Classifying and organising living things using images/teaching approach

The lesson offers opportunities to explore ways to classify living things, explore characteristics which might be important, and meet some problems 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.

The lesson might present 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⁾.