Is it a mammal, bird, or reptile?

Is it a mammal, bird, or reptile?

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources

Mammals, birds, and reptiles are all animals. One of the ways we can sort animals into their groups is by looking at their features (what they look like). For each animal below tick the features of that animal in the boxes provided.
Some features may be found in more than one group. The first one has been started for you. This shows that this animal has fur.

  a)

 b)

 c)
Feature Seal Crocodile Penguin
fur    
warm-blooded      
lays eggs      
feathers      
cold-blooded      
gives birth to live young      
skin covered with scales      
This animal belongs to
_______________ group.
_______________ group.
_______________ group.
 

 

d)
 
i)
 
What is 1 feature that birds and reptiles have in common? ____________________
 
 
ii)
What is 1 feature of birds that is different from mammals? ____________________
Copyright: 

Photo: © J.Fisher, www.photokete.co.nz


Source: www.nepa.gov.jm (2005)

Source: en.wikipedia.org (2005)

 
Level:
3
Curriculum info: 
Science, Knowledge, Living World
Keywords: 
evolution, classification, birds, mammals, reptiles
Description of task: 
Task: Identify the features of three animals, name their classification group, and answer two questions comparing features of the groups. Assessment focus: classification of animals.
Making Better Sense: 
Generic/Mixture
Answers/responses: 
 

Y6 (11/2004)

a)

   

fur (given)
warm-blooded
gives birth to live young
mammal

-
moderate
easy
easy

b)

   

lays eggs
cold-blooded
skin covered with scales
reptile

very easy
moderate
very easy
easy

c)

   

warm-blooded
lays eggs
feathers
bird

moderate
very easy
easy
easy

d)

i)
ii)

lays eggs
feathers or lays eggs

moderate
moderate

Results based on a sample of 133 Year 6 students.

Diagnostic and formative information: 
 

Incorrect responses

Possible reasons for responses

a)

25 of the trial students thought that the seal was cold-blooded.
13 thought that seals lay eggs.

These misconceptions may be due to the fact that a seal is a marine mammal, and so features of a fish are attributed to it.

b)

80 students correctly identified that a crocodile is cold-blooded.
7 incorrectly ticked warm-blooded, and the rest omitted this feature.

    

c)

27 students thought that a penguin has fur.

This is quite a common misconception, because the structure of the penguin’s feathers makes a smooth covering. This is a special adaptation because of the cold environment it lives in.

c)

15 thought that a penguin is cold-blooded.

Students may be linking blood temperature to the temperature of the environment.
 
Students found it easy to scientifically classify the animals, but were less able to correctly identify all of the features of each group. Research shows that students are likely to consider only one feature when they are classifying animals, and are not consistent about what feature they choose. Encourage students to think about a range of features when classifying.
Comparing animals is another ARB task that compares mammales reptiles and birds.
 
Other Level 3 and 4 classification resources are: