Ecology resources

Students colour in three fish according to given instructions. They then explain the advantage of this colour pattern for each fish.

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: read an article about releasing hand-reared kaka into a safe environment and answer questions about the research. Assessment focus: field investigations.

Reading text to find information about how scientists work. Assessment focus: interpreting information about how scientists work.

Students are provided with a fact file on the tuatara. Students answer four questions that are based on information contained in the fact file.

Students give two pieces of information a scientist could learn from placing bands on the legs of birds.

For this NEMP task students show their understanding of the life cycle, functions and parts of a tree.

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.

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

Task: Describe how features of the New Zealand long-tailed bat help it to survive. Assessment focus: identifying features for survival.

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

For this practical task the entire class is involved in an outside activity that looks at camouflage and warning colouration. Students then share their results and answer a number of questions.

Task: Fill in a chart to identify the damage caused by various animal pests. Assessment focus: specific contextual knowledge about animal pests.

Task: Complete a drawing of things found in or near a waterway, and describe relationships between them. Assessment focus: interdependence in a waterways environment.

Task: Read a table to answer questions about when birds are likely to visit a native garden for food. Assessment focus: interpreting a table.

Students are provided with some information on the diet of eight NZ birds. Students use this information to fill in a table that identifies which birds are herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores.

Students are given a diagram and information on the ratios of black- to grey-coated possums. Students answer questions relating to this information as well as identifying a method that could be used to determine the percentage of each coat colour.

Students are provided with a narrative of two children who have gone back to the past at a time when dinosaurs existed. Students have a number of questions to answer during the narrative.