aids.

When their presentations are complete the children, in their groups could represent eachcontinent at the world summit meeting to discuss the environmental issues faced by eachcontinent, and their ideas and solutions for a way forward in the future. Encourage thechildren to challenge each other. Are their ideas based on logic or emotion? Are theirsolutions workable?

Later, you could invite groups of children to present their ideas and recommendations tothe parents at the exit point

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http://www.janegoodall.org/about-jgi

http://cf.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/climate_change /index.

http://www.iucn.org

http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/red_list

http://worldwildlife.org/

Personal Goals

Adaptability

Communication

Cooperation

Enquiry

Morality

Respect

Thoughtfulness

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International Extension Task

Learning Goals



Extension activity

Have an ‘Earth Day’ celebration.

Ask the children to find out what ‘Earth Day’ is. The following website is useful forteacher reference:

cf.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/earthday/index.cfm – Eco Kids website has ideas andactivities for planning an ‘Earth Day’.

The first Earth Day was celebrated in April in 1970. On Earth Day people fromdifferent countries in the world take part in activities to help the environment and keep ourplanet clean and healthy. There is much your class could do by way of making pledges(promises) or taking action that will make a real difference to our planet’s future. Recallwhat it means to be a global citizen and list some of our shared responsibilities.

What can your class do to help the planet on Earth Day? Ask the children for theirideas. You could plant trees and flowers to attract wildlife; organise a clean-up of yourplayground or local park; campaign to help save a threatened habitat, animal or plant;take action to protect the snow leopard or the mountain gorilla (see previous tasks);adopt an animal in the zoo, etc. Link up with other IPC schools (refer to the IPCMembers’ Lounge) to share thoughts and ideas. Try to choose an activity that will inspireand motivate the children so that they are able to see why Earth Day is important. Helpthe children to appreciate that we need to look after our planet and all the living things onit because what we do today will affect our future.

If all three mileposts are studying the Habitats units at the same time then you couldorganise a whole school Earth Day event for maximum impact. Different milepostscould plan different activities, according to their age group and ability, or you could jointogether for a larger-scale activity. Each of the mileposts could have a role to play inthe presentation of your Earth Day ideas at the exit point.

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http://cf.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/earthday/index.cfm

Personal Goals

Adaptability

Communication

Cooperation

Enquiry

Morality

Respect

Thoughtfulness

Extreme Survivors



The Exit Point

If your school is able to schedule the Habitats units for Mileposts 1, 2 and 3 at the same time, you couldhave a whole-school exit point to which all the parents could be invited.

The focus of this event is ‘The Earth – our home’.

The three mileposts have each created their own displays that could be featured at the exit point:Milepost 1 has a ‘Forest’ display, Milepost 2 has a ‘Land, Sea and Sky’ display and Milepost 3 has an‘Extreme Survivors’ display.

Each milepost could then make their own presentation of their science learning from the unit:

Milepost 1 children could start with a presentation about the plants and animals that live in the forest(rainforest, mangrove or temperate forest) and compare this to a local forest or other habitat they haveinvestigated. They could explain why and how they made bee boxes; and finally, looking to the future,why they decided to plant a tree in their local area.

Milepost 2 children could follow with their investigation of water habitats, explaining how plants andanimals that live in water are different from those that live on dry land. They could explain how and whythey made a mini-pond and aquarium and why we need to act to save the coral reefs.

Milepost 3 children could show the parents their cactus garden and explain how the cactus and animalssuch as the camel are extreme survivors of life in the hot, dry desert. They could explain how other plantsand animals have adapted their structure and behaviour to withstand the coldest temperatures, highestaltitudes, and deepest depths down in the Earth and in the ocean. In conclusion, they could say whichhabitats and species they believe we should protect and save for the future wellbeing of our Earth.

The IPC community would love to see examples of your learning, in any subject, at any stage of thelearning process. If you have any pictures or stories you would like to share please visit our Facebookpage at facebook.com/InternationalPrimaryCurriculum, tweet @The_IPC or [email protected].

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https://www.facebook.com/InternationalPrimaryCurriculum


Resources

For this unit, you will need some, but not necessarily all, of the following:

Equipment

For the cactus garden: variety of cacti, container with hole at the bottom, mix ofcompost and sand, garden tools and protective gloves

World map, atlas or globe

Photographs and illustrated flash cards of plants and animals

Photographs and illustrated flash cards of habitats

For investigating sonar: plastic tub or bucket, large stones, plastic tubing

For investigating luminescence: luminous objects, box lined with black paper

For local fieldwork: magnifying lens, notebooks, map of the school grounds,identification charts and guides for invertebrates, containers of different sizes, insectnets, small trowels, plastic gloves

For the Technology Task: recycled items, e.g. plastic funnels, piping or cylinders,transparent plastic film or transparent flexi plastic, plastic lenses from old sunglasses

Video camera

Digital camera

Software:

Presentation software, e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint

Mind-mapping software such as Inspiration 9 (inspiration.com/global)

Links

http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/mountain-gorillaAfrican Wildlife Foundation website has information and photographs about the mountaingorilla.

http://www.environment.gov.au/node/18411Australian environment website has links to whale and dolphin sounds.

http://a-z-animals.com/reference/polar-regions/A-Z Animals website has photographs and information about different world habitatsincluding the polar regions.

http://a-z-animals.com/reference/mountains/A-Z animals website has photographs and information about mountain habitats and the

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http://www.inspiration.com/

http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/mountain-gorilla

http://www.environment.gov.au/node/18411


http://a-z-animals.com/reference/mountains/

plants and animals living there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/habitats/MountainBBC Nature website has information, photographs and videos about mountain wildlife.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522BBC nature website has this collection of videos from naturalist David Attenborough.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004t035BBC nature website has this video about the evolution of the blue whale, narrated bynaturalist David Attenborough.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004htvqBBC nature website has this video, narrated by David Attenborough, about ocean life andfood chains based on bacteria living inside volcanic vents under the deepest oceans.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/adaptations/Troglobite#p0037p2yBBC nature website has this video, narrated by David Attenborough, about the blindsalamander.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004t0hkBBC nature website has this video, narrated by David Attenborough, about the blue whale.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/how-cacti-survive-in-the-drydesert/66.htmlBBC website has this video that explains how cacti survive in the desert.

http://blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2012/08/beebe-barton-andbathysphere.htmlBiodiversity Library website has this feature about William Beebe and Otis Barton’s historicand brave descent, 922 metres (3,028 feet) beneath the ocean, in their Bathysphere.

http://www.earthsendangered.com/Earth’s Endangered Species website has information and lists of endangered species in eachcontinent.

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/climate_change/index.cfmEco Kids website explains the issues surrounding climate change.

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/biodiversity/index.cfmEco Kids website explains what biodiversity is and why it is important.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/Greenpeace International website homepage

http://www.iucn.orgInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) website details what, where and howthey work to find solutions to the challenges threatening the environment.

http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/red_listIUCN’s website publishes a Red List of endangered species.

http://www.janegoodall.org/about-jgiJane Goodall Institute website explains why we need to preserve the great apes.

http://www.kidsbiology.com/biology_basics/classification/classification1.phpKids Biology website explains about the classification of living things.


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http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/habitats/Mountain

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004t035

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004htvq

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/adaptations/Troglobite#p0037p2y

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522#p004t0hk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/how-cacti-survive-in-the-drydesert/66.html

http://blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2012/08/beebe-barton-andbathysphere.html

http://www.earthsendangered.com/

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/climate_change/index.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/homework_help/biodiversity/index.cfm

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/

http://www.iucn.org

http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/red_list

http://www.janegoodall.org/about-jgi

http://www.kidsbiology.com/biology_basics/classi?cation/classi?cation1.php


Kids Do Ecology website has information, videos and sounds of marine mammals.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/09/new-troglobites/new- troglobites-textNational Geographic has this feature about troglobites.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment/habitats/ desert-profileNational Geographic website has a profile of the world’s deserts.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/mammals/snow-leopard/National Geographic website has an article about the snow leopard.

http://http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/whales- benefits-of-blubber/?ar_a=1National Geographic website has this lesson about the benefits of blubber.

