Task: Students interpret information about couch grass from a diagram and explain why its special features make it difficult to get rid of. Assessment focus: special features ensure a plant's survival.
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: Students use an image of an Australian lizard to explain what purpose is served by the lizard's tail looking like its head. Assessment focus: features for survival.
Task: Read a short piece of narrative. Identify and explain the behavioural adaptations of oystercatchers. Assessment focus: interpreting text to identify behavioural adaptations and their purposes.
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.
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: Students decide what sort of animals two skulls belong to. A self-assessment checklist is included. Assessment focus: using evidence to identify carnivores and herbivores.
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.
For this task students match animals to a description that has characteristics of that animal group. Then students use keywords to identify the larger animal group a number of different animals belong to.