Science resources

Task: Sort vertebrate animals according to given classification groups. Assessment focus: classification of animals.

Task: sort cards into groups. Assessment focus: classification

Students use a diagram showing similar and dissimilar characteristics of reptiles, birds, and mammals, to answer questions regarding these features.

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.

Task: group pictures of animals under headings. Assessment focus: classification of mammals, birds, and insects.

Name the group various animals belong to. Assessment focus: classification.

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.

Task: use a key to identify which major group 4 plants belong to. Assessment focus: using a key to classify plants.

Students classify a range of animals as mammals, birds, or fish.

Students are given four pictures, and are asked to draw a circle around the picture that is not a bird, and then give a reason for their choice. Similarly, they circle animals that are not mammals, fish, and molluscs.

Task: Describe on a chart how a duck's features help it to survive, then infer what might happen if these features were changed in some way. Assessment focus: how adaptations aid survival.

Task: identify two features that enable a sea lion to live in water. Assessment focus: adaptations.

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: Use a diagram and fact file to answer questions about sharks' fins. Assessment focus: adaptations of sharks to facilitate movement in water.

Task: multiple choice questions and interpreting a diagram. Assessment focus: phases of the moon.

Students are provided with a map that has numbers on it representing various ash fall depths from a volcanic eruption. Students draw lines to link the similar numbers and answer questions about these. They also explain three major problems an ash fall could cause.

Students are provided with a table that gives them some properties of five different materials. They answer four short answer questions that involve interpreting information from the table.

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.

Task: Interpret the information on a chart to provide evidence of the likely cause of oxygen deficiency. Assessment focus: interpreting data.

Task: Select which state of water applies to a list of places where water can be found. Assessment focus: states of water.

Use knowledge of insulation to answer questions about baked Alaska dessert, and how it compares to a chilly bin. Assessment focus: Interpreting diagrams, interpreting analogies, and using knowledge of insulation.

Task: Describe what happens to ice in a glass of water, giving reasons, and explain where water forming on the outside of the glass comes from. Assessment focus: changes of state.

Task: Match terms with definition. Assessment focus: science vocabulary.

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