TKI - Building Science Concepts

Book 6

Soil Animals: Diversity beneath Our Feet

Synopsis

Soil Animals focuses on the living community of soils and offers a pathway to explore concepts of interdependence, including food chains and webs. Soil contains a wide diversity of species and is both familiar and accessible to students. Studying the soil environment can provide an opportunity to challenge the idea common among students that some species, like insects and other invertebrates, have no major role to play in the community.

Such a study can also lead to an understanding of the soil's role in sustaining the growth of all plants and thus indirectly of all animals. It can also help to develop awareness of wider environmental themes, such as the recycling of organic waste and composting.

Levels: 3-4

Strand: Living World

Achievement aim:
AA4: Investigate local ecosystems and understand the interdependence of living organisms, including humans, and their relationship with their physical environment.

Concept overview

Use the concept overview, which is also on the inside front cover of the book, as a reference for the concepts that relate to Soil Animals: Diversity beneath Our Feet.

The concepts are the building blocks for the column: each column is defined by a "big idea".
The arrows show the links between concepts and how they might build in sequence. Teachers can choose to develop a narrow focus by moving up the template or a broad focus by following arrows across.
Each "big idea" shows how a fully developed understanding of the supporting concepts might look. Such an understanding might not be achieved until level 7 or 8. The big ideas are included here to help you build appropriate concepts with your students, whatever their age.

Read the concept overview. To view it, you will need Acrobat Reader.