TCHE2332 - REBECA LOPEZ
TCHE2332
Investigating the Sciences
Assessment Task 1 – Part B
Science Unit
Tutor: Andy Gilbert
Christine Antoniou s3284248
Amy Vine s3286655
Claire Liston
Emma Quinn s3290784
Rebeca Lopez s3286175
Belinda Brendel s3280567
Contents
|Introduction |3 |
|Science Outcomes |3 |
|Focus Questions |5 |
|Literacy Outcomes |6 |
|Background and Conceptual Information |7 |
|Student Conceptions and Misconceptions on the Topic |21 |
|Pedagogical Theory |24 |
|Assessment |28 |
|Unit Overview |30 |
|Lesson Plans |35 |
|Reference List |68 |
Introduction
Using PrimaryConnections as a model, our teaching team has developed a five lesson unit on ‘Adaptations and Ocean Environments’. This unit has been designed for Grade Five science within the biology strand and follows the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2012) content description of living things, their structural features and adaptations that help them to survive within their environment. The 5E Instructional Model and Inquiry Based Learning were used as a pedagogical basis for this unit. With close relation to the Australian Curriculum, students will develop their knowledge, understandings and inquiry skills by questioning, predicting and investigating new ideas within the topic. Students are then able to use a variety of ways such as labelled diagrams, physical models and verbal descriptions to communicate ideas, explanations and processes that they undertook (ACARA, 2012).
Science Outcomes
By the end of this unit, students will have been able to –
• Represent their current understanding regarding the ocean/habitats and the needs of living animals.
• Gain knowledge on the four different ocean zones.
• Compare similarities and differences of the ocean zones.
• Identify why the animals that live in these zones choose to live there.
• Compare similarities and differences of the ocean environments.
• Make relevant connections between an animal’s and it’s environment.
• Understand the definition of an adaptation.
• Justify an adaptation into its correct category.
• Apply knowledge to new situations with adaptations of sea creatures.
• Explain why certain creatures have certain adaptations (ie. For survival in their habitat) and represent this knowledge in various ways.
• Demonstrate their knowledge of adaptations, the need for adaptations and the different types of adaptations within the ocean environment
• Represent their knowledge of adaptations through different forms of communication – visual, oral, written.
• Show development of knowledge of the four ocean zones throughout the unit.
Literacy Outcomes
• Contribute to discussion about habitats and the ocean (oral literacy)
• Labelling a diagram
• Justification of additions to fish tank
• Record ideas in their science journal
• Identify and write about the prior knowledge they have on certain sea creatures’ habitats.
• Create their own question for another student to answer.
• Small group work allows for students to practise their speaking and listening skills; whole class discussions also permit this.
• Students are introduced to new vocabulary which they start using in written and verbal responses.
• Students practise their writing skills when filling out the venn diagram worksheet.
• Students read the writing the teacher models on the butcher paper which displays correct letter formation, grammar and punctuation.
• Justify the changes made to animal through written and oral language
• Rocket writing – record knowledge gained over the course of the unit (4 zones of the ocean)
• Engage in discussion with teachers and peers about what has been learnt during this unit
Background and Conceptual Information
Glossary:
Adaptations - The special characteristics that enable plants and animals to be successful in a particular environment are called adaptations (Missouri Botanical Gardens, 2002)
Physical Adaptation -A characteristic or modification in an animal's body that helps it survive in its habitat (Discovery Education, 2012)
Behavioural Adaptation – The particular behaviour of an animal – such as the way it feeds, mates, breeds or migrates – that helps it survive in the unique conditions of its environment (Discovery Education, 2012)
Functional Adaptations - An adaptation that is related to life functions, such as reproduction and metabolism (Plumb, 2002)
Ecosystem- An ecosystem, short for 'ecological system', includes all the living organisms existing together in a particular area, such as a puddle, under a rock, the ocean etc. (KidCyber, 2009)
Habitat - Within each ecosystem, there are habitats which may also vary in size. A habitat is the place where a population lives. A population is a group of living organisms of the same kind living in the same place at the same time (The Franklin Institute, 2012)
Rockpool - Rockpools are formed when the tide goes out and water is left in holes that have been created or carved out of the rocks by the waves. These areas are generally overflowing with life (Gould League, 2012)
Open Ocean- The open ocean, or pelagic zone, is the area of the ocean outside of coastal areas, and where you’ll find some of the biggest marine life species. (Kennedy, 2012)
The pelagic zone is separated into several subzones depending on water depth:
• Epipelagic zone (ocean surface to 200 meters deep)
• Mesopelagic zone (200-1,000m)
• Bathypelagic zone (1,000-4,000m)
• Abyssopelagic zone (4,000-6,000m)
• Hadopelagic zone (deep ocean trenches, greater than 6,000m).
Ocean Floor: The ocean floor is vast and varied like the land we live on. It has mountains and plains and valleys and ridges and volcanoes and just about any other land feature you could name. The floor is mainly made up of a muddy substance produced from animal carcasses and by-products, and other materials that sink to the bottom.
Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are massive structures made of limestone deposited by living things. Although thousands of species inhabit coral reefs, only a fraction produce the limestone that builds the reef. The most important reef-building organisms are the corals themselves. (Coral Reef Alliance, 2010)
ADAPTATIONS
Adaptations are the result of evolution. Evolution refers to a change in a species over a long period of time.
“For example, imagine a bird species. One day a bird is born with a beak that is longer than the beak of other birds in the species. The longer beak helps the bird catch more food. Because the bird can catch more food, it is healthier than the other birds, lives longer and breeds more. The bird passes the gene for a longer beak on to its offspring. They also live longer and have more offspring and the gene continues to be inherited generation after generation.
Eventually the longer beak can be found in all of the species. This doesn't happen overnight. It takes thousands of years for a mutation to be found in an entire species.” – Retrieved 1/3/2012:
ROCK POOLS
Rock pools are important habitat areas housing numerous interesting organisms. The natural creation of crevices and abundance of rocks means many of the plants and animals are able to find shelter that helps protect them from drying out when the tide is low. Marine creatures need to keep their gills wet in order to breath and the animals in a rock pool environment have developed adaptations that help them retain water for duration of the low tide.
Rock pools contain unique conditions and house a diverse range of plants and animals. Constant wave action and the rise and fall of tides make these shores tough places to live. The rocky shores between high and low tide is called the Intertidal Zone and is inhabited by many plants and animals. These organisms must be able to cope with the problem of not one environment, but two. They are battered by waves, exposed to extremes of temperature, and flooded by sea water and exposed to drying air twice every 24 hours. They also have to avoid becoming the prey of birds, molluscs and crabs at low tide, and fish and other marine life at high tide.
Special adaptations enable animals and plants to live in these conditions.
Many animals avoid sun, drying air and predators such as birds, by staying in cracks, under rocks or in their own burrows at low tide. Some sessile animals such as barnacles and oysters close their valves tightly to avoid drying when the tide goes out. They come out to feed when covered by water.
Others may be well camouflaged and appear to be invisible.
Organisms which are constantly pounded by waves are often very tough, so it doesn't matter if they're hit hard. Others are flexible or flat, so they bend instead of breaking when they're hit, or don't get hit at all.
As well as providing homes for many animals, rocky shores are also an important nursery area for many fish and crustacean species. Some of these species like to shelter by rocky shores, in areas where seaweed break the power of the waves. This habitat also provides lots of food for fish. The commercially important fish found around rocky shores include blackfish, yellowfin bream, snapper, tarwhine, trevally, yellowtail and Sampson fish. Algal beds of this habitat are an important food source for rare and threatened species like marine turtles. And at low tide, wading birds love to feed on crabs and limpets on exposed rocks.
Organisms found in Rock Pools:
Molluscs
Animals with shells (except barnacles, includes chiton, limpets and whelks)
Main feature unsegmented, soft body and either a muscular foot or tentacles.
Most have a radula, a type toothed tongue. Organ used to either graze microalgae on rocks or as in case of whelks, cut up the bodies of prey items like barnacles and oysters.
Echinoderms
Name comes from the Greek words echino, meaning spiny and derm, meaning skin.
Some examples of echinoderms are sea urchins, starfish, brittle stars, crinoids (sea lilies or feather stars) and sea cucumbers.
Interesting feature – if a part of the body breaks off it usually regrows.
These creature have tubes that enable them to move around using hydraulic pressure.
Sponges
Encrusting sponges are the species of sponge usually found in rock pools, usually found near low-tide mark attached to rock surfaces.
While sponges are not overly active they are classified as animals and draw water into a cavity in the sponge where food particles are trapped and digested.
Not a good food source for other marine animals, low nutritional content and some even toxic
Arthropods
From the Greek words arthro- jointed and podos- foot.
