Transcription
Welcome back everybody to the Primary Science podcast season 3, deep dives. This time we're kicking off with part one of one of the biggest strands, animals including humans. Because it runs through every year group, we're splitting it into three parts. Part one today hones in on classification, diet, and basic needs of animals and humans. So joining us today, we've got three fantastic guests.
Firstly, Cla Seely, who's a primary teacher and independent primary science consultant working with primary science quality mark BBC teach and ASSE co-chair elect with extensive experience of classroom teaching both in rural and inner city contexts. CLA delivers CPD and ITT. She develops resources and supports schools nationally and internationally.
We've got Mark Mitchell, lower school science lead at Harrow International School here in Bangkok. He's a passionate keystage 1 practitioner who's been championing primary science locally for the past seven years.
And finally, Angelica Balma, science lead practitioner at North Tinside Learning Trust, PSQM hub leader, KEEPS ambassador, and primary teacher with a wealth of experience supporting teachers across all phases of primary science.
So, uh, if you're ready, let's go ahead and meet our guests. We're going to be diving into one of the biggest strands in the whole science curriculum today. And I'm joined by what I can only describe as an absolutely stellar panel to really help unpack it. But before we dive into the science, I'd just love if each of you could give us just a quick peak into the projects or ideas that have been exciting you right now at the moment. So, we'll start with Claire.
Uh Claire, a huge huge welcome and thank you for joining us.
>> A thank you. It's great to be here.
>> Got such a fascinating mix of experience from your consultancy work, your resource development to contributions with BBC Teach. What's been keeping you busy in your science world recently?
>> I'm really interested in how we develop the curriculum so that it's fit for modern life. So I'm really interested in in particularly climate change. So I've been working with cape which is climate adaptive pathways for education based at leads trinity with professor Lee Hoof and I've recently written a curriculum making guidance document which is due to be published in about October and the idea behind it is that it helps teachers to really link their science curriculum with a climate change education curriculum so that we really challenge those ideas around curriculum design. It's really topical right now because as you know we're waiting for those um results of the curriculum review and we're really hoping that this document will be helpful as educators rethink their curriculums and think about is my curriculum fit for purpose.
>> Okay, thank you very much and welcome Claire on to Mark now.
Uh Mark, absolutely fantastic to have you here and welcome to the show.
>> Oh, thank you so much. I have been a fan since your first episode many seasons back. So, it's great to be part of the panel today.
>> Lovely. It's an absolute honor. And I actually first saw you speak at the festival of education over at Wellington International School where you shared your school's journey through the primary science quality mark and kind of honestly what you showed me there it was really inspiring and that's played a big part in my own decision to take my school through the PSQM. So really really excited to have you on the panel and I just wanted to know what's keeping you busy in your science world over there at Harrow lately.
Well, we haven't slowed down since PSQM days. Um we have been focusing on the use of ICT recently uh within science sessions something which I'm rolling out in the ASSE conference over in Nottingham in January. We have been reviewing how we assess science in particular and most recently we went for the eco green flag award which we were awarded back in June. So very busy.
>> Wow. Amazing. And uh congrats on the ASSE over in the UK. That sounds like great fun.
>> Thank you.
>> Nice. Okay. Thank you Mark and Angelica. It's such a pleasure to have you with us today. Welcome to the show.
>> Oh thank you. I'm really pleased to be here. I've listened to all of the inspiring guests that you've had. So, it's really exciting to be part of the conversation now. So, thank you.
>> It's an absolute pleasure. You've been leading science across phases, supporting schools through PSQM and CEPS. What's been at the center of your science world recently?
>> Yeah. So, um it's been really wonderful because I've been given the opportunity to teach science across all the classes in my school. So, it's really given me the chance to try out new strategies with different year groups and really adapt them specifically depending on the cohorts of children that we're getting through. And I've also really loved going into other schools within the trust to do team teaching and plans plan and science with teachers when I get to see the teachers leaving. Really excited to teach the next unit of work. It's what makes me want to keep doing what I'm doing. Um, I'm also really looking forward to planning our next year of Ogden partnership to enhance the teaching of physics across the schools we work with as well.
>> It sounds like great fun and must be nice to see the whole broad range, the whole big picture.
>> It really is and a specifically this year I'm doing that again, not with every single class but of majority. So, it's actually being able to see them within the new year group and actually being able to see those skills being transferred from the previous year group. I'm not starting with like a blank slate. I already know the children really well. So, that's exciting.
>> Awesome. I look forward to hearing more about how that goes. Now, before we dive into our main discussion, I've got a little bit of a fun game lined up. It's a new one that I've not played before on the show, so going to give it a go if that's okay. Instead of family fortunes, you might have seen that on the TV, it's classroom fortunes. So, um, earlier this week, I asked my year 4 class just out here in Bangkok some, you know, sciency questions about animals, including humans. Um, keep in mind, it's only week three at the moment, so we haven't really got to grips with the actual topic yet, but obviously there's lots of prior learning and and preconceived ideas. So, what's going to happen is I've got bunch of questions that I ask the kids and then I have the top three answers that the 20 students in my class answered for each question. And your job is to try and guess what they are. Just one answer. So, you just give me one answer. If it's on the board, you get a point. Okay.
>> Make sense?
>> Yeah. Yes.
>> Do you all have a piece of paper? Even like a sticky note or a mini whiteboard?
>> Perfect. Okay, let's see how this works. Okay, so we'll try question one. Very um short question. Name a mammal. I'll give you maybe 25 seconds to have a think. Write down one answer that you think was the most popular answer. Oo. Oh, interesting. Okay, are we ready?
>> Yes.
>> Yay.
>> Got it. Dog, cat, elephant. Good. Everybody gets a point. Nice one. So far so good. Okay, question two. What do animals need to survive? I'm writing what my class said when I did this. Oh. Oh, nice. I love these answers. I love them. Okay. Right. Ready?
>> I'm very mature. My my
>> love and cuddle, Angelica.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Well, you're not starting with a blank slate then, are you, Tim? Your class is doing really well starting. Very well. Very well.
>> On the list.
>> So that might help you for the next answer then.
>> Okay. So that's a point for Mark there. So you're in the lead. Okay. I think it's time to turn it up a notch. The third question I ask my students to name a healthy food. Interesting. Oh, okay. I will allow answers that are within a certain category. Okay. So, fruit, veg, and rice. So, three for Mark, two for Angelica, two for Cla. Okay, two more questions. If you were a carnivore, what food would you love to eat? Oh, okay.
>> Is that in a burger with cheese?
>> I hope so. Yeah. Put the cheese. Put the salad.
>> We go.
>> Meat, animals, chicken.
>> Yay.
>> So, did you all get a point there?
>> Oh, yes.
>> Oh, yeah. Okay. Right. So, Angelica and Claire, we we need this. Yeah. Maybe switch your speakers off, Mark. Yeah.
>> Okay, the last one. Uh, question five. Name a predator.
>> Oh,
>> I like yours. I like yours, Angelica. It's brilliant.
>> I really like that.
>> It's cuz I saw a dinosaur behind Timy's house.
>> Maybe that's a clue.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay, here's the answers, everybody. Lion, tiger, shark.
>> I think T-Rex deserves a point.
>> It does. It's so brilliant.
>> I think I'll give bonus points to Angelica there.
>> Definitely.
>> It's fine. You've got to be good at losing as well.
>> Exactly. Exactly. Thank you so much. You're all fantastic sports there. I really appreciate you joining in. I think my class will be really proud as well to have been a part of one of the the episodes as well. So, thank you so much for playing everybody. Uh I wish we could play all day, but it is time to leave that game behind now and then get into the main discussion for today.
All right, so um here's how we're going to tackle today's deep dive. Animals including humans. It is a massive strand of course that threads pretty much right across the primary years. So rather than trying to cover everything in one go today, we're just going to focus on classification, diet, and basic needs. And then we're going to walk through that objective by objective, yearbyear. So that anybody watching in the audience, uh, whichever year you teach, if you're teaching animals, including humans, there'll be something here for you. Okay? There'll be more than something. There'll be loads of stuff.
Okay, so we're going to start right at the beginning. So, you know, year one kicks off with the basics, right? Children start naming the animals around them like dogs, cats, goldfish, frogs, and then start sorting them into those big groups like fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and all of that stuff. And then on top of that, they get that first taste of thinking about what animals eat, spotting that difference between carnivores, herbivores, omnivores. And it's that first step towards seeing the order in that wild mess in the animal kingdom.
So, um, my first question goes to Claire. How might we take children from, you know, just memorizing stuff and just naming animals to actual classification thinking at key stage one in that creative way?
>> That's a great question. So taking that science capital teaching approach, it's really good to start with your children and what they already know. So my context when I taught this, I to it was two years ago, I had a keystage one class and we started with pets and favorite animals. And as a prior activity, um I asked them at home to either draw a picture of their pet or an animal that they walk past every day or bring in a photo and their parents supported this. Um, my little learners were absolute experts on animals. There was nothing they, you know, there wasn't anything they couldn't tell you. Um, and that was really because I think of our our location. But that's that made them very empowered right at the beginning of that unit. They walked in celebrating that they knew something about this already. So, that was a really good place to to start. And we began to look at those pictures and we talked about what those animals ate and we looked at their body parts and started to learn the names of some of those body parts that maybe they weren't as familiar with. And we looked particularly at faces and feet because faces give you lots of clues about diet and and and movement, the feet with the movement. So
>> it was really about animals they already knew. And we began straight away with that classification using hoops on the floor. And we practiced that skill of sorting a lot over the topic. And they made farms and zoos. We were very playful in our approach. They made fences and enclosures and sorted the animals out that way too. Thinking about what you would feed them in the zoo or on the farm. We had little bags of plastic animals. So it was more kinesthetic rather than it always just being pictures. So we used tough trays, made different types of habitats again and they would sort the animals out um that way and we made an interactive wall display which we added to throughout that topic.
>> Oh, nice. I actually love the sound of the interactive sorting wall. Like it feels like something the kids would take that ownership of and like you said it would empower them, empower their learning. Um, could you maybe walk us through how that developed over time?
>> Totally. it morphed over the term really this this display. So I started with a pack of animal cards. They were just playing cards or something like that. They just had animal pictures on and um we just began by putting up on the walls some criteria and the children chose those criteria and that's really important that they they begin to do that right from the get-go. So it was simple things like body coverings for example, did they have skin or fur or feathers? And then we would have a selection of cards and we would have a conversation and sort the animals and put them up according to that. And over time we added new cards. So if we had five minutes, I'd get out another card and we'd add it. Sometimes we'd change the criteria completely and resort the animals right from scratch. The children drew their own animals and they would add it to this display themselves. some of those pet photos from earlier, they went up there, too. And it was a really good retrieval device because we were talking about all the different features, the body parts that animals had, their behaviors, their diets, their habitats, and actually it was a really good way of eliciting lots and lots of stuff that they knew about this topic and really starting to then apply it to this idea of classification.
>> That sounds great. It sounds like it took up a massive space on the wall as well.
>> It was a chunk of space. Yeah, it's probably a sixoot display because it it you know, we added to it a lot. We had loads of voca vocab up there as well, dual coded and all of that sort of stuff that I know most of your listeners will be doing.
>> Yeah, fantastic. Thank you so much, Claire. Um, okay, to Angelica now. What's one kind of like playful or hands-on way that you've seen teachers bring that year one animal groups to life that's both kind of, you know, safe but manageable as well in the classroom?
>> Yeah, I've following on from CLA again. They need to ensure that there are lots lots of plenty of engaging hands-on opportunities to help close the gaps in children's learning. When I start sort of planning and looking at a unit of work, I always get the teachers to sort of think about sort of the best and the least favorite sort of scenario where some children who might be coming in with so much prior knowledge. They might have been really enthusiastic reading different books, looking at all sorts of exotic animals, being able to describe them to some children who might not be able to sort of name um features like scales or hooves. So it's making sure that you're sort of prepared for that as well and tailoring learning to meet all those is key. So I found um that it's good to always sort of have practical activities ready that build on what children already know and help them engage their own level as well. Um and alongside that having lots of fun approaches so to include different types of vocabulary games across a unit. Being a bilingual teacher myself, I sort of know how important relentless repetition is. You know, you have to say it so many times to remember it. So, I've recently started triing um an approach a bit like read, write, ink, speed sounds approach at the start of a session, but this time it's scientific vocabulary and it's keep um sort of coming back to those tricky words that as a class you sort of soon learn which words they're less confident with. And then for pupils who are already confident with our vocabulary, I've seen teachers extend this with like hands-on modeling or even safe teacherled AI generated images to design animals which gives the children a huge focus on describing the features and then they can compare them to others as well. So that keeps learning playful, practical, it's inclusive for all and also really closes the gap for those children who need extra support.
>> Nice. The vocabulary game sounds like a lot of fun. I wonder if you could maybe walk us through an example uh that some of our audience teachers could just try tomorrow.
>> Yeah, it's hard to pick my favorite one, but a simple one with the least amount of prep could be something like Guess Who. So, for example, if you've got a topic like animals or you're looking at animal parts, you could call it guess what rather than guess who. And all you need to do is use the same images, same word bank that you've used throughout the unit and just display them on the board. Each child um with a partner, chooses um an animal in the head without sharing it. And then the partner asks them closed questions to try and work out which word feature or an animal they've chosen. But I would always start that as a whole class activities to make sure that everybody understands it. And then once they become more familiar as they, you know, move out move on throughout year one, they can begin to play that independently, it's a nice starter to the lesson. Um, and it gets them engaged.
>> That's really good, actually. Yeah, I think I'm uh I'm definitely one of those teachers listening in that's going to use that. So, on to Mark. When you're working with uh the younger children, what's maybe a practical activity or a hook that you've seen that really really helps them just get the idea of animal groups or maybe the difference between carnivores, herbivores, omnivores.
I would say make it tangible for for sure. When I work with younger children, I always look for the opportunities to keep it as concrete as possible at the beginning. So kind of a simple probably likely very obvious task is to start with sorting activities. You could do that through the use of toy animals or even pictures and ask them to sort those into groups. And children tend to love sorting games. It's very low stakes, low risk. So if there is a slight mistake, it's it's not the biggest deal. You know, we talk it through uh and we look at, you know, where it's where that animal is supposed to be. Um, I also like to get them moving. So, for example, to acquire the understanding of the key vocabulary, we might first introduce the word. Um, and then gain an understanding of it through some movement, such as, "If you're a herbivore, maybe we should pretend to nibble grass. If you're a carnivore, show me your claws and roar." From that, I like it because you get the laughter and the smiles from the children. and it does tend to stick into their minds a little bit more and they can recall that quite easily and quite simply. So yeah, make it hands-on, playful, connected to their world. I think that that concept helps it come alive for children.
>> Thank you. And I love the idea with, you know, the claws and the roaring and the nibbling. They must really enjoy that and really engage with that. And um I just wanted to ask once the kids, you know, they've had that playful intro, that kind of thing, what's your kind of next go-to step to make sure that then sticks and leads to more structured science learning or kind of whatever it is you're doing next.
I think after that playful intro definitely move into a more formalized uh style in terms of sorting sorting out into ven diagrams maybe introducing a very simple food chain um having children record their thinking visually so maybe through drawing the use of um techniques like drawing club so bringing all of that in and developing that uh scenario in the real world um but also finish off with that reflective talk just to cement that understanding and make sure there's no uh misconceptions uh arising in the classroom. Good. Yeah. Important. Important.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. So that's year one. Now on to year two. So uh basic needs and food chains basically. So in year two, you know, the spotlight shifts to what animals including humans actually need just to make it through the day, right? So food, water, air, the bare essentials of survival. And um this is also the first time the kids start connecting survival to choices, you know, personal choices, at least in the curriculum, you know, things like exercise, diet, hygiene. Um and then comes, you know, that magic link to simple food chains. And you know, they start to see how living things depend on each other for survival. Um, and it's really their first little peak at the web of life.
So, I want to go back to Mark there for this one. What are some of the most common misconceptions that you've seen children kind of have about survival needs and what could we do to overcome these?
I'd say when we start learning about survival needs in year two, the most often occurring misconception is that both humans and and animals need all of the same things. Um, to put that into context, they might say things like toys um or even a bed is a survival need because they're thinking about comfort rather than the essentials. Another misconception that pops up quite often is that plants don't need food to survive. Um this is especially tricky as you can't necessarily see how a plant obtains food and it becomes a bit more difficult to and a bit abstract to explain. So to enable children to overcome these I often find a best practice is to keep referring back to the basics food, water, air and shelter and use the comparisons from this as well. For example, I might ask can you live without your favorite toy? Yes. Uh but could you live without water? No. So often we build these types of questions into the activities whether that's through the lesson or through the use of quality invention times for a small group. It depends on the outcome of your class. Um so when we think back to tackling the understanding of how plants make their own food, I must give a shout out to Ruben Mirman who I saw over at Patner last year, a couple of years in a row actually. uh fantastic uh Australian scientist um who I was fortunate to see live in action during a school visit and he taught a class of children in fact a class of year one children. So going back slightly um about photosynthesis through the use of a product that he he has uh found through another gentleman called sticky atoms. And I think what was really incredible to see about that is how the children engaged with this and they were able to deepen that understanding of the process although it was slightly abstract the deeper understanding was definitely there and develop further through year two.
>> So as mentioned earlier I think where possible try and keep things visual and practical to enable children to link that theory the vocabulary into real world experiences as well.
>> Nice. Thank you, Mark. And uh, yeah, nice one for the shout out to Ruben Mimman, the surfing scientist. He's fantastic. And we we had him over at our school. And yeah, I can uh definitely attest to the the sticky atoms and just the way that he made it visual and tangible as you're saying, Mark. It really really did work. So that's cool. I might might have to have him on the show if he'll if he'll come. Um, okay. So, you mentioned there that keeping things visual and practical is key. And what's your kind of absolute favorite maybe lowcost prop or demo that you've used to make survival needs tangible for kids?
