Lesson overview
Kingdoms and animal groups: Which group does this organism belong to?
Organism cards come out of a box one at a time. Make a first guess, look closer with a hand lens or at a microscope print, then choose the group whose features fit, and the card goes into its tray. Sort plant or animal, the five vertebrate groups and the four arthropod groups. In the Supplement, sort a fungus, a protoctist, bacteria, a fern, two flowering plants and a virus.
Suggested sequence
- Lesson 1 · Plant or animal? The vertebrates. Plant or animal kingdom, and the five groups of vertebrates. Read together (10–15 min), show or explore the experiment (10 min), practise with self-checking (15–20 min).
- Lesson 2 · The arthropods. The four groups of arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and myriapods. Read together (10–15 min), show or explore the experiment (10 min), practise with self-checking (15–20 min).
- Lesson 3 · Supplement: five kingdoms, plant groups and viruses. Supplement: the five kingdoms, ferns and flowering plants, and viruses. Read together (10–15 min), show or explore the experiment (10 min), practise with self-checking (15–20 min).
- End of module · final check. 10 new questions, 20–30 min, without hints or notes; pupils check their answers once they have answered them all.
- One to two weeks later · return questions. 10 questions, 15 min, lesson closed.
Learning goals
Part 1: Plant or animal? The vertebrates
- State the main features used to place organisms into the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom (1.3.1)
- State the main features used to place vertebrates into mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish (1.3.2)
- Classify organisms into these kingdoms and vertebrate groups by their features (1.3.3)
Part 2: The arthropods
- State the main features of arthropods: jointed legs, an exoskeleton and a segmented body (1.3.2)
- State the main features used to place arthropods into insects, arachnids, crustaceans and myriapods (1.3.2)
- Classify arthropods into these groups by counting body parts, legs and antennae (1.3.3)
Part 3: Supplement: five kingdoms, plant groups and viruses
- Supplement: state the main features used to place organisms into the five kingdoms: animals, plants, fungi, protoctists and prokaryotes (S1.3.4)
- Supplement: state the main features used to place plants into ferns and flowering plants, and flowering plants into monocotyledons and dicotyledons (S1.3.5)
- Supplement: classify organisms into these kingdoms and plant groups by their features (S1.3.6)
- Supplement: state the features of viruses: a protein coat and genetic material (S1.3.7)
Misconceptions to listen for
- “Only plants are made of cells.” — Both kingdoms are made of many cells; the difference is what the cells have: walls and chloroplasts in plants.
- “Animal cells have a cell wall too.” — Animal cells have a cell membrane only; a wall made of cellulose is a plant feature.
- “It stays in one place, so it must be a plant.” — Many animals stay fixed to one spot. Look for cell walls, chloroplasts and how the organism gets its food.
- “Reptiles and fish are one group, because both have scales.” — Fish have scales and fins and breathe with gills; reptiles have dry scaly skin and breathe air.
- “Amphibians have scales.” — Amphibian skin is moist with no scales; dry skin with scales is a reptile feature.
- “A penguin is not a bird, because it cannot fly.” — Flying is not a bird feature: feathers, a beak, wings and eggs with hard shells are, and the penguin has all of them.
- “An animal that lives on land and in water is an amphibian.” — Amphibians are placed by moist skin with no scales and soft eggs laid in water, not by where they live.
- “A bat is a bird, because it has wings.” — Birds have feathers and a beak. A bat has fur and ear flaps and feeds its young on milk, so it is a mammal.
- “A lizard is an amphibian, because it looks like a newt.” — Look at the skin: dry with scales is a reptile; moist with no scales is an amphibian.
- “Reptiles lay their eggs in water.” — Most reptiles lay eggs with rubbery shells on land; soft eggs laid in water are an amphibian feature.
Scope
The main features used to place animals and plants into their kingdoms (1.3.1), the main features of the five vertebrate groups and the four arthropod groups (1.3.2) and classifying organisms with them (1.3.3) in the reading, the practice and the sorting experiment; (Supplement) the main features of the five kingdoms (1.3.4), of ferns and of flowering plants, monocotyledons and dicotyledons (1.3.5), classifying with them (1.3.6) and the features of viruses, a protein coat and genetic material (1.3.7), in part 3 and the Supplement cards.