They are distinguished by having an external skeleton that they shed and renew as they grow.
Marine arthropods include crabs, shrimp and lobsters, barnacles are also arthropods though they look like they have shells.
Arthropods live inside plates made of calcium carbonate and uses their hair covered legs to filter food particles from water.
At low tide anthropods will close the top two plates of their shells to protect them from drying out.
Worms
Most common type of worms found in rock pools are tube worms. They only come out of their shells when they are under water. Worms use tentacles to filter out food particles to eat.
Other types of marine worms have inside out proboscis (type of a nose) they use to shoot out of their body and engulf their prey.
Sea anemones
Although anemones look like flowers, they are actually carnivorous animals that trap prey and digest it. Many have stinging tentacles used to catch and paralyse prey. Sand anemones are the most common species that are found in rock pools. Anenomes camouflages themselves by sticking sand, gravel and bits of shell between tentacles.
Grazing snails and limpets
Many species of these animals live on rocky shores. They eat microscopic plants, lichen or seaweed, depending on which part of the shore they inhabit. Limpets are snails which have a cup-shaped shell instead of a coiled one. They use a large, flat foot to tightly clamp the rock.
Barnacles
Barnacles attach themselves to one spot on the rocky shore and never move, not even to feed. Using specialised legs, they catch food as it floats by in the waves. Barnacles' shells are made of several plates. Their size and shape depends on whether they're exposed to big waves.
Sea squirts
Also known as cunjevoi, sea squirts are similar to barnacles in that they're both filter feeders which stay in one spot. These animals pump large amounts of water through their bodies while under water, and then filter the food out. Since they store a lot of water during low tide, they squirt when you step on them.
Sea squirts are an important food source and habitat, so if you destroy cunjevoi to use them as bait for fishing, you're also wrecking the lives of many other creatures.
OCEAN FLOOR
The ocean floor is vast and varied like the land we live on. It has mountains and plains and valleys and ridges and volcanoes and just about any other land feature you could name. Different parts of the ocean floor have different types of land. Some parts are sandy, some have rock and the deepest parts have a mud made up of carcasses and anything else that floats to the ocean floor (Theodorou, 2000). There is an immense amount of organisms that flourish on the bottom. Some frolic underneath the sand and mud while others move and swim just above it. The ocean floor can be as low as 6 kilometres/6000 metres below the ocean's surface with a temperature of around 2 degrees (Celsius) in the deepest areas. The light exposure in areas of the ocean floor is diverse and sunlight doesn’t even reach the deepest points. This causes many strange and unique adaptations in the organisms that inhabit these areas.
The deepest parts of the ocean floor are like a recycle bin. The remains of animals and plants, materials swept into the ocean and volcanic ash all sink causing a carpet of muddy sentiment at the bottom. Organisms live in this mud and also swim across the top of it churning up the nutrients that they can find. The carcasses of larger sea creatures become food hot spots down here and most organisms feed on food as it floats by or scavenge for food on the ocean floor.
Organisms that live on/near the ocean floor:
Sea Spiders:
Sea spiders are not really spiders. They have long legs that help them to rest on the oceans floor without sinking into the soft mud. Sea spiders have no eyes and as such use their long legs to search/feel for food.
Tripod fish:
These fish have special fins that help them stand above the muddy ground of the ocean floor. They sit on the ocean floor and wait to catch the scent of any nearby food.
Brittle Star:
These starfish are very delicate and move along the ocean floor, feeding on tiny food particles. If an attacker bites off one of their arms they can regrow them.
Deep-sea Angler fish and Viper fish:
Both of these fish live in the darkest parts of the ocean and have a long thread attached to their heads called a lure. This lure glows and is often compared to a fishing rod. They use this lure to attract food to within reach of their large mouths.
Deep Sea Jellyfish:
There are many, many species of Jellyfish that dwell near the ocean floor and they come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Some of these jellyfish have the unique adaptation of bioluminecence which means that they glow. Other Jellyfish who dwell in the deep are transparent or only tinted in colour. Sometimes they appear to be glowing but this is only as a result of eating another bioluminescent organism and what we are actually seeing is what is being digested inside of them. Some Jellyfish contain a special protein called Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) which allows them to glow in the dark.
Most Jellyfish are poisonous and they produce a toxin that can be very painful and sometimes be deadly to humans that are stung by them. This toxin causes and anaphylactic (deathly allergic) reaction in humans.
CORAL REEFS
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is an underwater structure made from the calcium carbonate secreted by coral polyps. This 8,000 year old coral reef is composed of colonies of tiny living animals called polyps which cluster in groups found in marine waters. The coral polyps are like tiny sea anemones, to which they are closely related. Coral polyps have a hard carbonate exoskeleton which supports and protect their bodies. An algae called zooxanthellae is present in the polyp tissue, which uses energy from the sunlight via photosynthesis which the polyps get their food from. Therefore, the GBR is an environment that has shallow clear, sunny, agitated (moving) tropical waters, where hard coral survives best. Coral polyps are a tube like shape which attach to the hard structure from one end and feed and excrete wastes from the other end. The waste contains the calcium carbonate which deposits onto the coral and builds up over time. As well as producing its own food, coral polyps can feed on small particles of living matter using its tentacles. The GBR is home to 1500 species of marine fish, 360 species of hard corals, between 5000 and 8000 species of mollusks, 600 species of echinoderms, 17 species of sea snakes, 1500 species of sponges, 30 species of whales and dolphins, 6 species of marine turtles, 22 species of seabirds and 32 species of shorebirds which breed on the reef's many small islands. The presence of coral in the GBR is a life form that plays a large role in the survival of a network of many living creatures. Without the coral this flourishing eco-system could fall apart.
The coral reef environment provides protection, an area to live and breed, and a source of food for thousands of sea creatures. The animals of this ecosystem have evolved over thousands of years by adapting to their environment. These adaptations help the animals to survive in several ways for example: finding food successfully, being able to move around their environment and to protect themselves from other animals.
Organism:
Crown of thorns starfish:
Classification: Asteroidia
Animal Group: Echinoderm
Diet: A carnivore that feeds on live coral tissue, when this runs out it feeds on soft coral, algae, clams, gastropods, sea anemones gorgonians and hydrozoans
General Description: The Crown of Thorns starfish has up to 21 arms and can grow to up to 35cm wide.
Survival Adaptations:
Structural/Physical:
• dense covering of long, poisonous, sharp spines which cover its upper surface
• the poison stings predators and also has an unfavorable taste to deter predators
• hundreds of tube feet with suction caps which move like tiny feet to help the animal cling to surfaces, walk around and to hold onto/open prey
• The stomach of the starfish can be pushed outside the body to wait for digestion to occur and then draws the stomach back in
• The starfish can survive losing a limb and grows another one by regeneration
Protective Colouration:
• A pale grey-green with tinges of red help to help the young starfish to blend into its environment and hide
Behavioural:
• in order to avoid predators the crown of thorns starfish feeds at night time for safety
Reproductive:
• The crown of thorns starfish can produce 12-24 million eggs when spawning
Blue Ring Octopus
Classification: Cephalopod
Animal Group: mollusk
Diet: A carnivore that feeds invertebrates and wounded fish
General Description: The Blue Ring Octopus is small growing to roughly the size of an adult hand (12 to 20cm)
Survival Adaptations:
Structural/Physical:
• The Blue Ring Octopus has a sharp beak which it uses to tear apart its prey.
• On the tentacles there are several suckers which help the creature to move around and to cling onto rocks
• The soft body has the ability shrink down and hide in tight crevices in rocks.
• A cavity present in the octopus sucks water in and pushes it out through a funnel which propels the creature helping it to quickly jet though the water for escaping predators and capturing prey successfully.
Protective Colouration:
• Colour aids this creature in two ways: firstly it can camouflage with its environment to protect it from predators and to help it prey on food sources more successfully, and it also uses its colouration when it feels threatened by flashing its bright, iridescent blue rings to ward off enemies.
Behavioural:
• When this creature feels threatened or is hunting, it will inject a toxin into its predator/prey after showing its blue rings. This poison can paralyze/kill the victim.
• The funnel used to propel the octopus can also shoot out ink to startle predators
• They tend to hide in crevices or under rocks during the day, and emerge at night to look for food
• The blue-ringed octopus secretes the poison in the surrounding area of its prey, waits until it is immobile and then devours it, or it jumps out and envelops the prey in its 8 tentacles and bites it.
Parrotfish:
Classification: Actinopterygii
Animal Group: fish
Diet: Parrotfish are herbivores which feed on the tiny algae plants in coral.
