Ecology resources

Students combine their observations with some information provided to complete a story about what might have happened in the photograph.

Task: Students read a short written text to explain how the special features of wild ginger help it survive. Assessment focus: explanation of wild ginger's special features and why it is a pest plant.

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.

Students are provided with a picture of a New Zealand native bird. Students select a word from a given list to name each of these bird parts. Students are then required to explain why the bird needs each of these named parts.

Task: Students give oral explanations about how the features of a wētā or a mallard duck help it survive in its environment. Peer assessment sheets are included. Assessment focus: structure and function.

A bar graph showing the percentage of endangered species threatened by predation, competition, and/or habitat loss is given. Students use this graph to answer questions and explain the terms; predation, competition, and habitat loss.

Using a diagram of a crab, students explain some of the crab's adaptations.

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.

Using a labelled flower, students select the parts which are responsible for seed formation, pollen production, and bud protection.

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

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

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.

Task: Complete a drawing of things found in a garden, and describe relationships between them. Assessment focus: interdependence in a garden.

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: 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.

Task: Answer questions about frog's skin adaptations, and use this information to think about consequences of chytrid fungus for Archey's frogs. Assessment focus: using information to think about management of native endangered species.

Using information about 'feeding links' between several different animals and plants students draw a food web to show all these links.

Students use a diagram that shows a food web to answer five questions about the information within the food web.

Task: Read a story about a cat and use the information to draw a food chain. Assessment focus: Using information to construct a food chain.

Task: Use a Venn diagram to interpret a food web based on the vegetable garden. Assessment focus: using diagrams to identify relationships between organisms; using systems thinking to describe these relationships.

Task: Students answer questions about feeding relationships in a rocky shore ecosystem. Assessment focus: interpreting a food web.

Students identify the producers, herbivores, and carnivores in four illustrated food chains. Students then explain each of these terms and explain what the arrows in food chains mean.

This task assesses student ability to find the text features of a science report about moa.

Task: Use written text about farming's contribution to climate change to complete a flow chart, and answer questions about the two texts. Assessment focus: interpreting, using, and comparing different types of text.

Task: Match birds and nests, and explain why the choice was made. Assessment focus: using environmental cues to make inferences.