Task 3a

Materials and tools for a working group:

worksheet, pencils, secondary resources (for the whole class – e.g. encyclopedia, internet)

In this task, pupils focus on how animals use plants. At the beginning of the activity, the teacher discusses with the pupils to find out the pupils‘ ideas about the topic. Initially, the teacher can also follow up on anthill activity where pupils investigated the food preferences of ants. The teacher investigates what anthill was built from – did the ants use plants or parts of plants to build an anthill? If so, which plants/plant parts? Was there a predominance of some parts of the plants?

The task of the pupils will be to create a conceptual map, in which they complement how animals (and humans) use plants for their lives. The teacher then asks the students to give further examples of how animals use plants. Pupils should give as many examples as possible (e.g. human food – fruits → peppers; building material → wood → table, chair, etc.).

DiAfter creating conceptual maps, pupils compare them – Who uses plants more? Animals or man? Could animals or humans live without plants? If so, what would you replace plants with? If not, justify your answer? Pupils can use different secondary sources to construct conceptual maps and compare them. In addition, the teacher can focus on nature conservation – e.g. how to replace / reduce human use of plants for the benefit of nature, etc.