General Description: A medium sized fish that comes in a range of bright tropical colours with a distinct beak like mouth
Survival Adaptations:
Structural/Physical:
• The parrotfish have several teeth which are located on the external surface of the jaw bones, forming a parrot like beak that is used to rasp algae from coral and other rocky surfaces.
• Like many fish, the parrotfish has a streamlined body making it easy to move quickly through the water to escape from predators
• The parrotfish has teeth that replace themselves once worn down from the grinding process during feeding.
Behavioural:
• Juveniles of some tropical species can alter their color temporarily to mimic other species to protect themselves from predators
• Some parrotfish secrete a mucus cocoon at night before to going to sleep; this mucus comes from their mouths, forming a protective cocoon that envelops the fish. This maybe to hide its scent from predators. This mucous envelope may also act as an early warning system, allowing the parrotfish to flee when it detects predators when disturbing the protective membrane. The skin itself is covered in another mucous substance which repels parasites, as well as providing it protection from UV light.
Reproductive:
• “Most parrotfish will begin life as females and lay thousands of eggs in a few years. With age, the fish will spontaneously transform into a male fish and change color. The only explanation for this is that the average lifespan of a parrotfish is relatively short, so there is a need for many eggs to be produced at once and only a handful of males to fertilize those eggs”.
Open ocean
Despite the outward appearance, the open ocean is extremely varied. Also called the pelagic zone, it is enormous.
Life is decreased when the depth is increased. It is affected by:
• light levels,
• pressure
• temperature
• salinity
• supply of oxygen and nutrients, and
• submarine topography
Pelagic waters are not the same. Some areas have an abundance of marine life, while others are almost lifeless. Enormously long currents flow like rivers under the surface, influencing everything from the concentration of marine life to weather systems on land. There’s also a huge 'vertical' variety, from sunlit surface waters down through the twilight zone to almost complete darkness and crushing pressures below 1,000m.
The Epipelagic Zone (Surface zone)
The first layer of the open ocean, extends down to around 200m, which is also around the lowest depth that light can penetrate. It is the layer most people know about, as it is relatively easy to explore with conventional diving equipment. In this zone, the fish, sea mammals, and other marine life that most people are familiar with are found. As there is light penetration there is the occurrence of photosynthesis, because of this, plants and animals are largely concentrated. Nearly all primary production in the ocean occurs in this zone. This is the domain of fish such as tuna, many sharks, dolphins and jellyfish.
The Mesopelagic Zone
Sometimes called the “twilight zone” of the ocean. It is in this area that you start to see bioluminescence on all sorts of animals. From this point onwards food is something of a scarcity and some animals will migrate at night to the surface zone to feed, others rely on the food that falls from above, as well as eating others. It is because of the scarcity of food and need to become hunters many of the marine life at this level have developed long sharp teeth, and expandable jaws and stomachs. At around 500m the oxygen level is depleted, despite this there is still an abundance of life, the cope with the lack of oxygen with more efficient gills or minimal movement. Animals such as swordfish, squids, wolffish, a few species of cuttlefish, and other semi-deep-sea creatures live here. Many bioluminescent organisms live in this zone.
Animals living here have various adaptations for living in the dimly lit waters. Some species have enormous eyes to find food. To avoid being eaten, many are transparent, including squid and crustaceans. Some fish have silvery reflective scales to help make them 'invisible'.
The Bathypelagic Zone
Extends from 1000m to 4000m. The only light is from bioluminescent organisms and the only food is what trickles down from above, or from eating other animals. The water pressure at this level is considerable but there is still many different species of normal marine groups: fish, molluscs, jellies and crustaceans. Sperm whales can dive into this zone when hunting giant squid. At this depth and below, most animals are either black or red in colour. Because only the faintest blue/green light penetrates this deep, and most bioluminescence is blue in colour, red is not reflected and looks black.
The Abyssopelagic Zone
Extends from 400m to the sea floor. Is home to pretty inhospitable living conditions, which include near freezing temperatures and crushing pressures. Very few creatures are sufficiently adapted to survive in the freezing temperatures and crushing pressures. Several species of squid; echinoderms including the basket star, swimming cucumber, and the sea pig; and crustaceans including the sea spider live in this zone. Many of the species living at these depths have evolved to be transparent and eyeless as a result of the total lack of light in this zone.
Surviving in the Twilight Zone
The animals that live in the deep sea often have adaptations to help them survive in the diverse and unusual environments.
Some of these adaptations may be specific to a particular group of animals while others like bioluminescence or the ability to produce light are an adaptation that has evolved independently in many different groups of animals for different purposes. In the deep sea many animals use bioluminescence to attract mates, to obtain food, to stay in schools, or even for camouflage.
Surviving in the Twilight Zone - Food
Food is a scarce resource. Most food falls from rich sunlit water above. Occasionally a large animal that dies it sinks into this region creating a rare feast for scavenging fish. Some fish like the primitive jawless fish known as hagfish and lampreys gather round a corpse with surprising speed and eat it by burrowing into the animal and eating it from the inside out.
More reliable source of food is constant rain of organic debris or detritus material that represents the remains of organisms from above. In some areas this is so thick that the material is referred to as marine snow. Many animals rely on capturing other animals for food.
Some of these fish will migrate at night to the higher zones to forage for food when there is less predators around.
Many deep sea fish have small flabby bodies when compared to their relatives near the surface.
If a fish is lucky enough to come across a potential meal then it is likely to eat it. A fish like a gulper eel with its huge mouth can swallow another fish much larger than itself by unhinging its jaws and stretching its mouth around its prey.
Some fish like deep sea anglers use light producing bacteria that live on a special "fishing rod" like fin that hangs over the anglers head and wiggles in the water to attract other animals to come and investigate, and of course to be eaten. Viperfish use lights within its mouth to lure prey into its waiting stomach.
Animals like the cookie cutter shark are also found in this zone. These animals have an extremely sharp set of teeth that are arranged in a circular pattern so that they can quickly take a chunk of flesh out of a large animal like a shark, dolphin or whale that might swim passed.
The fish that live at this level of the ocean don't often get the opportunity to eat and must therefore take advantage of any food that is available.
Life in the deep-sea is scarce, so predators need large teeth and mouths to cope with whatever crosses their path. The fangtooth fish, for example, has the largest teeth of all marine animals in relation to body size, while gulpers can swallow prey at least as large as themselves.
Surviving in the Twilight Zone - Oxygen
Despite there being no photosynthesis, oxygen levels in most of the twilight zone is sufficient so as not to represent a survival problem for animals that live at this depth. There are however some areas which are called oxygen minima in which there is little exchange of water with the surface layers that result in water that is very low in oxygen content, less than 1%.
Surviving in the Twilight Zone – Protection
• large eyes and are able to see thirty times better in dim light than humans.
• camouflage
• Transparent animals are common in this zone as they allow light to pass through them and do not create a shadow. Examples of these include the larvaceans mentioned earlier, jellies, and many fish eggs and larvae.
• silvery surfaces that reflect light.
• Used in deeper water is body color. Animals that are black are easily hidden in the darkness, as are red animals.
• Deep sea squid and some jellies protect themselves by squirting an ink which is bioluminescent. The ink glows in the dark when in contact with seawater and confuses a predator, which attacks the ink while the potential food makes a quick escape.
Surviving in the Zone of Darkness
• From about 1000m to the bottom of the ocean is completely dark, with a number of trenches and basins.
• Water is also extremely cold with temperatures that are usually down to 1oC or less is also very high in nutrients having accumulated materials that have fallen from above and off the continents.
• bottom consists of a mud like ooze that contains much detritus material
• need to be able to move across the ooze without sinking.
Deep Sea Fish - Adaptations
Coloration
• Fish display a wide variety of colors and color patterns
• color patterns that help them blend in with their environment.
• change their skin coloration to match the surrounding habit.
• disruptive markings to hide body parts.
• dark lines that run through the eyes, serve to hide the eyes so that other animals cannot tell where the fish is looking or even if it is a fish. Also horizontal lines may be a sight line for aiming attacks on prey.
• spots on their body that resembles eyes. This may serve to confuse prey and predators alike.
• body shapes that can further mimic their habitat.
• Fish coloration can also be useful in catching prey.
• Many sharks exhibit coloration known as counter shading. Dark on the upper side light on the lower, see a dark shark against a dark sea bottom conversely, any prey looking up at the shark, will see the light belly of the shark on the light background of the ocean surface water lit by the sun or moon.
Light Organs
• Some marine fish have the ability to produce light through bioluminescence.
• Most live in mid-water or are bottom dwelling deep sea species.
Can occur two different ways,
¬ through symbiotic bacteria living on the fish, or
¬ through self-luminous cells called photophores.
• use this light to attract prey, while others
• may use this light to attract mates.
