Animal groups

Animal groups

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about using the features of animals to work out which group they belong to.
How to do this task:
  1. You will be given a card with an animal on it.
  2. Write down the name of the animal that is on your card. ___________________________
  3. Look at the animal carefully.
a)
Write down all the features of your animal.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  1.  Now move around the class, until you find all the other students who have the same features.
  2. Look at all the features and animals in you group.
b)
What is the name of the larger group all your animals belong to?
 
_________________________________________________________
 
c)
Write down all the features of the animal group your animal belongs to.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Task administration: 
Equipment:
Class set of animal cards.
  • This task assesses student understanding of the features of the vertebrate groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.
  • Each student will be given a card with a picture of a vertebrate on it.
  • The students need to list as many features of their animal as they can.
  • Students then get into groups with other students whose animals have the same features.
  • Once in these groups, students must write down what they think the animal group is and the features that characterise that particular group.
  • You may want to check that students are in the correct groupings before they identify the animal group and the features common to their animal group.
  • Students could do a), b) and c) collectively as a group task, or individually.
  • This task may be repeated, but students need to be given an animal from a different group.
  • The amphibian group may be optional because of its difficulty.
 
animal sheet 1

 
animal sheet 2
Level:
3
Curriculum info: 
Science, Knowledge, Living World
Keywords: 
evolution, classification, vertebrates, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, group assessment, practical
Description of task: 
This practical task assesses students' understanding of the different features of the vertebrate groups. Students need to identify the larger group that their animal card belongs too, then work with other students with the same group to write down all the features of that group.
Making Better Sense: 
Vertebrates
Answers/responses: 

a)

Correctly identifies the larger group that their animal belongs to.

b)

Mammals
Any 3 of:

  • Have fur/hair.
  • Young are born live.
  • Young are fed milk.
  • Have teeth.
  • Are warm blooded.

Birds
Any 3 of:

  • Have a beak.
  • Have feathers.
  • Have wings/can fly.
  • Lay eggs.
  • Have two legs (are bipedal).
  • Are warm blooded.

Reptiles
Any 2 of:

  • Have horny or scaly skin.
  • Lay eggs.
  • Are cold blooded.

Fish
Any 3 of:

  • Fins.
  • Gills/can breathe under water.
  • Scales.
  • Lay eggs.

Amphibians
Any 2 of:

  • Can breathe through their skin.
  • Live on both land and in water.
  • Explains that amphibians can have two stages (larval and adult) or gives specific example.
  • Like fish and reptiles, grow continuously throughout their life.