EDSI290 UNIT PLANNER
Key Science Topic:  Year
Living World
Science Big Idea: 
Life cycles 
Goal:  Learning Intention:
 The overall goal is to engage students
for the duration of the unit where they
are exploring the science topic, living
world. They are able to explain how
life cycles play a crucial role towards
living things and further elaborate on
their understanding through asking
and answering open and closed
ended questions. They should gain
evaluative skills where they can use
towards their future learning.  ICT in relation to the life cycles of
At the end of this unit students will be
able/capable of:
 At the end of this unit students should
have a clearer and more deeper
understanding of the living world,
specifically living and non-livings and
to be able to identify the similarities
and differences in characteristics
between the two. They should be able
to recognise the importance of life
cycles and each stage with the cycle.
All students within the class will have
gained an understanding of the
traditional views on the management
of living things through the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Peoples culture. Students have used a
variety of strategies and approaches
such as technology, real life
experiences, discussions and hands-on
task to gain a well rounded
understanding of the topic. Their
understanding will enable them to use
and integrate multiple curriculum
capabilities such as Literacy, ICT and
Critical and Creative thinking.   and direct teaching.
PLT Members:
Level:
Joshua Roberts, Pihuka
Stage 2  Duff, Micheal Newman,
Mojela Baker
Year 4
 Students will gain a variety of
knowledge based upon the science
topic Living world (ACARA).
Through the process of questioning
the altering views from different
cultures, hands-on activities and
following the 5E model of learning
and using cross curricular
connections such as Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander cultures, and
living things.  
Learning Outcomes:
ST2-4LW-S - compares features and
characteristics of living and non-living
things (NESA)
ST2-1WS-S - questions, plans and
conducts scientific investigations,
collects and summarises data and
communicates using scientific
representations (NESA) 
Theorist lessons built around: 
Barbara Rogoff’s work builds on that of
Vygotsky by acknowledging the
fundamental importance of social
experiences in children’s development.
Rogoff argues that not only does social
interaction cause development, but that
children’s thinking is transformed as they
engage in social practices. For Rogoff,
engagement in social practice does not
necessarily have to be an active process.
Rather she recognises that children’s
development occurs as they participate in
the experiences of their communities:
through observation, social interaction
  

Resources Sustainable practices: 

Engage Lesson: 
Engage Lesson: 
 Throughout students work is
 White board  required on an online platform
 Stationary  where they will create and post their
 own/school devices  answers on using their own or
 Padlet link  school's devices. They will be
 The Amazing Life Cycle Of A writing further answers on a white
Clownfish | The Dodo board minimising the use of paper
 Plant Life Cycle - Learning Life Cycle being used. 
- Videos For Kids And Toddlers
 Smart board  Explore Lesson:
Explore Lesson:   Educating the students on ancient
cultural traditions that were
 Laptop/Chromebook/Ipad devices practised to sustain living things
available  (Flora and Fauna) e.g. land
 Explore knowledge site   management and animal
 Fire simulator  reproduction. 
 Reference/information  
Explain Lesson: Explain Lesson: 
 students will use laptop/own devices
 A4 Paper 
to collect information and write
 Pen/Pencil 
answers. Alternatively paper can be
 Laptop/Own devices 
used to write answers which will be
 Information from previous stages
recycled at the end of the lesson.
    Elaborate Lesson: 
Elaborate Lesson: 
 Laptop/Own devices
 students will use laptop/own devices
 Pen/Pencil
to collect information and write
 A4 Paper 
answers. Alternatively paper can be
 Information from previous stages 
used to write answers which will be
 Living or non-living?
recycled at the end of the lesson.
Materials used for the activity can
   Evaluate Lesson:  be returned to the environment,
 Information from previous lessons to placed into a green bin or recycled.
refer back to.
 Canva  Evaluate Lesson:
 Laptops   The students will be making a
poster via Canva as an alternative to
save the usage of hard copy paper
and reduce the need to recycle
 original materials at all. 