Venom
• form of defense.
• Most deliver the toxins through the use of a spine. (including stingrays, chimaeras, scorpionfishes, catfishes, toadfishes, rabbit fishes, and stargazers)
• Venomous spines can have poison glands along the grove of the spine, or
• at the base of the spine
• species are life threatening to humans
Electric Organs
• Elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays) possess an electric sense system known as the ampullae of Lorenzini.
• consists of many tiny gel filled canals, positioned on the head of the fish
• able to detect the weak electric fields produced by prey
• Some species of skates and rays also have electric producing organs.
• The electric rays have paired electric organs located on either side of the head, behind the eyes. With these organs, electric rays are able to shock and stun their prey.
• eels use weak electric fields for navigation, prey location, and communication
• Can produce strong electric fields to stun potential prey.
• larger individuals being able to produce more of a "shock."
Student Conceptions and Misconceptions on the Topic
Conceptions on the topic:
Before meeting the class:
We are unsure as to how much our student’s will know about adaptations and the ocean prior to meeting them, however, we can fairly confidently assume that they have some prior knowledge of different sea creatures and some features of the ocean. Also, with some prompting they will most likely be able to identify the reasons for some adaptations e.g. a shell is for protection against predators.
After meeting the class:
After our first lesson we now have a better understanding of the children’s conceptions on adaptations and the ocean. Our probing activities gave us an insight into what the children already know about these topics and also what they are interested in pursuing further.
Misconceptions on the topic:
Adaptation of organisms
What the research suggests
Young children may think an animal has a certain feature because it ‘likes’ having it e.g. having a tail to have something to wiggle or because it is cute; this is often due to a lack of understanding regarding the physical need for a certain feature (behavioural or physical) for the organism’s survival (Skamp, 2008). A sense of time is also a challenge when teaching adaptations as many children struggle to grasp the concept of long term changes, or changes during an organism’s lifecycle (Skamp, 2008). Also, there is sometimes confusion about the meaning of the word ‘adaptation’. It can mean immediate physiological changes, characteristics that fit that organism’s environment, or an evolutionary change over time to adapt to and survive in its environment (Clough & Wood-Robinson, as cited in Skamp, 2008).
What we observed in the unit lessons
From analysing the children’s science journals throughout the unit, it has become clear that some students are not aware of the difference between what an animal (a gold fish) needs to survive and what an animal may want in its environment. This is evident when students’ mentioned adding the following to the gold fish’s environment: “fake plants and a treasure chest to decorate”. This gives us insight into student thinking and that some may believe an animal like a fish may think about things it wants in its environment which of course is not a cognitive ability of a fish. Another observation was of a student who claimed that fish use their gills for swimming and not breathing (this misconception was corrected).
The Ocean
What the research suggests
Feller (2007) identifies 110 misconceptions about the ocean which are common among many school children. The following are a few relevant misconceptions for our topic:
▪ The open ocean is static, still, and quiet compared to the coast’s big waves.
▪ The ocean is basically a bowl, deepest in the middle.
▪ The ocean is blue from sky reflection.
▪ There are no real seasons in the ocean.
▪ We have the technology to dive to any desired depth in the ocean.
▪ The largest animals live deepest or near the bottom.
▪ Nothing much lives in the middle depths of the ocean.
▪ Sharks are the most dangerous animals in the ocean.
(pp. 172-173)
What we observed in the unit lessons
There also appears to be some misconceptions regarding the conditions of the ocean environments which students wrote in their science journals. For e.g. a rock pool is quiet, peaceful and warm and that a coral reef is cold and below 18 degrees.
Pedagogical Theory
Inquiry learning is a constructivist approach where students take ownership over their own learning and investigate a question, issue, problem or idea (Galileo Educational Network, 2011). Inquiry focuses on the belief that understanding is established and developed through people working together to pose and solve problems and discover new things (Galileo Educational Network, 2011) and focuses learning on ‘finding out’ (Hackling, 2007). Inquiry learning actively engages students and stimulates their interest and inquisitiveness (Hackling, 2007). It entails making observations and developing explanations for the experiences undergone (Hackling, 2007). Students achieve these explanations through their own questioning with guidance and scaffolding from their teacher (Hackling, 2007).
The inquiry approach lends itself to a science context quite easily. Science through inquiry actively involves students in the exploration and investigation of experiments and questions though the manipulation of materials (Hackling, 2007; Skamp, 2008). A science inquiry begins with students posing their own questions with the intent to investigate and solve these problems through hand on experiences (Hackling, 2007). Discussions, observations, predictions and scientific representations are all important components of a scientific inquiry and should all be scaffolded by the teacher (Hackling, 2007). Multiple representations should be made available to students in order to cater for a variety of learning styles. Written, oral and hands on activities were conducted throughout our unit which allowed students to experience and represent the key ideas and understandings developed. This range of representations allowed every student to demonstrate their learning throughout the unit.
An inquiry approach based around an investigation and can often work alongside a teaching and learning structure such as the 5E model; engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate (Australian Academy of Science, 2005). An inquiry approach and the 5E model were both incorporated into our science unit. Inquiry requires students to spend time doing practical work such as science experiments (Galileo Educational Network, 2011), although the physical completion of the experiment is only one section of inquiry-based learning. During the engage stage, students develop questions for their inquiry or investigation and the teacher should create wonder and interest in a topic in order to encourage and lead to an inquiry-oriented approach (Australian Academy of Science, 2005; McNeill & Krajcik, 2008). To spark the students’ interest in the ocean environment, our initial engage activity involved students designing the ‘perfect home’ for a goldfish. Using their group design, the student then went on the construct a class fish tank for their new fish Bubbles.
During the explore and explain stages, demonstrations and clearly directed and set out experiments and activities are undertaken in order to build on the students’ understanding. During these stages in our unit, the students’ investigated the four ocean zones through rotational activities. These activities included analysing preserved sea creatures, researching and making observations through books and images. They now begin to explore how these sea creatures survive in their different habitats by focussing on the animals’ adaptations.
Continuing on to the elaborate stage, students delve into their inquiry and conduct their own more student run explorations. This elaboration stage is pinnacle to the inquiry approach as it is when the process of investigating the questions posed is put into motion. During this lesson, students were responsible for listening to clues provided, considering this information and making an educated guess as to what animal these clues described. They were then responsible for researching and representing an ocean animal and its adaptations in a scientific diagram, constructed as a group.
Evaluate is then used to finally assess the inquiry and reflect on what has been learnt. For this stage of our unit students’ were required to adapt a land dwelling animal to survive in any one of the four ocean zones. This activity allowed students to demonstrate their understanding on the topic. Multiple representations were utilised during this lesson as students drew a diagram of their animal with a written justification for the changes made, constructed it out of playdough and verbally explained their creation. To conclude the lesson, there was a class discussion in which students were able to share one of the key points or ideas they had learnt throughout the unit, providing us with a clear understanding of where learning had taken place.
The following image (Figure 1) is taken from the Australian Academy of Science (2005) Primary Connections series. This image illustrates the variety of skills and processes required when experiencing inquiry-based learning.
This diagram not only represents the teacher’s intended actions throughout an inquiry- based approach, but also the students’ actions and behaviours. Because inquiry-based learning is a student centred approach, it is assumed that students take responsibility for their own learning and behaviour (Galileo Educational Network, 2011).
A description of how assessment is to be carried out
Diagnostic Assessment:
Lesson 1: Students design the “ideal” home for a goldfish; they are to represent their knowledge by labelling and in the justification of the inclusion, this would be completed in their science journals. Whilst participating in the whole class discussion regarding the “ideal” home for the new class goldfish, verbal collation of students’ ideas, with questioning and need for justification. Again prior knowledge will be assessed in their scientific journals when they participate in the rocket writing session, they are to create 1 of 4 ocean environments including known organisms and appropriate conditions/surroundings.
Formative Assessment:
Lesson 2: Students are to roam around the room looking at preserved sea creatures and photo from animals from different ocean zone. From there they are to record on a template the classification of the ocean zone, the animals that belong to it and the characteristics. A multiple choice activity sheet is also done by students to introduce the idea of physical adaptations of the different sea creatures. Students are then to create and share their own multiple choice questions, this gets the them thinking about what they have learnt about physical adaptations and what they want to know.
Lesson 3: Students revisit the four ocean zones and make the connections between the environment and the animals that live in each, this will be given verbally and recorded in their science journals. They will then make a list of animals needs for survival and come up with a definition for adaptations and come up with a definition, this again will be recorded in their science journals. Using a template and small group exploration students are to distinguish between a physical and/or behavioural adaptation.
