Footprints

Footprints

Pencil and paper
Overview
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
a)
Draw a line from the animal's name to its footprint.
 
 
ANIMAL     FOOTPRINT
Horse
  •  

 

[Not drawn to scale]
Cat
  •  

 
Mouse
  •  

 
Sparrow
  •  

 
Deer
  •  

 
Dog
  •  

 
     
   
b)
When could it be useful to use footprints to identify animals?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

Level:
3
Curriculum info: 
Science, Knowledge, Living World
Keywords: 
classification, footprints
Description of task: 
Task: Draw a line to match animals to their footprints, and explain why it may be useful to identify animals by their footprints. Assessment focus: using features to name animals.
Making Better Sense: 
Generic/Mixture
Answers/responses: 
 

Y6 (11/04)

a)

Horse 

Cat

Mouse

Sparrow

Deer

Dog

easy

moderate

very easy

very easy

easy

moderate

b)

For any 1 of:

  • when identifying the presence of a pest in an area.
  • when surveying the numbers and types of animals in an area.
  • when monitoring a particular animal type.
  • any other sensible answer.
 

easy

Results based on a sample of 133 Y6 students.

Diagnostic and formative information: 
 

Common error

Explanation

a)

45% of trial students mapped the Dog to the Cat print.
43% of trial students mapped the Cat to the Dog print.
21% of trial students mapped the Horse to the Deer print.
17% of trial students mapped the Deer to the Horse print.

Cats retract their claws when walking, dogs don't.

 

 

 

 

 


Both are ungulates (animals with hooves) but this group is subdivided into the number of toes the hoof has (deer have two, horses have one).