Classifying and organising living things using images/activity

Subject	Science
Activity Name	Classifying and organising living things using images
Learning Objectives	To have experience of and develop confidence with the different ways in which living things can be classified into groups To develop knowledge of and use some of the characteristics of living things and ways to classify and organise them.
Outline of activity	Using photo organizer software, students place the images provided into various groups or categories. They may also add labels and descriptions where appropriate.
Technology requirements and skills	Computer with slideshow or photo organisation software installed, such as 'Picasa'. Set of photographs such as those contained in this file: [ Images%2Bof%2BLiving%2BThings.zip] (info). Other images might be used as available.
Equipment requirements	This activity is designed to be computer based. If there is only one computer or set of images. provide the rest of the class with images of animals to sort. Otherwise they might draw pictures (see supplementary activity below) so that they can engage with a similar activity. Bank of sample images (above, under CC licence from http://www.4freephotos.com/44557d3930b7f3ebf705a9d04dcd5dcb-lightbox.html) Extension to Astronomy images: Second activity is more an annotation or show and tell one with a set of astronomy images that studenst could annotate, label (with tablet) or organise Astro: http://www.4freephotos.com/1e381a3704dcf5152cd7878e286fdf45-lightbox.html Astronomy Images.zip (info)
Possible extension or supplementary activities	Using digital cameras or those included in some laptops, students take their own photographs Students could be encouraged to draw an animal or plant of their choice on a mini whiteboard and then arrange themselves or their images into various groups. Using a wiki reader or a digital encyclopaedia, students can search for supplementary information about the animals and plants or search for other appropriate examples Students may well use other features of the software to organise the images in alternative ways.
Suggestions of what ‘successful’ student understanding or work might look like	Students will have created slideshows or photo albums that organise/classify living things into groups. This may vary from a simple animal/plant to more complex ones and they will have used specific vocabulary. Students will have demonstrated how images of some groups of living things can be organised in different ways, depending upon what characteristics you choose.