Lesson 4:
Students are to use the knowledge they have gained over the previous weeks and apply it to a new situation. Most of the ideas shared in this part will be recorded verbally, through questioning and observation of conversations between small groups and with the teacher too. They are to read, view and touch clues about habitats and adaptations to decipher an unknown sea creature. For the following, the piece the students create will be collected; students will draw, write and discuss within small groups a creature they are interested in. Scaffolding this by focusing the students on the adaptations of the creature and how this helps them survive. Students gain new knowledge through sharing their ideas with each other.
Summative Assessment:
Lesson 5: Students demonstrate their knowledge of adaptations by assigning appropriate adaptations/modifications that a land dwelling animal would need to survive in the ocean. Analysing the visual, oral and written justification of the changes/adaptations made to an existing animal. Students display new found knowledge of the four ocean zones introduced in lesson one by undertaking the rocket writing task for a second time, this rocket writing is compared to the first rocket writing task.
Unit Overview
Lesson Plans
Lesson 1: Engage – Home for a Fish
Lesson 2: Explore – The Habitats of Sea Creatures
Lesson 3: Explain – What are Adaptations?
Lesson 4: Elaborate – Mysteries of the Deep
Lesson 5: Evaluate – Surviving the Deep Blue Sea
Lesson 1 Engage: Home for a Fish
|AT A GLANCE |
|Engage: Students represent their prior understanding, teachers will collect the evidence and will modify the remainder of the unit |
|according to what students prior understanding. |
| |
|To capture students’ interest and find out what they think they know about different ocean zones and the organisms that adapt and |
|survive in them. |
| |
|Students |
|Will learn about the link between the key features of an environment and survival of a particular organism |
|Represent their current understanding regarding the ocean/habitats and the needs of living animals. |
Assessment focus
Diagnostic assessment
Diagnostic assessment is an important aspect of the Engage phase. In this lesson you find out what students already know and understand about adaptations in various ocean zones. This allows you to take account of students’ existing ideas when planning future learning experiences.
Assessment opportunities
• Analysing initial drawing/ labelling record their justification and conceptions,
• Reviewing science journal entries (first lesson and eventually last)
• General observations
Key Lesson Outcomes
|Science |Literacy |
|Students will be able to: |Students will be able to: |
|• Represent their current understanding regarding the ocean/habitats and the |Contribute to discussion about habitats and the ocean (oral |
|needs of living animals. |literacy) |
| |Labelling a diagram |
| |Justification of additions to fish tank |
| |Record ideas in their science journal |
Teacher Background Information
The teacher will need to find information about the equipment and features of a fish tank to house a goldfish as well as the appropriate care regime required for the longevity of the fish. They will also need to have a basic idea of the four ocean zones, such as the plants, animals and ideal conditions associated with it.
Equipment
Lesson steps
|Activity |Duration |
|In small groups design the ideal fish tank for a goldfish on A4 paper (to be pasted in their books at later | |
|date), labelling the features and giving small explanation as to why that item was included. |5 min |
|Reference their own fish tank designs and as a class create a real habitat for the new class goldfish |10 min |
|Need to justify and explain why items are included, what the purpose would be and why the fish might require this| |
|for survival. (Further questioning maybe why students can’t put in certain objects, chlorine, salt, seaweed etc. | |
| |15 min |
|Complete a rocket writing task in their provided workbooks. | |
|Scenario: | |
|The Melbourne Aquarium is creating four new exhibits; you have just been hired to design and create the | |
|______________ (rock pool, ocean floor, open water or reef) exhibit. As the creator you need to think about what | |
|plants and animals would be included in this ocean zone and the ideal conditions that would be required for the |10 min |
|survival of the organisms that will be going in. Write down as quickly as you can some organisms that would be | |
|included and the conditions you would need to consider for their survival. | |
|If time permits, share some of their ideas to the class. |5 mins |
Curriculum links
Literacy – (see Literacy Outcomes)
Lesson 2 Explore: The Habitats of Sea Creatures
|AT A GLANCE |
|Engage – Students explore the habitats of the sea which have been broken up into four sections – rock pools, open ocean, coral reef|
|and ocean floor by moving around in groups and visiting a “work station” providing information about each in 5 minute rocket |
|segments. |
| |
|This is to provide opportunities for students to learn about not only the different ocean zones, but the creatures that live in |
|these habitats, and what the habitats consist of. |
| |
|Students |
|Will learn about different ocean zones by roving the classroom |
|Gain information about what different creatures live in ocean zones |
|Use information they have learnt to contribute to a classroom discussion |
|Create their own questions for a classmate about the information they have learnt |
Assessment focus
Formative assessment
Formative assessment is an important aspect of the Explore phase. In this lesson you are engaging the students in activities that will, in turn, give the students an awareness of how they can make progress and learn new things throughout the lesson.
Assessment opportunities
• Analysing their questions sheets and charts which have been completed throughout the lesson.
• General observations while supervising the roving classroom
• Reviewing the children’s science journals
Key Lesson Outcomes
|Science |Literacy |
|Students will be able to: |Students will be able to: |
|Gain knowledge on the four different ocean zones |Contribute to discussion about habitats and the ocean (oral language) |
|Compare similarities and differences of the ocean zones |Identify and write about the prior knowledge they have on certain sea |
|Identify why the animals that live in these zones choose to live there. |creatures’ habitats. |
| |Create their own question for another student to answer. |
Teacher Background Information
Teacher will need to gather information about the four different ocean zones, and must be able to identify characteristics of the zones, and the animals that live in those zones.
Equipment
• A3 Butcher Paper
• Markers
• Science Journals
• Question Sheets
• Chart for roaming activity
• Preserved Sea Creatures
• Photos of Sea creatures
• Soft Toy/Model of Sea Creatures
Lesson steps
|Activity |Duration |
|Recap on what the children learnt about last lesson – ask them how they have been looking after their goldfish, | |
|and if they thought during the week about anything they could change in his habitat. | |
| |5 min |
|In groups, children will be sent around with an Ocean Zones chart, to look at displays of different sea |30 min |
|creatures. Children must write down information they learn about each zone, and also identify what type of |(4x5 mins) |
|animals live in which zone. | |
|Children will compile in a class discussion, a classroom information chart on the zones which they can refer to | |
|and use as a resource for the following weeks to come. | |
| |15 min |
|Children are to complete a multiple choice sheet about simple physical adaptations that different sea creatures | |
|possess. | |
| | |
|After completing the question sheet, the students must now create their own question about animal adaptation, | |
|drawing from the questions answered beforehand, to give to another student to answer. | |
Curriculum links
Literacy – (see Literacy Outcomes)
Humanities/Geography – Ocean habitats
Lesson 3 Explain: What Are Adaptations?
|AT A GLANCE |
|Explain: Students consider the reason/s for the different features of ocean creatures. They search for an explanation of these |
|features and how they link to the survival of these creatures in their particular ocean environment. |
| |
|This is to provide opportunities for students to apply their own ideas of adaptations with guidance from the teacher. |
| |
|Students |
|Will conduct an analysis of four sea creatures living in four different ocean zones |
|Make connections between these features and the creature’s environment |
|Determine what type of adaptations the creatures show/display |
Assessment Focus
Formative assessment
In the explain phase, classroom interactions (either verbal or written) allow the teacher to examine students’ developing understanding and provide feedback that can extend and deepen students’ learning.
Assessment opportunities
• Students will be assessed on their ability to apply their knowledge of adaptations (from the rotations) when analysing the adaptations of the sea creature featured in their question. This will allow the teacher to see if they understand what an adaptation is and what category/s of adaptation it best fits into.
• Venn diagrams will be analysed to see if the students understand that there is a continuum to adaptations, as there can be features that are physical, behavioural or both
Key Lesson Outcomes
|Science |Literacy |
|Students will be able to: |Students will be able to: |
|Compare similarities and differences of the ocean environments |Small group work allows for students to practise their speaking |
|Make connections between an animal’s adaptations and its environment |and listening skills; whole class discussions also permit this. |
|Understand the definition of an adaptation |Students are introduced to new vocabulary which they start using |
|Justify an adaptation into its correct category |in written and verbal responses. |
| |Students practise their writing skills when filling out the venn |
| |diagram worksheet. |
| |Students read the writing the teacher models on the butcher paper |
| |which displays correct letter formation, grammar and punctuation. |
Teacher Background Information
For this lesson, the teacher needs to have a thorough understanding of what a physical and a behavioural adaptation is and when both physical & behavioural adaptations apply to the feature of an animal. A physical adaptation is the physical features of an organism like the bill on a bird or the fur on a bear. A behavioural adaptation is the things an organism does to aid its survival such as a bird calling and migration patterns. An example of when an adaptation could be both are when a parrot fish sleeps, it produces a mucous bubble to hide its scent from predators. This is the fish using its physical adaptation as behaviour to protect itself.