>> Do you know in 13 years my favorite prop is a box. A box can be absolutely anything. Um, so for this, I'd call it my survival box. um a simple box just filled with a mix of survival items, water, apple, blankets, um and non-s survival items, toys, teddies, sunglasses. And what's really great about this sort of lowcost prop is it's such a surprise element to the children still. You're pulling something out of the box, it sparks discussion. Is this something you need to survive or is it just something that's nice to have?
Thank you very much, Mark. Um, okay, over to Claire. Um, do you have any favorite hooks or hands-on tasks that you've used to bring those survival needs or, you know, maybe hygiene to life for year two?
>> We spent ages looking at that word hygienic because it's a big word, isn't it? And actually some people will say c certain things are h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h or unhygienic and we don't always all agree. So we talked about what the word meant and we used widget symbols for that um key vocabulary and I modeled that word a lot in my teaching. We thought about how to care for our pets and we role played this and uh then the children used that role play where they'd really practice that language and constructing those sentences. We we wrote then these pet care advice postcards which they really enjoyed writing and they could write about their own animal and just thinking about how to keep your your animal safe, secure, what its survival needs are, hygienic conditions to live in, all of those sorts of things. They really resonated with the children again because as earlier they they are experts in in their pets. Um, so it's a really nice way of hanging on that learning to something they they know. And those lessons did really overrun massively because they just wouldn't stop talking about it. They were very excited, which is is what you want, isn't it? That's that for me is the sign that it's going in. Um, and then we moved it on to a more sort of human type person and they were introduced to a very icky character called Blobble who really did need some advice about their hygiene and keeping healthy. And children love telling somebody what to do, don't they? And correcting those mistakes. So, they wrote to Blobble to help him to understand what does he need to do differently. And then that morphed into a poster campaign around school to encourage their friends to wash their hands.
>> Wow. Okay. Blobble sounds like a fantastic hook. Um, like what what did you show them uh or give to the children to make Blobble feel real? You know, was it a drawing, a puppet, a story? Um, how did you keep him like in the mix?
pictures and storytelling because it was very easy to make up little stories about his misdemeanors. We all know a blobble, don't we, if we're honest. So, um I I just told them lots of stories. He didn't make an appearance till towards the end of the unit, a bit later on in the unit once we had settled because actually this was the first topic of the year. So, we had some settling in to do. But then he returned with a vengeance in PSH and caused mischief across the curriculum. So he was a useful character.
>> Wow. Excellent. I love that. Okay. Um, over to Angelica now. Uh food chains, you know, at this stage can feel still very abstract for children, right? So, you know, what's maybe a go-to idea or project that you've seen that makes those, you know, who eats who relationships really click?
>> Yeah. So, to make food chains less abstract and really help them click. So, I've seen teachers plan opportunities where children observe what different animals eat, even have experiences of feeding them or speak to experts who can share more about animal diets. Um sometimes it might even be children in your class who might have some unique pets at home and you can explore how the diets are managed. Then following on from that I like to link that knowledge together um to sort of understand the bigger picture. So you could do that through exploring sort of high quality animal programs of um particular clips from films or books. So for example using the lion king, the circle of life or the very hungry caterpillar. It's also a really good chance to for peoples to research what different animals eat based on their interests and then to bring it all to life. I like to use sort of a drama approaches which you know have been mentioned before. So acting out roles in a food chain really helps them see the connection and the relationship. And if you really wanted to turn this into a project, the pupils could pretend to be zookeepers. They could use DIY DIY materials to create the chosen animal and explain what it eats, shown how it fits into a food chain as well. At this stage, it's important to keep the activities accessible and manageable so that children can build a strong foundation before food chains become more complex in year four.
>> Okay. Yeah, good point. And I I actually love the sound of children getting to see what animals actually eat. And now on to year three with a focus on nutrition. You know, children learn that animals, including humans, need the right types and amounts of nutrition to stay healthy. And you know, crucially, they discover that unlike plants, animals can't make their own food. Um, so that's where conversations shift from healthy versus unhealthy to a deeper understanding of nutrients and how the bodies depend on them.
So I'd like to go to Cla first. Um, what kinds of investigations have you seen that move kids beyond that healthy versus unhealthy to, you know, proper nutrient understanding?
>> Yeah, good question. I think um before we launch into the answer of that, it's worth just taking a a beat and thinking about that actually, we need to tackle food or approach foods with a bit of sensitivity because actually it can be a real social justice issue. Um and children's access to food vastly difference differs doesn't it across across the UK um from place to place and worldwide. So with food, we need to be really sensitive to that and we need to think about the diverse arrangement of different world foods as well eaten by different communities. Um because sometimes as a teacher we have our diet, don't we? But we don't always think about the diets of the children that we're teaching and actually they can be different. So we need to be inclusive in that and think about what are our communities eating. Um, we also need to think about diet and health issues as well. Um, so for example, for me, I'm a celiac. So you might say, "Oh, grains are really, really healthy." Well, for me, they're absolutely not. They're the complete opposite. So we need to have this understanding actually of the dietary and health needs of our children as well. So I think it's just worth teachers just doing a bit of a subject audit of their own knowledge before they start thinking about who they're teaching and just really understanding that actually there could be lots of misconceptions around food. So just being aware of that before they they plan in case stage one the children will have learned to sort those foods into those basic groups like fruits and vegetables, meats and alternatives, dairies and alternatives. And in year three, the the step up is then to start to looking at those nutrient benefits. And traditionally, that often starts with really a little bit of research from the children, learning about the function of of those nutrients, what they do to the human body. And then it's about application. It's giving children lots and lots of opportunities to apply that learning to make it real as possible. giving children lots of chances to explore those groups, sorting foods into the nutrient groups, analyzing simple meals to look for those nutrients, and to think then about healthy choices. Which of these two foods would be the healthier choice? And thinking about why that might be so. Um, there's lots of opportunity to link it to your topic work more broadly. So, when I've been doing the Second World War, we've linked it to rationing. We've also linked it to PSH and school dinners or parties if it's fallen around a time when we might be having a party. So there's loads of different contexts that you can use as hooks into um this topic. And I think a playful approach again is very useful and also getting children to be doctors and to think about ah well what happens if you are missing those nutrients from your diets because that's where it gets interesting and we all love a bit of poo and body stuff don't we? So it's drawing a fascination the human body which is always a lot of fun.