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/arcticadaptations/?ar_a=1National Geographic website has video and resources about Arctic adaptations.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/evolution/index.htmlNatural History Museum website has a series of features about evolution.

http://www.snowleopard.org/Snow Leopard Trust explains why snow leopards are threatened.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/earth/antarctica/antarctic-research/ cyanobacteria/The Natural History Museum website has information and a video about the extreme survivalof cyanobacteria - an important micro-organism.

https://sites.google.com/site/cwilliambeebe/Home/bathysphere The William Beebe website documents the story of the building of the Bathysphere and theworld-famous descent in 1934.

http://www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/march-of-the-penguins/This website features the March of the Penguins, the documentary that films thetreacherous journey of the emperor penguins across the Antarctic to find a mate.

http://www.vtaide.com/png/camel-adaptations4.htmvtaide website features photographs and an explanation of how the camel has adapted tolife in the desert.

http://www.waternsports.com/store1/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=64&cat=Bathascope+BathyscopeWater N Sports website sells bathyscopes to fishermen and shell hunters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_vocalizationWikipedia explains how and why whales and dolphins use sounds to communicate with andlocate each other.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioluminescenceWikipedia website has facts and photographs of some bioluminescent creatures.

http://worldwildlife.org/World Wildlife Fund website homepage.

http://worldwildlife.org/blogs/wwf-travel-blog/posts/ten-interesting- facts-about-beluga-whales

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http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/09/new-troglobites/new- troglobites-text

http://environment.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment/habitats/ desert-pro?le

http://animals.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/mammals/snow-leopard/

http://http//education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/whales- bene?ts-of-blubber/?ar_a=1

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/arcticadaptations/?ar_a=1

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/evolution/index.html

http://www.snowleopard.org/

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/earth/antarctica/antarctic-research/ cyanobacteria/

https://sites.google.com/site/cwilliambeebe/Home/bathysphere

http://www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/march-of-the-penguins/

http://www.vtaide.com/png/camel-adaptations4.htm

http://www.waternsports.com/store1/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=64&cat=Bat hascope+Bathyscope

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_vocalization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence

http://worldwildlife.org/

http://worldwildlife.org/blogs/wwf-travel-blog/posts/ten-interesting- facts-about-beluga-whales

World Wildlife website has ten interesting facts about beluga whales.

http://worldwildlife.org/species/amur-leopardWWF website explains why the amur leopard is critically endangered.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/habitats/polar-regionsWWF website has an overview of the threats facing the polar regions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCm5CcQhU-cYouTube has this BrainPOP video about animal classification.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0OPtPIckp0YouTube has this video explaining how to make a simple underwater viewer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP73ojqJQREYouTube has this video explaining how to make two different types of underwater viewer.

http://www.marthastewart.com/252901/cactus-garden#252901YouTube has this video for teacher reference about different varieties of cactus plants andhow to grow them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlwHd7u9Q0UYouTube has this video from SciShow about the adaptations of the barreleye fish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N58Z8uIVS0YouTube has this video of desert survivors, including the camel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKKbSwY2T1IYouTube has this video showing how to make a cactus garden. Suitable for teacherreference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5scAt0hasIgYouTube has this video that explains how animals are adapted to life in the desert.

Extreme Survivors



http://worldwildlife.org/species/amur-leopard

http://www.worldwildlife.org/habitats/polar-regions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCm5CcQhU-c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0OPtPIckp0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP73ojqJQRE

http://www.marthastewart.com/252901/cactus-garden#252901

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlwHd7u9Q0U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N58Z8uIVS0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKKbSwY2T1I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5scAt0hasIg

Books

National Geographic Animal Encyclopedia, by Lucy Spelman, National Geographic, 2012

National Geographic Animal Atlas, National Geographic, 2012

Animal, Dorling Kindersley, 2011

Encyclopedia of Animals, Dorling Kindersley, 2006

Eyewitness Endangered Animals, by Ben Hoare and Tom Jackson, 2010

Animal Habitats: Easy Make and Learn Projects, by Donald Silver and Patricia Wynne,Scholastic Teaching Resources, 2010

What are Food Chains and Webs?, by Bobbie Kalman and Jacqueline Langille, CrabtreePublishing, 1998

The Life of Plants, by Claire Llewellyn, Franklin Watts, 2006

A Short History of Everything, by Bill Bryson, Transworld Publishers, 2004

A Really Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson, Corgi Children’s Books, 2010

Evolution Revolution, by Robert Winston, Dorling Kindersley, 2009

Engineering Animals – How life works, by Mark Denny and Alan McFadzean, HarvardUniversity Press, 2011

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From Fieldwork Education, a part of the Nord Anglia Education family. Fieldwork Education Ltd, Registered Company 03299897, UK

All rights reserved.

PO Box 76081, London, EC4P 4JY

+44 020 7531 9696

[email protected]

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