Classifying and organising living things using images/teaching approach

This lesson offers opportunities to explore ways to classify living things as well as characteristics which might be relevant, and how to address difficulties that may arise when trying to classify things in this way. The activity may be enhanced by the use of ICT⁽ⁱ⁾ software (e.g. Picasa) but could be carried out with paper-based resources.

This lesson presents a good opportunity for small group work⁽ⁱ⁾ and some inquiry⁽ⁱ⁾ into how we classify; and why some classification methods might be more useful, or more scientifically interesting than others. There is also a good opportunity to use different sorts of questioning⁽ⁱ⁾; to encourage pupils to question each other; to engage in peer assessment⁽ⁱ⁾ and to focus discussion⁽ⁱ⁾ on the scientific method⁽ⁱ⁾ using key vocabulary⁽ⁱ⁾.