>> Yeah absolutely absolutely I love that. And you know, you mentioned a bit before there about games being really powerful here. What if you could share just one or two favorites that you've used that really got that message across uh about nutrients?
>> Well, we love bingo. I I don't know anyone who doesn't love bingo. So, we played quite a foodbased bingo. The game children are deciding which foods am I going to draw on my bingo boards. They might do four or six depending on the class and then we might draw out the nutrients and then they've got to decide actually, is that nutrient in my food group and then and then we sort of have a bit of a a bingo game. It's get it's doing critical thinking really getting the children to be alive to what they're eating and thinking what is in my food and what are the benefits for me of this food and and making those healthy choices.
>> Love it. Yeah. So over to Angelica. One tricky idea in year three is helping the children see that animals rely on eating because they can't make their own food like plants. So what's maybe a creative way that you've helped the uh the children grasp that difference?
>> Yeah. Um, so I didn't have an Australian surfer scientist come and help me with that. Uh so I had to use a different approach. Um, so a fun way is to use drama game where children act out the difference. So I love using drama gets the children moving um gets them talking um and burns some of that energy as well. Uh so for topics like this I make sure I have plenty of good quality visuals as well. So in the first stage some children become animals, some children are humans. I give them a sticker to show who they are. um those move around the room and they gather different sort of images of food like berries or they're hunting for images of other animals building on the year two knowledge of their food chains. And then we've also got plants who stand rooted on the spot and they don't move about. And we obviously then this sort of really makes it explicit that plants get what they need from sunlight and water. So it makes it really clear that animals and us as humans we rely on eating but they get their nutrition in a completely different way. So it's a great way to begin this sort of year three topic be I think before you go into nutrition or anything like that because the rest of it usually sort of looks more at humans. So then yeah, so through role play it just makes that idea really click and they can see a visual difference. H and then sort of once the kids have acted this out, how do you make sure it then moves from the play acting to the scientific understanding? You know, what's that bridge that helps them put it into into words?
>> So throughout my sort of roleplay activity, I'd use sentence stems to really embed the learning and I would just get them to repeat them over and over again. each time they get a new food for survival. Each time they change roles, you know, and they repeat see some sort of simple phrases like seagulls need worms to get energy, then the plants will keep repeating plants to make their own food from sunlight. And because there's a lot of acting and movement, it's rehearsing it and saying it as a class over and over again to the point that it really gets stuck in their head. Um, I would then follow it up in a classroom with reasoning activity. So, for example, which is the odd one out. So I'd have an image of an animal, a human, and a plant. And I would then still have my sentence stems ready in a classroom and key vocabulary ready for children to learn. And then you can see which children can apply that knowledge independently. And you can clearly sort of see the difference between the children who just repeat it repeat over again that really sort of got the idea. So it's a really good way to assess the understanding. A really good resource for that is explorify. They give lots of reason opportunities for your year group and so much more than just that and it's free.
>> Yeah, absolutely. I have to say explore is definitely one of my go-tos as well. Okay. Uh thank you Angelica. Over to Mark now. So, uh nutrition, you know, it's that key turning point in year three science. If you had to give teachers maybe one top tip for just bringing this unit alive in the classroom, what could it be?
>> Well, children love exploring what's on their own plates. If you see them in the lunch hall with their lunch boxes, their hot dinners, they're always exploring. What do you have? So, bring in those food labels. Let them sort snacks into food groups or even set up a balanced plate challenge. Design meals. Go that step further once they've designed meals. Can you invite their parents in? Can they actually cook this meal as a team together and, you know, taste that food and really get that real life experience? If if you can't do that, if you don't have the kitchen facilities, maybe you can think about keep that design element and keep it more real life based, maybe make a meal for the head teacher. The key is to move beyond facts, give them experiences because when they can touch, when they can see, link learning to their own lives, that's when it stops being a science topic and it becomes something more meaningful that they can carry into their everyday choices as well.
>> Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I love the idea there of designing a meal for the head teacher. I bet you get some wild answers there.
>> Oh, I I couldn't possibly tell you.
>> Okay. All right. We're on to year four now. Food chains. Okay. So, you know, at this stage, kids, they're not just drawing arrows between animals on a page now. They're starting to see the real drama taking place. Who's the hunter? Who's the hunted? Who's powering it all right down at the very bottom? the producers, predators, prey, you know, that real life survival story taking place.
So, over to Angelica. So, food chains, it can sometimes though still just feel like arrows on the paper. What strategies have you used that kind of make that predator prey producer relationship more real, memorable for the children?
>> Yeah. So, one of my favorite ways to make sort of this uh this relationship feel more real um is to start with a nice hook. So, usually looking at dinosaurs in the skulls. Children do they are sort of intrigued by dinosaurs. Um and this would usually follow nicely once they've learned about teeth. Um and I often ask the children which dinosaurs would you not want to be around. Um which does give them a sort of clear sense of predator and prey relationship there. Um, from there I would get the children sort of to research what different animals eat, starting with just prey and predators. I wouldn't add in producers just yet. Um, because I think once they've got that foundation, um, we're then slowly putting the layer in the producers, showing clear examples so they can confidently identify producers, prey, and predators. And then they're ready to create their own food chains, researching, observing, and exploring relationships for themselves, which sort of really brings those roles to life and gives them um more of authority around the learning.
>> Okay. And and when you've got them creating their own food chains, you know, after building it step by step, you give them that freedom. Do you have any tips for teachers just to keep that manageable, you know, so it doesn't spiral into loads of random animal choices and you know?
>> Yes, definitely. So, I think less is more when it comes to looking at animals as there's so much out there. Same as with plants. So, it's just trying not to forget to include animals closer to home in your local habitat as well as some exotic examples and keeping it manageable by using like a smaller section from different groups helps reduce cognitive load and allows children to sort of stay focused and then secure. And once they've done that, that's when you can give them a little bit more freedom. If you are really stuck, I've known some teachers to dip into Oak Academy resources to check sort of examples or to see how content can be pitched. So yeah, once you've done that and they can do it with smaller number, that's when you sort of explore more secondary sources. The teacher might have pre-selected websites on a padlet, age appropriate reading materials to then their understanding. Um, it's a bit like in maths, I wouldn't give them, you know, 50 different calculations. You would start small and then build up to that.
>> Yeah, thank you very much. Okay. And over to Claire now. What's a like a practical strategy that helps children see those food chains as more than a linear diagram and instead part of a bigger interconnected system?
Going outside has got to be the answer to this question, hasn't it really? Because that's where you see that interconnectivity happening. So, if I take my own garden, yesterday there was a caterpillar on my rhubarb plant, but there was also a blackbird which I know will eat that caterpillar. Um, and probably did. And then high in the sky above me, oh, it sounds a deck. It is, was a buzzard. Well, actually three buzzards circling around which will happily take that blackbird. So, it's by getting out there, isn't it? and getting to learn and meet those characters in your garden and seeing those relationships. Um, but also understanding the complexity because there's there's other food chains in my garden. So, there's frogs in my pond who are eating insects, but actually they're a massively tasty treat for buzzards as well. So understanding that actually that buzzard is a member not only of the caterpillar blackbird food chain but it's also a member of the insect frog food chain as well. So it's seeing that in action. Now um an understanding there therefore about that buzzard that actually, there's many different food sources and the animals very rarely have just one food source actually because those food sources vary with seasonality and abundance and sometimes they have to flex what they're eating and I think sometimes we can be a bit reductive about how we teach this stuff because we're trying to get this understanding of this idea of the food chain which is important But actually quite quickly I think we need to introduce the idea that maybe an animal can belong to to more than one. And then I think you have a more nuanced view of what's going on. If you take your children outside um regularly, they will begin to understand and see the species that are around in in in their area. They might not see the animal, but they might see signs of it. Um so feathers or webs or holes or or poo or whatever. So they'll start to get to know animals sometimes also in their absence as well. Um and if you can't see anything much then actually you can hide cards or toys of those animals or whatever for children to find. So, I try and get my children to create a food chain um through through either things in pots or act or or the cards or the toys. And then I get them to actually sort of physically lay those things out and use whiteboards to fill in the gaps so that they can see those food chains.
>> And then we start to think about well actually do animals belong to more than one food chain and they start to explore that um and to see that bigger picture. And then we start to think about well what happens if if there are events that tamper with that food web for example pollution. So um and what what happens then to that food chain? Does it stand up? Does it fall apart? What what what happens? Um I have a little game that
I play with the children, which is a peg game. We have lots of multicolored pegs. And so, say for example, we might do it in lots of different habitats, but for this one, I'll say a pond. So, we might have um algae, cattis flies, fish, and kingfishers. And the colored pegs are algae, and you scatter those all over the ground. And you give your children different roles. They're going to be different animals. You set the cattis flies out. They go gather as many pegs as they can and peg them onto their tops. And that is the cateries, cattis flies flitting about and eating the algae. And then you introduce a predator, a fish, who comes and they try and catch the cattis flies. Of course, the children are running away from each other. And when they do catch them, that cadisfly is unfortunately deceased. The next cadisfly, but all those pegs become are clipped onto the onto the fish, and then the fish is still swimming. And then we introduce some more. We introduce a few predators of the fish, the kingfisher, who catches the fish, takes all their pegs. It's bonkers and chaotic. But what you can see is that passing of energy actually along the food chain. And you can also see the relationships between the animals. And then at the end of the game, you look for the survivors. Who was fit? Who ran away and managed to dodge being caught? We look at who wasn't eaten. But then we might twist it and say, "Okay, in those colored pegs, there were blue ones, weren't there?" If you've got five blue ones, unfortunately, that was a pollutant. And if you got five of them, unfortunately, you are dead now and you didn't survive because of pollution. So, we watch actually that pollutant maybe sometimes go up the food chain. So, it's just a really deep game. And depending on the teacher talk and the conversations with the children, you can kind of make it go lots and lots of different ways. But I think the thing is to get outside, have fun, get looking, get learning, and meeting and greeting the organisms in your own environment. That's the really key factor here.
Absolutely. And thank you for the description of that game. It sounds fantastic. You also mentioned, you know, children linking the food chains together into webs. You know, it's a really powerful step, but what have you found helps year fours, or any year, make that leap without getting really tangled in all that complexity too soon?
Yeah, it's about doing it slowly and repeated exposure as well. So, when we make a food chain outside, the children make their food chain. That's the first thing. They're looking at producers and consumers, and they make their food chain. And then we say, "Right, now have a look at another group's food chain. Are there any species that are common to both?" And then they start to see that link. And then we say, "Well, how would you join that food chain to another food chain?" So you're just joining two, or you might then join a third if you're really getting on well. But it's that idea of finding those things in common between the food chains because that's then how you start to develop a little understanding of that interconnectivity.
Brilliant. Thank you, Cla. To Mark, when you think about teaching food chains at this stage, what's one approach or idea that you've seen that really helps the children connect with it? You know, feel like the learning is meaningful?
I think one approach that I found really powerful over the years is getting children to actually physically become part of that food chain. You're giving each child a card. For example, the very basic sun, grass, rabbit, fox, and you link them together with separate pieces of string to show those connections. And if you took one away and you watched both pieces of string from either side fall down, they're already seeing how that chain is now unraveling. Um, suddenly it's not just arrows on a page. It's a living system that they're part of. They can feel how every link matters.
