Year 5
Full day program
9.15am–2.15pm
Big idea
All living things have adaptations for the particular environment in which they live in order to survive.
Curriculum links
Science, HASS (Geography), Cross Curriculum priorities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures and Sustainability - see matrix for more details.
Program overview
In the Amazing Adaptations program, students use science and/or HASS inquiry skills to collect evidence about the ways plants and animals are adapted to different environments and how humans and the environment influence characteristics of places. Amazing Adaptations also incorporates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander understandings of Country and how Indigenous Australians both care for and manage the land through sustainable use of resources and traditional firestick burning. During the program held at Bunyaville Conservation Park, students participate in a two-hour earthwalk and your choice of two activities outlined below.
Plant Places
Students explore three different habitats within the Bunyaville Conservation Park and investigate the different adaptations that plants have developed to live successfully within these areas.
Ponding
Students study the animals and plants of a pond, behaviours and structural features for living within an aquatic ecosystem. In the field, students use pond nets to collect and identify aquatic macro-invertebrates (water bugs), discussing and reflecting on their findings.
Birds
Guided by the visiting teacher, students use binoculars to observe and investigate the behaviours and structural features of birds that inhabit the forest environment of the Bunyaville Conservation Park.
Earthwalk
A forest walk immerses the students in the forest environment and connects them to a local natural place. Earthwalk activities are tailored to the specific curriculum needs of the visiting teacher and provide students with opportunities to apply science and HASS geography inquiry skills and higher order thinking in a real-world context. A typical earthwalk in this program will provide students with an opportunity to:
- explore the behaviours and structural features of animals and plants within the forest environment
- investigate behaviours and structural features of eucalypts that allow them to survive and regenerate when exposed to fire
- contemplate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives of Country, how it should be cared for and sustainable use of natural resources
- examine Indigenous land management and custodianship and how humans and the environment, influence characteristics of a place
- consider how fire can be used for land management in Australian forests.
For this program you will need to refer to the relevant Curriculum Activity Risk Assessments.