From Dinosaurs to Kangaroos

I often refer to the ‘Dinosaur Principal’ when I speak about the complexities of language and problem solving that young (F-3) students are capable of exhibiting. Anyone who has a 6 to 8 year old (particularly boys) would know that there is a certain fascination around Dinosaurs. In the classes I worked with at Findon there was at least one student in each class who had an exceptional knowledge of Dinosaurs and a large proportion could name at least 5 or 6, as well as describe features of them.

So the teachers at Findon chose this lesson (From Dinosaurs to Kangaroos) as the ‘Carrot’ to develop a unit around understanding animals and their features, as well as how animals have evolved and adapted over time. These are quite complex concepts, but I figure, if a student can name and describe in detail a Tyrannosaurus Rex and their interactions with other Dinosaurs, then they are capable of understanding concepts of evolution, ecology, adaptation and complex interactions that occur in nature.

I delivered the lesson to four different classes with a 1 hour time slot for each group. There were two grade 2 classes, a 2/3 class and a grade 3 class so there was slight variation in the way each session was approached, with the predominantly grade 2 sessions focused more on activity, rather than the presentation.  If I do this lesson again, I would probably re-write the topic to cover two sessions; one on the classification of Dinosaurs and another on modern animals (with similar features). Another aspect worth reviewing would be how to establish a deep understanding of the concepts in individual students. So a follow up lesson could include a reflection on the session and a word match game that could clearly demonstrate a link between the features of animals and their behavior.

The lesson was delivered in three parts (See the Full Lesson Plan):

1. Expert talk (approx 30mins). I introduced the students to the concept of a dinosaur and how they are categorised. The students had an opportunity to express their own knowledge by answering questions such as "What does Bipedal mean?", "How many horns does a Triceratops have?", "How many toes does an Ornithopod have?" I related dinosaurs to the annual Inverloch Dinosaur dig and the students handed around a piece of mudstone and some examples of fossils.
2. Exploration (10-15mins) Students explored a variety of animal bones and asked questions about the particular features - especially different types of teeth.
3. Explanation / Elaboration (10-15mins) We played 'Animal Bingo'. The students worked in teams to match animals and features (such as sharp teeth, grinding teeth, long neck etc.) to the words on the bingo sheet (carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, arboreal etc.).

The 'From Dinosaurs to Kangaroos' presentation and 'Animal Bingo' sheets are available as resources for teachers.

The Butterfly Game

The Butterfly Game

Creating Bright Flowers

We've been having a ball with the Findon Biodiversity Group (FBG) at Findon Primary School. This weeks session was all about pollination and how butterflies are important in our ecosystems. Over the past few weeks, students have been creating wooden cutouts that replicate a flowers function (bright petals, nectar storage) and we've now installed them on garden stakes and put them in the ground.

At lunch time (and note this is a purely voluntary activity) we've been getting around 20 - 30 students joining in to help create the Butterfly Garden.

The Butterfly Garden Plan

The Findon Biodiversity Group (FBG) have been referring to their garden plan and putting a huge range of butterfly attracting plants into the area. 'We're hoping that butterfly habitat will attract the butterflies' says Anamika.

Collecting Nectar

Today, we worked with all the grade 5 students (Grade 4's were on camp) and had the first attempt at running the Butterfly Game. Students were placed into teams of 4-6 and equipped with a pipette (Nectar sucker) and a bucket (Nectar storage unit).

Butterflies (students) then took it in turns to race down to the flowers and collect a pipette full of nectar (colored water) and then take it back to their 'home'. After 5 minutes, the teams gathered together and measured their nectar.





An interesting spin off from this game was the FBG leaders taking control of the running of the game and providing good educational context for the running of a great team activity.

'We're creating a butterfly garden to attract the indigenous butterflies by using indigenous plants that are good for butterflies and other animals' said James. 'Yes, and this game demonstrates how butterflies are important for pollination' said Emily.

 

- Andrew Stocker (Senior Coordinator Education Services)

Sustainability Game

Sustainability Game

Findon Primary School played host to yet another educational experiment in August 2013. The La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary visited the school for a session on Sustainability. The school had been undertaking an inquiry unit on economics and wanted something to tie their activities into sustainability.

So, the Sustainability Game was launched. This game was very similar to online games that students can play on their own, but we wanted something that would engage students in conversations around sustainability. The concept was quite simple, but the ideas and process was quite complex, so we were a bit concerned as to how the grade 4/5 students (and teachers) would take to the game.

The game follows a seasonal timeline where students are able to place a component of a new town onto a 'blank' patch of land - in this case a blank piece of A0 butchers paper. Students take turns adding, houses, parks, shops, council chambers, factories and pretty much anything they think would belong in a town.

Set Up

The students start with a playing board (butchers paper) and set up all the playing cards in piles. They are allocated $1500 and 200ml of the three main resources (Materials, Energy and Water). A marker is placed on the Play Card in the 'Summer' position.

Play starts by the first student in the team (of 4-6 students) placing an infrastructure card on the play board. Resources are then subtracted from their supply and discarded in the pollution bucket. The market is then moved to the next season and the second student takes a turn.

The catch is students a limited amount of resources in which to construct their town and decisions need to be made about minimising resource use or impact.

For example a standard house will cost 10ml in resources, 10ml in electricity and $50k to create, whereas an Eco house cost a bit more, but running costs are much less.

The Purpose

This is not a game for determining a winner or loser, it is not a game where a team of students create the ideal 'ecotopia'... It is a game that is designed to draw out conversation and negotiation skills in students and promote a team approach to problem solving. Along the way there is loads of manipulation and calculation skills, so it is great in developing students understanding of measurement.

Student and Teacher Feedback

The most significant (unexpected) feedback on our first test run was that all students were fully engaged in their discussions. Once students got their heads around the concept, it was about an hour of total immersion. Jack, a grade 4 student was keen to get his team installing Eco Houses because 'we can save heaps and we also get some pollution back'... ' we chose to put this into Energy, because we were running a bit low'. Mary commented on the game saying 'We ran out of materials really early, which meant we had nothing left to build a council chambers'.

Teachers commented on how engaged the students were. Alyson saying that it was much better than on-line, similar activities, because the students were engaged with each other as well as the game.

 

- Andrew Stocker (Senior Coordinator Education Services)