I think that sense of drama and interconnection makes that learning stick really well, particularly in year four. Um, to instill more of a bit of a challenge, teachers might start incorporating "what if" questions to sort of solidify that understanding a little bit more, to think about the balance of ecosystems. So, tying this together with a local wildlife charity could be the way to making this even more meaningful. An example of this at my school is we utilize local expertise from a charity called Global Reef and we build a package of learning based around something right on our doorstep to do with marine life. So that's been a fantastic sort of development of our curriculum.
That sounds fantastic, actually. I'll maybe ask you some more about that when I see you next. Um, so the drama with, with, you know, dropping off the bits of string, it really is such a good step up from the arrows on paper. Do you see this as the start of moving them into proper food webs, or is it just more about consolidating the chains first?
I definitely say the first step is to check that the children have a really solid grasp of simple food chains. If they're not confident with the basics like the producers, the consumers, and the flow of energy, then moving into webs can feel a bit overwhelming. There's definitely a space to turn that into a web if you feel your class is doing quite well with that food chain knowledge. But I would start with these drama activities, these props to really cement the chain idea and make sure there aren't any misconceptions, particularly with the flow of energy. That tends to be the biggest misconception in a food chain. Once we're sure that they can explain and represent the food chain accurately, I think that's when we build onwards into the food webs itself. That transition can be really simple from this activity, such as linking two chains together and asking, "Well, what happens if this overlaps this one?" Um, and then you're scaffolding it into a web already in a way that feels quite natural and achievable, rather than, "Woo, here it is."
Yeah. Very nice. So, by the time you get to year six, it's not just about the nutrients and naming them anymore. It's that big picture. You know, the kids are starting to see how their choices make every day, including what they eat, how much they move, habits around rest, they all tie down directly to how their bodies work and function. So, um, I'd like to ask Cla, what's an effective inquiry that you've seen that really helps the kids in year six see that cause and effect between lifestyle and health?
A few years ago, I was a writer for the new edition of Snap Science. As part of this, I designed a lesson for children to look at not only the effects of smoking but vaping as well, and to compare the two effects on their lungs. In the school context that I was working in at that time, this lesson was massively important to us. We did hear about children interacting with vapes. They're brightly colored, fruit-flavored, and our children were definitely curious. So, it was vital that we did cover this in our learning. And in fact, this week in the UK, vaping is high there. It's one of the big headlines this week. Um, doctors have raised alarms about high levels of vaping amongst children worldwide and saying they're convinced that e-cigarettes are causing harm to health. It's irreversible. Um, and we don't know what actually all of the effects are going to be longer term. We know that our young people are being exposed to toxins and carcinogens. So I think it's really important that we look at things that are topical and relevant to our learners.
Yeah, it really is such a relevant example. You know, vaping is everywhere right now. And for teachers listening, I wonder, um, who might feel a bit nervous, I think me included, about tackling something like that in the classroom, what might be your advice for pitching that to the kids so it stays, you know, safe, age-appropriate for them?
You're not alone in feeling nervous about it. Me too. But in our national curriculum in England, it asks us teachers of year six to enable children to recognize the impact of diet, exercise, drugs, and lifestyle on their bodies. So, we've got a statutory duty to look at drug use, and nicotine falls under this category. We know it's illegal for youngsters under 18 years old to be buying vapes. However, they find their ways to them. I read today ASH, that's the Action on Smoking and Health, in their most recent survey, this was a survey in July 2025, this was of 11 to 17-year-olds. They found that 20% have tried a vape. So I think what I would say is that as teachers, we don't need to feel nervous about mentioning this. It's happening, it's there. We have a mandate to talk about these things, and we need to teach children that vaping isn't for them. Um, actually, our duty is to inform children about the physical effects of actions like this. We've talked about smoking in schools and alcohol for a long time. Actually, it's been part of our curriculum for this unit in year six. Um, and we're just adding in, you know, the most modern threat, I feel. And actually, if we inform them about those physical effects of vaping, actually we enable our learners to make informed decisions and to say no and to understand why they need to say no to this in the future.
Yeah. Thank you very much. A sobering thought to say the least. Okay. And over to Mark. So you've seen, you know, the children's science journeys right through the primary years. What's one way teachers can help children link their lifestyle choices to their health in a way that really lands and means something to them?
I think the key is to helping children see science in their own lives. My own experiences, if I may just reflect back, I think science was very abstract when I was back in primary school. I don't think I had that link that I needed, that the children definitely need now. So when you link it into their own lives, for example, keeping a simple activity or a sleep journal for a week and then reflecting on how they felt the days that they ate well, moved more, got enough rest, when they noticed those patterns themselves, felt more energized. When the science becomes more personalized to them, it becomes real. It's not an abstract knowledge package anymore. It's about their own bodies, the choices they make every day. And using simple task design elements such as "we agree, we build, we challenge" to share that in a small group situation or even a class discussion allows children to also compare similarities and differences with others because not every family is the same, as we alluded to the fact earlier on. So providing them with an understanding that lifestyle choices are not one style fits all. It's actually there are so many different varieties out there of well-balanced lifestyles. It's so important.
It is. Yeah. Thank you. And I really liked the idea of the journal there. And for everyone listening, was there a simple way that you managed to set up those journals, you know, so it works smoothly in the classroom and got the children noticing those patterns?
I'd say just keep it really, really simple and child-friendly so it doesn't feel like a chore. You're asking, if you're doing that sleep diary, that eating diary, you're asking for additional, perhaps above and beyond in some schools, from children for the home for homework. So a single page template with smiley, neutral, tired faces for energy levels, plus a quick tick box for things like "I had fruit and veg tonight," "I did some movement," "Bedtime was great." That works really well. That way, children can record their reflections in just a few minutes at the end of the day.
I think the next step from there, building a short reflection slot perhaps at the end of the week when they're bringing that diary back, where they can look back and they can circle any patterns they've noticed. Did they tick movement more often on the days that they also felt energized? Did later bedtimes link with a tired face? I think with a bit of guided questioning, those links quickly come to life because it's short and it's visual and it's easy to complete. It keeps the children engaged and it gives the teachers more of a smooth way to turn that into a personal experience, more meaningful for the science learning.
