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Learning area: Studies of Society and Environment
Level: Years 5 and 6
Feral animal management plan
1 Nature of the assessment task
Students imagine that, as an employee of the local council or shire, they have been asked to prepare a simple management plan for the control of a feral animal in the local area. The proforma for the management plan is provided, as well as factual information on common feral animals and their impact on the environment. The assessment task is designed for the teachers of students who have undertaken a unit of work on the use and care of Australian places. In an inquiry approach, this task could comprise the 'Taking Action' component of the unit.
The completed assessment task is expected to demonstrate the following qualities:
- an ability to gather and record information
- relevant developed and supported ideas
- an ability to propose a solution to the problem
- control of written language.
2 Links with State and Territory curriculum
3 Prior teaching and learning
For this task students should have experience in:
- examining newspaper articles so that they are familiar with the style and language features of the form
- locating relevant information
- selecting facts to support a point of view
- using a data chart to record information from multiple sources
- transforming written information into dot points
- expanding dot points into their own written texts.
4 Teacher preparation
Download resource material for this assessment task.
Student resources
Teacher resources
Photocopy enough of the newspaper reports for all students after they have chosen a feral animal.
Photocopy the proforma of the management plan for each student. This is a Word document which can be amended if necessary.
Enlarge the data chart to A3 size and photocopy for each student.
Enlarge the optional opinion organiser to A3 size and photocopy as required.
5 Scaffolding: Preparing students for the task
- Explain to students that they are to imagine they work for the local council and have been asked to prepare a management plan for a feral animal in the local area. Explain that information from newspaper articles will be given to them to help them and that class discussion will be a part of the process.
Students could visit a local area that has a feral animal problem for first-hand information, or arrangemements could be made for visiting speakers with expertise in the matter to be interviewed by the students.
In this case, students may need to be given an opportunity to prepare questions for the speaker. The following process might assist:
- Using targeted questions, record on strips of paper what students want to find out
- As a class, group similar items. Discard irrelevant or non-productive questions and combine others until pertinent questions are agreed upon.
- Record these on numbered cards to be read by designated students.
- Ensure that you have a running sheet to ensure smooth interviewing. Students might need to rehearse.
- Record the interview to enable replaying as needed.
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- Inform students of the nature of the assessment task and explain the criteria against which they will be assessed, referring to the student copy of the marking rubric. A copy of the Student rubric for feral animal management plan task is available at this link.
Inform students that they will also be given a data chart to help them record information from the newspaper articles.
The strategy Laying it on the line is excellent in assisting students to explore their own values and to help them understand that people respond to issues in different ways according to their values as well as the amount and quality of the information they are presented with.
Prepare signs and place them around the room. The signs could say 'strongly agree', 'mildly agree', 'mildly disagree' and 'strongly disagree'.
Read out the statement, 'It's cruel to kill wild animals such as feral cats because they have just as much right to live as a pet cat.' Students respond by placing themselves at a sign that reflects their agreement or disagreement with the statement.
The teacher asks students why they chose a particular sign.
As students listen to the various arguments they may reposition themselves in light of changing views.
After the activity, discuss how students felt about making a decision, and whether people's arguments changed their minds or not, and why.
- Show students a copy of a blank management plan and an enlarged data chart focusing on the linked headings. It might be useful to have this on an overhead transparency and to use a highlighter to help students make the links. Discuss key words and concepts such as 'extinction', 'prey', 'predators', 'ecological sustainability', 'habitat', 'environment', 'invasive' and 'feral'.
- Describe the content of the newspaper articles and ask the students to choose a feral animal for their management plan. Ideally, teachers need to ensure that the animals chosen are ones that are a problem in the students' local area.
- Other feral animals that could be included for student online research are the fox, cane toad, goat, horse, European wasp, fireant or European carp as well as marine pests.
- Read through the newspaper articles with small groups of students who have chosen a common animal, allowing time to explain any information not understood. If desired, a Reciprocal Reading or Directed Reading and Thinking Activity strategy could be used.
- After students have completed their data charts, discuss as a class some of the common issues, focusing on identifying some of the information that will be relevant to each of the headings in the management plan.
- Teachers will be able to identify informal opportunities to assess for learning while students are undertaking the scaffolding activities. They will also provide opportunities for oral feedback prior to students undertaking the assessment task.
6 The task
- Allow students time to reread their chosen newspaper article.
- Allow students time to complete their data chart with information taken from their newspaper article.
- After the previously mentioned class discussion, students will require time to transform and transfer the information from their data charts under the appropriate sections of their management plan, using the proforma.
- For those students who have difficulty transferring information and ideas from the data chart to the management plan, it might be necessary to use the optional opinion organiser.
- Explain the headings to the students. If necessary, use targeted questioning to elicit responses. Assist the student in placing these appropriately as required.
- Prior to students beginning the task, teachers might consider drawing up a class list of terminology likely to be used in their management plans. If this list is displayed in the classroom, students will be able to check their spelling and review the content of their plans.
- Students will require additional time to edit their drafts to ensure that all relevant, available information has been included and to revise their use of language in the management plan. A template could be created of the data chart and management plan to enable students to use computer facilities if available.
7 Professional advice
The following diagnostic grid could be used by teachers to record students' performance on each of the expected qualities to obtain a snapshot of those areas in which students will need further instruction. The teaching and learning activities that follow the grid are also related to each of the expected qualities and suggest some ways in which teachers could consolidate or extend student performance. Click here to view how the grid might be completed.