Please refer to the appendices containing information facts sheets on each of the four ocean zone sea creatures.
Equipment (see following pages for resources)
• Ocean Zones Chart
• White board markers
• Science journals
• Glossary sheet
• Venn diagram worksheets
• Teacher’s guide facts sheets with prompting questions
• Butcher paper
• Photographs/images of sea creatures
Lesson steps
|Activity |Duration |
|Revisit the “ocean zones chart” the students compiled from the previous explore lesson and have a discussion with students about| |
|the four ocean zones and what they noticed about each zone. Focus the students’ attention to the similarities and differences of| |
|the environments. Encourage students to make connections between the animals that live in each environment. |10 min |
| | |
|As a class the students will make a list of an animal’s needs for survival and find a suitable definition for the term | |
|‘adaptations’. This will be part of a glossary of terms to be placed into the back of the science journal. | |
| | |
|Students will receive the venn diagram worksheet and have it explained to them. | |
|The teacher gives the students an example of what a physical adaptation is, what a behavioural adaptation is and what an example| |
|of both a physical and behavioural adaptation is, e.g. a dolphin’s blowhole is a physical adaptation and dolphins live in a | |
|group which represents a behavioural adaptation. When a parrot fish sleeps it makes a mucous bubble to hide its scent. | |
| | |
|Students are then placed into even groups (numbering off technique 1,2,3,4) | |
| | |
|Rotations: | |
|Group 1 = rock pools, then ocean floor | |
|Group 2 = ocean floor, then rock pools | |
|Group 3= open ocean, then coral reef | |
|Group 4= coral reef, then open ocean | |
|Students are to think of as many physical features/behaviours of the sea creature in the ocean zone and place them in the |30 min |
|correct category/s on the venn diagram. The teacher guides the students and when possible points out the link of the feature of |(2x10 mins + 10 |
|the animal to its environment. |min share time) |
|Students return to the floor in a circle for share time of what they discovered about their animals’ adaptations. This gives | |
|students a chance to hear about the adaptations of each of the four ocean zones. | |
|Each student swaps their science journal with the person next to them and writes down whether or not the question/answer from | |
|the explore lesson refers to a physical or behavioural adaptation (and initials their response) and the teacher records the | |
|students’ answers/justifications on butchers paper. If there is any confusion or misconceptions, the teacher clarifies with the |10 min |
|help of students applying their new knowledge. This is to ensure students understand what an adaptation is and that they can be | |
|in three main categories. | |
Curriculum links
Literacy – (see Literacy Outcomes)
Humanities/Geography – Ocean habitat
Science Journal Glossary
Habitat: The area or natural environment in which an organism (plant/animal) or population normally lives.
Environment: The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives.
Predator: An animal that preys on others for food (lives by capturing and eating other animals).
Prey: An animal that is hunted by a predator for food.
Rock pool: A tidal pool formed along a rocky shoreline. This is a home to many living things. They must cope with exposure, quick changes in temperature, wind and fresh rain water.
Coral Reef: Large, widespread, underwater structures made from animals (coral polyps) with a hard outer skeleton. A home for thousands of living things.
The Ocean Floor: The depth of this environment can vary with the deepest point at 11,034 meters (over 11 kilometers!). Most of the ocean floor is very dark with no sunlight getting through. It can also be very cold, even in summer.
The Open Ocean: This part of the ocean is out very far away from mainland. The animals that live here don’t stay in one spot and can travel the open ocean for 1000’s of kilometres.
Adaptation: The physical features and behaviours of a living thing that allow it to survive in its environment.
Physical Adaptation: A characteristic or modification in an animal's body that helps it survive in its habitat
Behavioural Adaptation: Anything an animal does by acting in a particular way to help it to survive
Ocean Zone: Ocean Floor
Animal: Tripod Fish
(P) = Physical Adaptation (B) = Behavioral Adaptation (PB) = Could be both
Questions to prompt students with
Teacher: Teacher’s explanation Students: What students write on their venn diagram
How does it breathe?
• Teacher: This fish is able to absorb oxygen in the water using its gills. As it takes water in through its mouth the oxygen is absorbed into the bloodstream. The water taken in is pushed back out through the gills.
• Students: Breathes using its gills (P)
How does it eat?
• Teacher: The tripod fish stands still facing the current as food (small crustaceans, shrimp, and other little creatures) enters its mouth
• Student: stands still facing the current so food enters its mouth (B)
• Teacher: As the tripod fish can’t see it has upright fins that work like antennae to sense when food touches them
• Student: Instead of using its eyes, its fins work like antennae to sense when food is nearby (P).
• Students: The upright front fins are used to knock the food into its mouth (BP)
How does it protect itself?
• Teacher: As it is very cold at the bottom of the ocean, the tripod fish uses its 3 long fin rays to stand still on the ocean floor to reserve energy.
• Student: Uses its 3 fins as legs to stand still and use less energy (PB)
• Teacher/Student: The 3 long fins can be stiff so the fish can stand and flexible for when it needs to swim away from predators. (P)
• Teacher/Student: The tripod fish uses its front fins to sense when predators are near (P)
• Teacher/Student: To cope with the water pressure this fish has no air gaps in its body to prevent it from imploding (P)
Ocean Zone: Rock Pool
Animal: Sea Star
(P) = Physical Adaptation (B) = Behavioral Adaptation (PB) = Could be both
Questions to prompt students with
Teacher: Teacher’s explanation Students: What students write on their venn diagram
How does it breathe?
Teacher/Students: Sea stars breathe through tube feet and through tiny structures on top of their body. (P)
How does it eat?
• Teacher/Students: They use their suction cap feet to pry open mussels and oysters, then their stomach comes out of their body and covers the prey, turns it into liquid and then brings it back into the stomach. (BP)
• Teacher/Students: The tube feet are sensitive to chemicals which help them to locate food sources (P)
How does it protect itself?
• Teacher/Students: They have bony, hard skin, which protects them from most predators (P)
• Teacher/Students: They come in a range of colours, which can help them to blend into their environment or scare off potential predators. (P)
• Teacher/Students: When being attacked, it can drop its limb and escape a predator (PB)
• Teacher/Students: This limb can grow into a new star fish (P)
• Teacher/Students: The tube feet and bony skin, on starfish are sensitive to touch which warns them when a predator is near (P)
• Teacher/Students: in order to avoid predators the sea star feeds at night time for safety (B)
• Teacher/Students: hundreds of tube feet with suction caps which move like tiny feet to help the animal cling to surfaces and move around (P)
• Teacher/Students: Sea stars have microscopic eyes at the end of each arm which allows them to view movement and tell when it is dark or light but they don’t see in much detail. (P)
Lesson 4 Elaborate: Mysteries of the Deep
|AT A GLANCE |
|To encourage students to think about adaptations in sea creatures and demonstrate their knowledge in various ways. |
| |
|Students: |
|Discuss different ocean zones and what adaptations are. |
|Play a guessing/predicting game using clues about a sea creature’s adaptations and habitats. |
|Use annotated drawings to demonstrate their knowledge. |
Assessment focus
Summative assessment
Summative assessment is an important aspect of the Elaborate phase. In this lesson you are elaborating on knowledge the students have previously learnt and have activities that are open-ended. As such assessment should be undertaken at the end of the lesson.
Assessment opportunities
• Analysing the students annotated pictures of a sea creature and environment.
• Reviewing the children’s science journals.
Key Lesson Outcomes
|Science |Literacy |
|Students will be able to: |Students will be able to: |
|Gain knowledge on adaptations specific to creatures in the ocean. |Contribute to discussion about adaptations and ocean habitats |
|Represent their knowledge through drawings and words; both written and spoken |(oral language) |
|Identify/recognise a creature and its habitat by the adaptations it has |Identify and predict a creature by using clues (writing and |
|developed. |reading) |
| |Create a drawing of a sea creature and annotating. |
| |Interviewing other students about a sea creature (oral language |
| |skills) |
Teacher Background Information
Information on the octopus:
How does it eat?
The octopus has long, sucker covered arms to help it find food. It uses these suckers to reach into tight spots to capture prey. The octopus has a sharp beak to bite into its prey. The octopus has saliva it injects into prey to paralyse it.
How does it protect itself?
The octopus will carry its prey back to its den to avoid predators. They have a flexible, boneless body, allowing them to squeeze into tight spaces to hide from predators. An octopus can use camouflage to blend into its surroundings to avoid predators. An octopus can bury itself into the sand to hide from predators. They can mimic/imitate a dangerous sea snake by hiding in the sand and showing only two of its arms which it changes to yellow and black. When attacked they let out a cloud of ink to startle the predator so they can escape. When attacked the octopus can drop an arm off to get away and grow a new one later on. An octopus can use jet propulsion to swim quickly through the water.