Thank you Mark. Okay, and over to Angelica. Uh, so by year six, we want the students to be thinking critically a lot more about the impact of lifestyle on their health. Have you come across any creative ways of teaching that that really sticks with the children?
So if I think if you've had lots of time to plan ahead, it's always good to invite an external visitor who works in a role connected to health. So somebody from a medical or military background who can then talk to pupils about the impact of lifestyle and health. So I've started using a parent STEM ambassadors database for this who will come in throughout the year. Year six, you know, fits in perfectly there. If you're really short on time or if you're really struggling to get somebody in, you know, I always like sort of an extract from Wally showing humans on how the lifestyle has changed. Um, and so it's great to watch and then pick that with a class. And then also, it's obviously really important to teach them the facts. Uh, whether you are generating key interesting facts using an AI podcast generator or whether you're using sort of age-appropriate materials and then getting the children to share the learning creatively. So you could use infographics, short films, or animation-style presentations. So it's relevant, engaging, sort of that knowledge sticks with them.
Okay. When they share their learning creatively, you know, with in the films, I imagine they love doing that and they jump at the chance. I just wonder if you find it better to let them choose their own way of sharing, give them, you know, infinite options, or do you really guide them a little bit, even though they have choice, but do you guide them so the science comes through clearly?
Um, so I'm really lucky at my school, um, as all pupils have their own iPads. So by the time they reach year six, they've got, you know, they've got a healthy relationship with an iPad. It's not just, "Woo," sort of an exciting tool where they forget about everything else they were doing. So by the time they're in year six, they're really secure with digital literacy, so it doesn't get in the way of science learning.
Um, that said, though, I do still like to provide some structure, whether a sort of Airdrop or share digital templates with them, give them key vocabulary checklists, success criteria, or a rubric, like we do sort of in writing lessons. So then I can, um, really make sure that science comes through clearly, um, and ensuring sort of that the work is accurately communicating the knowledge.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Right. Wow. We've covered a lot today. Right. We set the scene with early classification, digging into survival needs, nutrition, food chains, and then finally thinking about how all of this links back to children's health and lifestyle. And, you know, somehow we've fit it all into one episode. And, uh, to bring it to a close, I'd just love to hear perhaps one last key takeaway from each of you. Um, you know, so if teachers take away one thing to use about classification, diet, and basic needs across primary years, what would it be? Um, and I think Mark, if it's okay, could we start with you?
Absolutely. I'd say if there's one thing to remember is to keep it real and keep it relevant. Don't just need facts, they need to see how those facts play out in the world around them. Whether that's through classifying animals they spotted in the playground, in the wild, even at home, like Claire alluded to in her garden. How can we use that in our science session? Acting out food chains, noticing how their own choices about food and exercise affect how they feel. Those everyday links are what make the science meaningful. If we give them a chance to experience it, question it, and see themselves in it, the learning doesn't just stick, it becomes a part of how they understand the world and their place in it.
Very nice. Thank you. And, uh, what are your thoughts on this, Cla?
Yeah, I agree with everything Mark said. I think I would just add that we need to think about the skills needed for this unit. These need explicit teaching, and we should feel empowered to do that. So for this one, children need the skills of classification and identification. They need an understanding of what's the same and what's different, and they need to develop their skills of observation. So that means seeing and identifying key features and being able to talk about those observable similarities using lots of the words and rubrics and things that Angelica has spoken about. Um, children also need the opportunity to choose a bit sometimes, to choose those criteria that they use to sort things out, and also we need to insist and support and cajole them to use that scientific vocabulary to explain those groups that they're creating and explain those links. Children need to be able to explain why an organism or an object belongs in those groups. That's really important, that understanding of why they've made those choices. And then in terms of recording, it's really good if over a child's primary years, they have lots of experiences of different ways of recording classification, so including simple sorting hoops with a little Venn diagrams, tables, keys, you name it. Any and every way of recording classification, I think, is really good for children. Then they can choose, you know, going forward, which ones are appropriate to the task, and that's what we want to do is give them experience of all of those.
Thank you. And Angelica, how would you answer this question?
I definitely want to echo the importance of explicit teaching of skills and then also the value of breaking down objectives and your knowledge into small, manageable steps. Um, thinking of it like we do it in maths and English. So, for example, in an English unit, I wouldn't start by teaching five different features all in one go. I would introduce them one at a time and build on them gradually. So the same principle applies in science. When classifying, it's important not to introduce too many groups all at once. So focus in a few groups of concepts to begin with. Give children plenty of opportunities to recap, revisit that learning, and be really clear about what you want the children to know by the end of a lesson or a unit. Um, and always keep that in mind in your lesson. What is the one thing I want them to take away from the lesson? Been doing all so many fun, exciting things, but what knowledge do they really want to stick? Um, I know that plan assessment website has been mentioned on your podcast before. I just want to reiterate how useful it is. So it has knowledge matrices to really support key learning vocabulary. Um, it also has activity ideas, but also their exemplification materials are really helpful because they really show you how deep children's understanding needs to be in order for them to be able to be secure in your year group.
Brilliant. Thank you very much for all of your answers. Well, I feel so incredibly grateful to have had this inspiring lineup for the episode, and I just want to thank you all very, very much for your time and for sharing your wisdom with us. You know, these insights, the practical, really, really practical tips today, absolute gold dust for teachers working on these early animals, including humans, subjects. So thank you very, very much for that. I really, really hope that this has given listeners some new ideas to take back to their classroom straight away. Whether it's sparking curiosity with year one animal groups, tackling those survival needs in year two, or helping children make sense of nutrition and food chains in years three and four. As always, everybody, if you've got suggestions for improving the show, topics you'd love us to explore, please do leave a comment or just get in touch with me directly. And, uh, that's it. That's a wrap for part one of our Animals Including Humans deep dive. We'll be back next month with part two, where we'll be exploring senses, skeletons, and muscles. Take care, everyone, and bye for now.