Oz-e-Science: Biology Year 4

Biology Year 4 is a Biological Sciences unit for Year 4 students.

It aligns to the Australian Curriculum Science Understanding: 

• Living things depend on each other and the environment to survive (ACSSU074)
• Living things have life cycles (ACSSU072) 

Success Criteria

• Identify the needs of living things.
• Observe living things in the environment.
• Investigate the importance of food to birds.
• Explain that living things need food.
• Investigate the importance of water to plants.
• Explain that living things need water.
• Investigate the needs of hermit crabs.
• Classify living and non-living things.
• Sort the living and non-living things.
• Identify the unique ways living things meet their needs.
• Compare the needs of humans and hermit crabs.
• Plan a diorama for your chosen living thing.
• Communicate the needs of your chosen living thing. 

Learning objectives

In Lessons 1 to 9, students learn about:

• the symbiotic relationships where both living things benefit – mutualism.
• the symbiotic relationships between flowering plants and pollinators where both living things benefit – mutualism.
• the three steps to asking questions about the world around us.
• the symbiotic relationships where one living thing benefits and the other living thing does not benefit and is not harmed – commensalism.
• the scientific method Charles Darwin followed when he observed, questioned and hypothesised about the possible pollinator of an unusual plant.
• the symbiotic relationships where one living thing benefits and the other living thing is harmed— parasitism.
• the life cycles of plants.
• the life cycles of animals including metamorphosis.
• Complete reading research about a chosen living thing.
• Create a documentary about your chosen living thing. 

Resources

Teaching Resources

• Lessons
• Teaching Guide
• Student Workbook
• Recital List
• Living Planet Handbook

Assessment

Progress tests
Progress tests are conducted after every second lesson, allowing teachers to monitor student understanding of the concepts taught over the past two lessons and to identify where reteaching is needed. The Teaching Guide contains the testing questions, and the Student Workbook has a section where students write their answers and score themselves.
Structured Research Activity
The Structured Research Activity (SRA) for this unit is: Students create and present a mini documentary about a living thing. The SRA takes place over two lessons so students can apply the Science Understanding and Science Inquiry Skills covered in the unit. Teachers use the Guide to Making Judgements, which is included in the Teaching Guide, to mark the SRA.
End-of-unit assessment
The last lesson is the end-of-unit assessment, which has a variety of question formats (e.g. label the diagram, circle the correct answer) to assess student mastery of content from the unit.
The end-of-unit assessment is in the Teaching Guide. Teachers copy the assessment and distribute to students at testing time.