Teachers can use this information and any other information to create clues for the game.
Equipment
▪ Class science journals
▪ Dissected Octopus (small)
▪ Clues for game; paper, photos and touch clues.
▪ Butcher paper and blue tac
▪ A4 and A3 paper
▪ Books and photos of sea creatures
▪ Pencils, textas etc.
Preparation
Before this class, prepare the clue cards (Appendix A) and touch and view clues.
TOUCH CLUES: something that feels like an octopus’s suckers
Something that feels like it’s body (squishy)
Something that feels/looks like octopus ink.
VISUAL CLUES: Print photos of different parts of an octopus. Zoomed in small areas or patterns work best.
Lesson steps
|Activity |Duration |
|Review the previous lessons focusing students attention on their ideas about the four ocean environments they have been |5 mins |
|investigating; open ocean, ocean floor, rock pools and coral reef. Review what adaptations are and why creatures develop these, be | |
|specific to sea creatures. | |
|Students sit in a community circle with a bag/box in the centre. Have the students draw a line down the centre of their page with |10 mins |
|one side titled “clues” and the other titled “predictions”. The bag/box contains clues about habitats and adaptations to help | |
|students figure out what the mystery sea creature is. The bag is passed around the circle with the students reading out clues to | |
|the rest of the class. The students write down clues in their science journals and predict what they think the creature may be after| |
|each clue is read out. | |
|In groups/teams of 2 or 3, the students chose a sea creature that they are interested in or know about. As a team the students will | |
|draw an annotated picture of their chosen sea creature as if they are experts on that creature. This involves drawing different |25 mins |
|views and close up with explanations on how different parts work (see resources....). | |
| | |
|Things to keep in mind: | |
|Scales, how big/small is your creature | |
|Their environment/habitual features | |
|Geometric shapes in your creatures body structure. | |
|The need to count eg. amount of appendages, body parts, etc. | |
|Multiple drawing from different view?? Zoomed in details? | |
|Use of annotation to convey information difficult to present in your drawing. | |
|The inclusion of survival features. Eg. colouration changes, ways of eating and breathing, hard exoskeletons? Shells, | |
|bioluminescence, etc. | |
|Explanations of the function of certain body parts. | |
| | |
|The students will come back to the floor in their teams and share their drawing with the class. This will be done in the form of an |10 mins |
|interview with the presenters pretending to be “experts” on their chosen creature. The students will ask questions to the presenters| |
|about what they want to know about their creature. Brainstorm possible questions and write these on the board so the students have a| |
|reference point when interviewing/questioning their peers. | |
|Suggested questions: | |
|How does your creature eat? | |
|How does your creature get oxygen? | |
|Where does your creature live? | |
|Do they have any defence mechanisms? | |
|How does your creature survive? | |
Curriculum links
Literacy – (see Literacy Outcomes)
Humanities/Geography – Ocean habitats
Lesson Resources:
|I use my arms to find food. |
|I have a beak, but I’m not a bird. |
|I paralyse my prey before I eat it. |
|There are no bones in my body. |
|To avoid predators, I sometimes bury myself in the sand. |
|As a defence mechanism I can change colours to blend in with my surroundings. |
|My predators include stingrays, eels and sharks. |
|Sometimes I mimic dangerous sea snakes to scare away my predators. |
|To swim quickly through water, I use jet propulsions just like the engines of an airplane. |
|When being attacked, I can drop off one of my arms and regrow it later. |
|I use gills to breathe. |
|Most of my species live in the open ocean. |
|I am 1 of around 300 different species. |
|Some names of my species include Blanket, Dumbo, Mimic and Blue-Ringed. |
|I eat things such as crabs, clams, snails, small fish and even others of my species. |
|I usually sleep in underwater caves or dark areas. |
| |
|I have the same amount of arms as a spider has legs. |
|Feels like clue |
|Feels like clue |
|Feels like clue |
|Visual clue |
|Visual clue |
|Visual clue |
Examples of visual clues:
Lesson 5 Evaluate Surviving the Deep Blue Sea
|AT A GLANCE |
|Evaluate: Students re-represent their understanding and reflect on their learning journey and teachers collect evidence about the |
|achievement of outcomes. |
| |
|To provide opportunities for student to reflect on their learning during this unit and present their knowledge on adaptations of |
|ocean animals through written, oral and visual representations. |
| |
|Students |
|Will choose a land dwelling animal and provide it with adaptations for it to survive in an ocean environment – draw a diagram, |
|explain adaptations and construct out of playdough |
|Will write down everything they have learnt/discovered during this unit about ocean animals and their adaptations |
Assessment focus
Summative assessment of the conceptual learning outcomes is an important aspect of the evaluate phase. With this assessment you are looking for achievement of outcomes.
Assessment opportunities
• Analysing the visual, oral and written justification of the changes/adaptations made to the existing animal
• Compare rocket writing from first class and this class. Note what has changed and what has been learnt
Key Lesson Outcomes
|Science |Literacy |
|Students will be able to: |Students will be able to: |
|Demonstrate their knowledge of adaptations, the need for adaptations and the |Justify the changes made to animal through written and oral |
|different types of adaptations within the ocean environment |language |
|Represent their knowledge of adaptations through different forms of |Rocket writing – record knowledge gained over the course of the |
|communication – visual, oral, written. |unit (4 zones of the ocean) |
|Show development of knowledge of the four ocean zones throughout the unit. |Engage in discussion with teachers and peers about what has been |
| |learnt during this unit |
Equipment
• Science journal
• Grey lead pencils
• Tools – skewers, tooth brushes, plastic knives
• Paper plates
• Camera
• Playdough:
o 2 cup flour
o 1 cup salt
o 1 cup water
o 1 tsp oil
o Food colouring
(Make several batches of playdough prior to the lesson.)
Lesson steps
|Activity |Duration |
|Adapting Animals to live in the Ocean: | |
|Select an existing animal from a different environment and adapt it to survive in one of the four ocean habitats.| |
|The animals will need adaptations for: |15 min |
|Protection | |
|Movement | |
|Food | |
|Breathe | |
|Students will draw a rough design of their animal in their science journals. | |
|Students will construct their new animal from playdough. | |
|Students will then need to provide a written justification of the changes they have made to their animal (showing| |
|knowledge). |25 min |
|Students will share their newly formed animal with their table group and explain what adaptations that have | |
|added. | |
|Rocket Writing: | |
|Silent writing where students write down everything they now know about adaptations in the different ocean zones | |
|and what the sorts of adaptations that ocean animals require to survive within the different zones. |5 min |
Curriculum links
Literacy – (see Literacy Outcomes)
Humanities/Geography – Ocean habitats
Mathematics – shape knowledge used for drawing and construction of animal
Reference List
Australian Academy of Science. (2005). Primary connections: Plants in action. Canberra: Australian Academy of Science.
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2012). Science Curriculum: Foundation to Year 10. Retrieved on May 15th, 2012, from,
Bell, M. (2000). Water Worlds: Oceans. Macmillan Education Australia PTY LTD. South Yarra.
Coral Reef Alliance (2010) Coral Reef Overview. Retrieved February 26th, 2012 from
Department of Environment and Resource Management: Queensland. Retrieved 26/02/2012:
Discovery Education (2012) Blue Planet: Seas of Life. Retrieved February 26th, 2012 from
Feller, R. J. (2007). 110 Misconceptions About the Ocean. Oceanography, 20(4), 171-173.
The Franklin Institute (2012) Neighborhoods – Ecosystems, Biomes and Habitats. Retrieved February 26th , 2012 from
Galileo Educational Network. (2011). What is Inquiry? Retrieved September 8, 2011, from
Gould League (2012) Coastal Webcare – Rockpool. Retrieved February 26th, 2012 from
Hackling, M. (2007). Inquiry and investigation. In V. Dawson & g. Venville (eds.), The art of teaching primary science, pp. 127-148. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.
Kennedy, J (2012) The Open Ocean. Retrieved February 26th, 2012 from
Kid Cyber (2009) What is an ecosystem?. Retrieved February 26th, 2012 from
McNeill, K. L., & Krajcik, J. (2008). Inquiry and Scientific Explanations: Helping Students Use Evidence and Reasoning. In Luft, J., Bell, R. L., & Gess-Newsome, J (Eds.), Science as Inquiry in the Secondary Setting (pp. 121-134). USA: National Science Teachers Association.
