Adaptation resources

Diagrams of four different vertebrate tails are illustrated. Students are required to name an animal that has each type of tail, and then explain how the animal uses this type of tail.

Task: students write the sense related to various parts of a dog's body. Assessment focus: sensory organs.

Students match each plant diagram to a description that matches the adaptation for each particular plant. They then explain two of their answers.

Students read about the adaptations of a fictitious dinosaur, and then draw and colour in a picture of a dinosaur that illustrates these adaptations.

Task: identify two features that enable a sea lion to live in water. Assessment focus: adaptations.

Assessment focus: deciding which description of the main idea of an informational text is most appropriate, and justifying their thinking. The text used is about the adaptation of bird's feet to their environment.

Task: Use a diagram and fact file to answer questions about sharks' fins. Assessment focus: adaptations of sharks to facilitate movement in water.

Task: Use close observation of photos and prior knowledge, to write explanations of how the special features of animal tongues help animals survive in their habitats. Assessment focus: structure and function.

Task: Read a short piece of narrative. Identify and explain the behavioural adaptations of oystercatchers. Assessment focus: interpreting text to identify behavioural adaptations and their purposes.

Task: Design a plant that meets the criteria for a particular environment. Assessment focus: identifying specific features of a plant and explaining how they help it survive in its environment.

Students answer one question about diet given the type of beak that birds have. Students are also asked about how scientists might investigate information about moa.

Task: students explain links between a bird's feet and its lifestyle.

Task: Identify adaptations of 3 animals that live under the soil, and design an animal that could live underground. Self-assess the design by considering given criteria. Assessment focus: adaptations that enable an animal to live underground.

Task: Choose images to enhance a science text about an adaptation of kererū, compare the messages of images, and reflect on the role of illustrations in science texts. Assessment focus: using and interpreting images in science texts.

Four different vertebrate animals are illustrated. For each animal the student needs to name the body part used by each animal to move, and then explain how this part makes the animal move.

Students give two reasons why it is an advantage for a porcupine fish to inflate its body and have its spines stick out when it is in danger.

Task: Complete chart to show how birds' feet and beaks are suitably adapted for their particular food and environment. Assessment focus: inference.

Task: Describe on a chart how a duck's features help it to survive, then infer what might happen if these features were changed in some way. Assessment focus: how adaptations aid survival.

Students explain how two armoured reptiles' adaptations protect them from being eaten by predators.

Task: View photograph to explain how a chiton protects itself in its environment. Assessment focus: identifying features that help to protect an animal in its particular environment.

Task: Students use an image of an Australian lizard to explain what purpose is served by the lizard's tail looking like its head. Assessment focus: features for survival.

Task: Match insects to their adaptations for protection against enemies, and infer two ways stick insects are adapted for their protection against predators. Assessment focus: using observations to make suggestions about survival methods.

Task: Use features of velociraptors to make inferences about their life style. Assessment focus: using evidence to make inferences.

Task: choose 3 features of a mosquito and say how they help it survive. Assessment focus: adaptations for survival.

Task: Match cards to show the relationship of birds' beaks and feet to the food they eat. Assessment focus: adaptations.