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Science / Year 5 / Science Understanding / Biological sciences

Curriculum content descriptions

Living things have structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment (ACSSU043)

Elaborations
  • explaining how particular adaptations help survival such as nocturnal behaviour, silvery coloured leaves of dune plants
  • describing and listing adaptations of living things suited for particular Australian environments
  • exploring general adaptations for particular environments such as adaptations that aid water conservation in deserts
ScOT terms

Adaptation (Evolution),  Animal behaviour

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It’s Alive: Conditions on Earth

In this resource, students investigate and measure the conditions of planet Earth. They explore temperature, gravity and the needs of living things. Students also discuss how some conditions on Earth are constant, while other conditions regularly change, and how living things have adaptations to survive these changes.

Online

Cats, Dogs and Us: Education pack (years 5-6)

This education pack is an International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) resource designed to build students' understanding about the special place domestic cats and dogs have in people's lives. The pack consists of a teaching guide, a student magazine and five student worksheets focusing on topics such as the physical characteristics ...

Interactive

Natural selection

This interactive simulation explores how genetic variability in a population leads to natural selection. In a series of simulations students explore which mutations are favoured by the selection agents of predators and food variety and which mutations are neutral; which traits change the survivability of an organism in ...

Video

Can We Help?: Can seahorse dads really have babies?

Peter Rowsthorn visits Melbourne Aquarium to answer the question 'Do male seahorses give birth to their young?' Discover the answer as a marine expert describes Syngnathids, a unique family of fish. Learn what makes the seahorse and the sea dragon so unusual in the marine animal world.

Online

Every drop counts, being water wise!

This activity aims to explore water usage and water saving ideas. Every drop counts! OUTCOMES are for children to: understand the importance of water; look at ways to help save water; and undertake a water audit.

Interactive

Field Guide to NSW Fauna - Google Play app

View descriptions of NSW fauna together with maps of distribution, images and endangered species rating. Animals are grouped by mammals, reptiles, fishes, amphibians, birds or insects and other invertebrates. Info pages include images and animal sounds. Free when reviewed on 26/08/2024.

Interactive

Field Guide to NSW Fauna - iTunes app

View descriptions of NSW fauna together with maps of distribution, images and endangered species rating. Animals are grouped by mammals, reptiles, fishes, amphibians, birds or insects and other invertebrates. Info pages include images and animal sounds. Free when reviewed on 26/08/2024.

Interactive

Field Guide to Northern Territory Fauna - Google play app

View descriptions of Northern Territory fauna together with maps of distribution, images and endangered species rating. Animals are grouped by mammals, reptiles, fishes, amphibians, birds or insects and other invertebrates. Info pages include images and animal sounds. Free when reviewed on 26/08/2024.

Interactive

Field Guide to Northern Territory Fauna - iTunes app

View descriptions of Northern Territory fauna together with maps of distribution, images and endangered species rating. Animals are grouped by mammals, reptiles, fishes, amphibians, birds or insects and other invertebrates. Info pages include images and animal sounds. Free when reviewed on 26/08/2024.

Interactive

Field guide to Victorian Fauna - iTunes app

View descriptions of Victorian fauna together with maps of distribution, images and endangered species rating. Animals are grouped by mammals, reptiles, fishes, amphibians, birds or insects and other invertebrates. Info pages include images and animal sounds. Free when reviewed on 26/08/2024.

Interactive

Field guide to Queensland Fauna - iTunes app

View descriptions of Queensland fauna together with maps of distribution, images and endangered species rating. Animals are grouped by mammals, reptiles, fishes, amphibians, birds or insects and other invertebrates. Info pages include images and animal sounds. Free when reviewed on 26/08/2024.

Audio

Lakes in Antarctica

Scientists are not complacent. We still have a lot to learn about the water cycle. The discovery of glacial lakes under the ice in Antarctica actively transporting water between reservoirs was a surprise. These lakes can be up to 3km beneath the ice sheets. The pressure of the ice above helps to melt the ice, forming lakes. ...

Video

Kids in the Garden, Ep 7: Fungi: how they grow

If a mushroom is not a plant, what is it? Discover a group of living things that are neither animals nor plants. Explore the mysterious world of fungi and find out the conditions that they need before they can grow.

Video

DTiF in conversation with Kevin Bradley and Cassandra Arkinstall from Save the Bilby Fund – Using Digital Technologies to help save bilbies

Kevin Bradley, CEO of Save the Bilby Fund, and Cassandra Arkinstall, a researcher and volunteer at Save the Bilby Fund explain how important digital technologies are in the campaign to save the bilby from extinction. The video explains how digital systems are used to collect and visualise data and help eradicate threats ...

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Built To Survive Learning Resource

The Built to Survive learning resource includes five lessons that explore different habitats and the animals that survive within them. To complete each lesson students become documentary hosts, drawing on their research and following the format of the Built to Survive documentary series. The resource also includes a module ...

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Teaching with videogames: Geography and Environmental Science with TerraNil

In this lesson, students restore environments and ecosystems in a future, desolate planet earth, using existing and imagined technologies with Terra Nil.

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The Geometry and Algebra of Honeycomb - Calculate

This integrated unit of work explores the amazing structures of honeycomb by examining the properties of regular and irregular polygons and polyhedra. Students then move on to solve problems using geometric and algebraic reasoning.

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Adaptive Speciation of Honeybees - Calculate

Using the example of the humble honey bee, this integrated Science and Mathematics unit illustrates the way in which speciation occurs in nature and explains how living things adapt to survive in their environment. In doing so, the unit describes the nature of simple multiplicative number sequences and how simple algebraic ...

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Designer Ears

This activity invites students to design and make 'better' ears for themselves using card. They explore how their ears relate to different shaped ears for different animals and how the structure is related to their function. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, what to do ...

Downloadable

DT Challenge - 7/8 Python - Biology

Learn about the differences between animals, and how biologists use programming to help them do science! We'll learn about the features of animals, and how to use their differences in order to classify them. So hop in and learn some science!