Ready for action?
Resources
Downloadable Resources
Tangible Resources
- A4 paper, marker and Post-it note for each student.
Preparation
Prepare questions along the lines of: What is your name? Your favourite food? (fruit, vegetable, season). Do you have a pet? What colour is your hair, eyes?
Goals, messages & concepts
Specific goals
- To introduce the topic of biodiversity.
- To use different parameters to categorise people in the class to model the complexities of taxonomy.
Specific messages
- Each of us can be described in different ways using different parameters.
- We are all different - no one is the same.
Main terms
- categorization
- taxonomy
- parameter
Practices & skills
STEM practices
- Analysing and interpreting data
- Developing and using models
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Asking questions and defining problems
Soft skills
- Empathy
- Teamwork and collaboration
Management skills
-Course of activity
step 1
Introduce the activity to look for differences and similarities between each other. Students will play different games to model the complexities of taxonomy.
step 2
Sitting in a circle, asks questions about the students. They should write their answers with a marker on a piece of paper. Alternatively, collect data using Mentimeter which provides visualisations of data.
step 3
Next, students will play a game to focus on identifying people by their characteristics. They should sit in a circle with their backs turned and their eyes closed. One person opens his/her eyes, moves around the others and describes the appearance of a chosen person in the circle. The others guess who it is.
step 4
The next game is for each student to write down on a Post-it note one characteristic that describes and distinguishes them and makes them recognisable. Then the cards are placed in the middle and read out one by one. The whole group tries to guess who is behind the description. The aim of this activity is to develop argumentation and communication skills, underlining the importance of being specific when describing characteristics.
step 5
The last game is about categorisation. Characteristics will be written in boxes (see worksheet in resources). Each participant must find one person who identifies with one of the boxes and write their name under the specific feature which matches that category. Everyone who finds people matching all the boxes finishes the game.
step 6
Summarise the lesson with a discussion, would it be good if we were the same? Can we imagine that? What would our lives be like then? Even though we all belong to the same species, many things make us different. Is it the same in nature?