Teaching and learning activities linked to the expected qualities listed in the rubrics, and in the diagnostic grid, can be found at the following links:
Teaching and learning activities
Ability to gather and record information
- If students performed at a low level on this aspect of the task, provide them with opportunities to find relevant information about the issue using key words. Using newspaper articles about a topical issue, model the following process.
Formulate questions about the issue (these could also be the headings of a data chart) and, using a highlighter, indicate the key words within the question (or heading). Skim the text; locate and highlight the key words in it. Read the passage to confirm its relevance in answering the question (or providing data for the data chart). In pairs, students follow the process discussing any difficulties they experience afterwards. This process will need to be revised several times with students working independently. It is suitable for use with any factual text.
- If students performed at a high level on this aspect of the task, provide them with opportunities to combine information from a number of sources using the following modified bundling process.
Distribute prepared factual statements about a topic under investigation to the students. As a whole class, 'bundle' or categorise information that belongs together. The students give each bundle a title. Using each bundle, assist the students to give a summarising statement using the key words and the information contained in the bundle.
Teaching and learning activities
Relevant, developed and supported ideas
- If students performed at a low level on this aspect of the task, provide them with opportunities to present a point of view that is supported by appropriate factual information. Select an appropriate newspaper article and reproduce it on an overhead transparency. Model the analysis of the article using the following process:
- Read the article aloud.
- Summarise the issue the article is about.
- Using highlighters, mark the factual information within the article.
- Decide and state a point of view on the issue.
- Re-read the information aloud and select the factual information that most strengthens and supports the chosen point of view by underlining it, discussing the reasons for choices.
- Using another transparency, write a paragraph about the point of view including the supporting evidence.
Using another appropriate article, prepare enough photocopies for students to work with a partner. As a class, read the article, discuss what the article is about and ask students to work with a partner and, using the above process, prepare a statement of their point of view with some supporting evidence from the article. These are shared with the class. This could also be done as an oral activity and lead to the development of a debate.
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- If students performed at a high level on this aspect of the task, provide them with opportunities to analyse the implication of issues by using effects wheels. Model the process and then ask students to construct their own. First choose a topical issue and write this in a circle drawn centrally on a piece of chart paper. Inside their own circles write the immediate ramifications of the issue around the first, linking them to it by a single line. For each of these secondary circles consider the positive and negative aspects of each and write them in their own circles, linking them to the primary effects circles with two lines. Continue moving outwards from the centre, linking each effect to the preceding one with an increasing number of lines which represent first-, second-, third- and fourth- level effects. Make generalised statements about the impact of the initial issue based on the information contained in the effects wheels.
Teaching and learning activities
Ability to propose a solution to a problem
- If students performed at a low level on this aspect of the task, provide them with opportunities to use De Bono's Six Thinking Hats strategy to identify possible strategies for action based on information gathered.
- Red hat represents feelings about an issue.
- White hat represents the facts about an issue.
- Yellow hat represents the positive aspects of an issue.
- Black hat represents the negative aspects.
- Green hat represents creative solutions or alternatives.
- Blue hat represents the thinking about the bigger picture or what the issue is really all about.
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Explain to students that they can use the idea of the six coloured hats to look at an issue or a problem from different perspectives. Introduce the hats individually and use them naturally as opportunities arise. When students are familiar with using the individual hats and understand the type of thinking involved, then combine them to explore a question about a topical issue. Assist students to make statements according to the perspective of each coloured hat, recording these appropriately on a chart. Focus particularly on expanding the green hat section to elicit as many ideas and strategies as possible.
- If students performed at a high level on this aspect of the task, provide them with opportunities to choose various strategies in light of identified advantages and disadvantages using an evaluation process. Model the process which involves clearly identifying the problem, gathering information and listing the strategies available to solve the problem and use an evaluation chart with a ranking system to assist in determining the priority of the best strategies. For example, the chart for the assessment task issue could be as follows:
Evaluation chart for management of a feral animal
Strategies |
How easily is it done? |
Is it effective in the control of the feral animal? |
How favourable is it to other components of the environment? |
Are the costs affordable? |
How do people view it? |
Total |
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Ranking scale: 5 very positive, 4 slightly positive, 3 not positive or negative, 2 slightly negative, 1 very negative.
Directions: Assign a ranking to each strategy under each heading. Total each one. The highest score is the best strategy.
Explain the reasoning behind the ranking of each strategy. The best will be the one with the highest total. Write down the reasons this strategy scored the highest under each heading. These arguments constitute part of the summation for the management plan. In pairs, the students complete their own grids about an issue or problem, deciding together the ranking of each strategy and discussing their reasons. Avoid using negative questions in the headings, as this can be confusing for students.
Teaching and learning activities
Control of written language
- If students performed at a low level on this aspect of the task, encourage them to identify, with assistance if necessary, the kinds of errors that they are making eg, errors related to spelling, punctuation, sentence construction or the use of appropriate vocabulary and to make these the focus correction area for the next piece of work that they do. They could write the focus correction area at the top of their page of work (eg sentence structure) as a way of alerting the teacher that they have taken special care with that aspect of their work on this occasion.
- If students performed at a high level on this aspect of the task, they could be encouraged to consider how the vocabulary they use should reflect the audience for whom they are writing. For example, if they are writing for an audience familiar with the topic then they might use more 'technical' language than if they were writing for an audience with no expertise in the topic. Students might be encouraged, therefore, to produce two versions of a piece of writing: one for each kind of audience.
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