Missouri Botanical Gardens (2002) What Does Adaptation Mean?. Retrieved February 26th, 2012 from
Norman, M (2000)Cephalopods: A World GuideHackenheim, ConchBooks
Observations at Willmott Park Primary School taken between 02/03/12 to 30/03/12
Pattern Media. (2012). Jellyfish Facts. Retrieved: 1/3/2012
Plumb, A (2002) Adaptations of Living Things. Retrieved February 26th, 2012 from
Skamp, K. (2008). Teaching Primary Science Constructively. (3rd ed) South Melbourne: Cengage
Stannard, P. and Williamson, K. (2006). Science World 9 (3rd ed.). Macmillan Education Australia PTY LTD. South Yarra.
Theodorou, R. (2000). To the Depths of the Ocean. Great Britain.
-----------------------
|SPECIALIST TERM PLANNER 2012 |
|Term: 1 |Title: Adaptations and Ocean Environments |
|Grade level and topic: Grade 5 (Biology – Living things and adaptations) |
|Australian Curriculum Description: |
|“Living things have structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment” |
|Focus Questions (The big question) |Unit of work Questions | |
| | |Content Questions |
|What physical features and behavioural features do living things have to |What do animals in the ocean need to survive? | |
|equip them for survival within their environment? | |Lesson 1 Engage: |
| |What are some of the major ecosystems in the ocean? |What are the students’ current understandings regarding ocean zones and|
| | |the needs of living animals? |
| |What is an adaptation? |Lesson 2 Explore: |
| | |What are the four main ocean habitats we are studying and what are |
| |Why do animals have adaptations? |their important physical features? |
| | |Lesson 3: Explain |
| |What does an animal need to be able to do to survive? |What are adaptations and why do animals have them? |
| | | |
| |What types of adaptations are there? |Lesson 4: Elaborate |
| | |How do sea creatures use their adaptations to survive in their habitat?|
| | | |
| | |Lesson 5: Evaluate |
| | |What features/adaptations would regular animals need in order to |
| | |survive in an ocean environment? |
Figure 1:
(Australian Academy of Science, 2005).
|Phase/ Lesson |Science outcomes |Literacy outcomes |Lesson Summary |Assessment opportunities |
| | | | | |
| |Students will be able to: |Contribute to discussion about habitats and the |Activity 1: |Diagnostic |
| |Represent their current understanding |ocean (oral literacy) |Home for a Fish: |Analysing initial drawing/ labelling record |
|Lesson 1 |regarding the ocean/habitats and the needs of|Labelling a diagram |In small groups students design a fish tank, |their justification and conceptions, |
|Engage |living animals. |Justification of additions to fish tank |including labelling and justifications of |Reviewing science journal entries (first lesson|
| | |Record ideas in their science journal |inclusions |and eventually last) |
| | | |Collating ideas to create an ideal habitat for |General observations |
| | | |fish. Question, discuss and justify labels. | |
| | | | | |
| | | |Activity 2: | |
| | | | | |
| | | |Rocket Writing: | |
| | | |Use prior knowledge to create 1 of 4 ocean | |
| | | |environment (reef, ocean floor, open water, rock | |
| | | |pool) including organisms and appropriate | |
| | | |conditions/ surroundings. | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|Phase/ Lesson |Science outcomes |Literacy outcomes |Lesson Summary |Assessment opportunities |
| | | | | |
| |Students will be able to: |Class discussion on sea life and their habitats. |Activity 1: |Formative |
| |Identify the four zones of the ocean and what|Identifying and writing about the prior knowledge | |Analysing their questions sheets and charts |
| |kind of animals live within each zone |they have on certain sea creatures’ habitats. |Roam and Write: |which have been completed throughout the |
| |(habitat) |Answer set questions, using prior knowledge and |Students roam around the classroom and look at |lesson. |
|Lesson 2 |Be able to answer questions on simple |drawing on what they have learnt in class. |different sea creatures that have been scattered |Reviewing science journal entries. |
|Explore |physical adaptations. |Creating their own question to pose to another |around the room (preserved animals or pictures) |General observations |
| | |student. |Students must identify the zones and what their | |
| | | |characteristics are, and also identify which animals | |
| | | |live in which zone. | |
| | | | | |
| | | |Activity 2: | |
| | | | | |
| | | |Q&A: | |
| | | |Students answer a set of questions about different | |
| | | |animal’s habitats and touching on adaptations. | |
| | | |Students must then create their own question to pose | |
| | | |to another student. | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|Phase/ Lesson |Science outcomes |Literacy outcomes |Lesson Summary |Assessment opportunities |
| | | | | |
| |Students will be able to: |Small group work allows for students to practise |Activity 1: |Formative |
| | |their speaking and listening skills; whole class | |Students will be assessed on their ability |
| |Compare similarities and differences of the |discussions also permit this. |Revising Prior Knowledge |to apply their knowledge of adaptations. |
| |ocean environments |Students are introduced to new vocabulary which | |This will allow the teacher to see if they |
| |Make connections between an animal’s adaptations|they start using in written and verbal responses. |Students discuss what they know about the four |understand what an adaptation is and what |
|Lesson 3 |and its environment |Students practise their writing skills when |ocean zones and the animals that live in these |category/s of adaptation it best fits into. |
|Explain |Understand the definition of an adaptation |filling out the venn diagram worksheet. |zones. Students will develop a suitable definition|Venn diagrams will be analysed to see if the|
| |Justify an adaptation into its correct category |Students read the writing the teacher models on |for the term “adaptations” |students understand that there is a |
| | |the butcher paper which displays correct letter | |continuum to adaptations, as there can be |
| | |formation, grammar and punctuation. |Activity 2: |features that are physical, behavioural or |
| | | | |both |
| | | |Sea Creature Analysis: | |
| | | | | |
| | | |Students are to think of as many physical | |
| | | |features/behaviours of the sea creature in the | |
| | | |ocean zone and place them in the correct | |
| | | |category/s on the venn diagram. | |
| | | |Students determine what type of adaptations the | |
| | | |creatures show/display | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|Phase/ Lesson |Science outcomes |Literacy outcomes |Lesson Summary |Assessment opportunities |
| |Students will be able to: |Small group discussions about adaptations of |Activity 1: |Summative |
| |Apply knowledge to new situations with |sea creatures. |Clue game: |Observing the students drawing and annotating |
|Lesson 4 |adaptations of sea creatures. |Expressing and writing down their ideas about|Students will be given clues (read, feel or view) |after. |
|Elaborate |Explain why certain creatures have certain |adaptations of a specific sea creature and |about a certain creature in the ocean. |Reviewing science journal predictions and |
| |adaptations (ie. For survival in their |why and how they use these adaptations. |They will use these clues to predict what the |review the students drawings. |
| |habitat) and represent this knowledge in | |mystery sea creature is. | |
| |various ways. | |Activity 2: | |
| | | |Annotated drawing: | |
| | | |The students will be split into groups and will | |
| | | |create an annotated drawing of a sea creature of | |
| | | |their choice. | |
| | | |Students will interview each other about their sea| |
| | | |creatures, pretending to be experts. | |
| | | |Science Journals: | |
| | | |Students will use their journals to jot down the | |
| | | |clues and write down their predictions. | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|Phase/ Lesson |Science outcomes |Literacy outcomes |Lesson Summary |Assessment opportunities |
| | | | | |
| |Students will be able to: |Justify the changes made to animal through |Activity 1: |Summative: |
|Lesson 5 |Demonstrate their knowledge of adaptations, |written and oral language | |Analysing the visual, oral and written justification |
|Evaluate |the need for adaptations and the different |Rocket writing – record knowledge gained over|Adapting Animals to live in the Ocean: |of the changes/adaptations made to the existing |
| |types of adaptations within the ocean |the course of the unit (4 zones of the ocean)|Adapting an existing animal from a different |animal |
| |environment | |environment to survive in one of the four ocean |Compare rocket writing from first class and this |
| |Represent their knowledge of adaptations | |habitats. Adaptations for: |class. Note what has changed and what has been |
| |through different forms of communication – | |Protection |learnt. |
| |visual, oral, written. | |Movement | |
| |Show development of knowledge of the four | |Food | |
| |ocean zones throughout the unit. | |Justifying changes in animal (showing knowledge) | |
| | | | | |
| | | |Activity 2: | |
| | | | | |
| | | |Rocket Writing: | |
| | | |Five minutes of silent writing where students | |
| | | |write down everything they now know about the four| |
| | | |habitats in the ocean. | |
| | | | | |
• Water ager/chlorine neutraliser
• Biological aquarium booster
• Fish food
• Fish net
• Vacation feeder blocks
• Workbook (1 per child)
• A4 paper
• Home for a fish lesson plan (2012) Linda Hobbs
• Fish tank
• A gold fish
• Live plants
• Gravel/ small pebbles
• Water conditioner
•
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