Safety considerations: 
Engage Lesson:
  making sure there are clear
guidelines and rules set when
dealing with devices to ensure they
are being used correctly and
appropriately. 
 Online safety restrictions when
using sites 
Explore Lesson:
 Online safety restrictions when
using sites 
 Class discussion around sensitivity
and respect towards new and
differing perspectives via alternate
cultural views
Explain Lesson: 
 Online safety restrictions, guidelines
and rules set when students are
using devices.
Elaborate Lesson:
 Online safety restrictions, guidelines
and rules set when students are
using devices.
Evaluate Lesson: 
 Online safety restrictions when
using sites 
 Ensure clear rules and instructions
are provided prior to lesson.
Curriculum links:  Key Science Concept: 
identify that living things have life cycles  Throughout the duration of
(ACSSU072) this unit students will be
focusing on the topic Living
Science Understanding:
World, ultimately looking at
 Biological science - exploring the life cycles the life cycles of living
of living things (ACARA) things. There will be a focus
on the catastrophic issue of
Science as a Human Endeavour: bush fires, with a lesson
focused on the controversial
 Nature and development of science: This practice of cool burning and
sub-strand develops an appreciation of the its effects on the life cycle of
unique nature of science and scientific living things, in particular the
knowledge, including how current
 knowledge has developed over time through Australian native plants and
the actions of many people. (ACARA) their beneficial reactions to
heat. According to National
Geographic bushfires are fires
Science Inquiry:
that invade through areas of
 Questioning and predicting bushland which are caused by
 Planning and conducting both human activity and
 Processing and analysing data and natural causes.  Students will
information engage in classroom
 Evaluating discussions, answer and
 Communicating create open and closed ended
questions, use a variety of
General capabilities: resources and strategies to
 ICT  build and deepen their
 Literacy  understanding such as ICT,
 Critical and Creative Thinking  collaborative work and
hands-on activities. 
Cross curricular priority: Alternative conceptions:
Living things have life cycles (ACSSU072)   An alternative conception is
 Investigating how Aboriginal and Torres that students have difficulty
Strait Islander Peoples understand and utilise characterising things as living
the life cycles of certain species  and non-living as they may
address and describe anything
Living things depend on each other and the that moves alive. Teachers
environment to survive (ACSSU073)  will address these
 Recognising how Aboriginal and Torres conceptions and provide
Strait Islander Peoples perceive themselves clarity through the use of ICT
as an integral part of the environment resources such as youtube
clips explaining in detail. 
   An alternative conception is
  that students believe fire is a
living thing as it needs
oxygen to live throughout
bushfires. Teachers can
address these conceptions by
providing clarity about the
characteristics and
differences between living
and nonliving things through
the use of ICT resources such
as youtube clips and activities
explaining in detail.
 An alternative conception is
that all bushfires are bad for
the environment and harmful
to flora and fauna. Teachers
will address this by
introducing them to
Aboriginal practices that
 allowed for safe fires that
actually helped reproduce
plant life and be less
threatening to animal
species. 
Pedagogical Teaching approach: 
Based on the included cross
curricular links the students will
predominantly be taught through an
inquiry based approach. They will
lead their own learning by exploring
new information through research
and reading and adapt that learning
into a ICT based activity where
students will lead their learning and
attempt an unassisted task based on
the knowledge they will find before
attempting. The teacher will be
responsible for making the link
between what they learn in relation
to land management vs the ideas of
‘Totems’ with research where the
children will then discuss and lead
their own thinking on the topic also. 
Assessment Strategies: 
 Formative Assessment:
 For formative assessments
students are engaging and
participating in class
discussion conversing ideas
and gaining more knowledge
throughout each stage. These
discussions are built prior,
after and upon a variety of
activities allowing students to
investigate and respond to
questions. 
 Summative Assessment:
 For the summative
assessment students are
identifying, explaining,
describing the life cycle of a
living thing in-depth at the
end of the unit during the
EVALUATE stage through
conducting a poster
presentation of either
multimodal or concrete
 material. Specifically
correlating their
understandings and findings
from all previous lessons. 
Differentiation Strategies in
Science learning:
 All lessons require hands-on
activities limiting the exercise
of writing. Forming groups or
partner work is flexible
creating a variety of levels
and interest of learners within
the class which has students
engaging in a more inclusive
environment. Moreover, the
use of youtube clips will help
cater to students that have
audio and visual difficulties
which will further connect
with ICT resources. 

Student social and emotional well-

being: 
 Student social and emotional
wellbeing is addressed
throughout this unit through
nurturing a positive learning
environment where all
students feel valued and
supported by peers and
teachers, voicing clear
instructions prior to avoid
confusion, setting clear
classroom expectations and
rules specifically towards
hands on and group task
involving dangerous
materials or equipment,
providing consistent and
constant feedback to enable
effective communication
between teacher and
students. 

Key Science terminology:

 Life cycles 
 Living and non-living things 
  Plants and animals
 Bush fire
Key questions for the planner:
 Evaluate the structure, needs and importance of a life cycle towards living things.  
 Overall structure of the unit: 
Engage
Session goal: The goal for this session is to have students ready and equipped for
exploring and understanding about the similar and different characteristics of living and
non-living things. Students will further understand and recognise the importance a life
cycle has towards living things.         
Lead Teacher/s: Pihuka Duff 
Activity overview: The first part of this lesson will consist of a brainstorm and group
discussion to provide the Teacher an overview of what students already know. Students
will use their own device or school device to join padlet and share their ideas/answers of
what they already know about living and non-living things. After this is completed
Teacher and Students will discuss each answers which will provide clearer
understanding, this should take 10 mins. Students will go for a 5min walk around the
school and take photos using the school devices to record both living and non-living
things. Once time is up they will go back to class and review findings such as identifying
similarities and differences and add any new information or ideas to the padlet
discussion, this will take 5mins. Teacher will introduce life cycles and why it's important.
Teacher will play 2 youtube videos, one about life cycles of plants and the other about
life cycles of clown fish , this will go for 5mins. After the videos are played the class will
engage in a 10min ‘Think, Pair, Share’ activity identifying the similarities and
differences between the two life cycles. While students are conversing between each
other Teacher is drawing a venn diagram on the white board stating Plants, Clown fish
and similarities. When sharing stage is occurring students will come up themselves and
write their own answers on the board, 10 mins. 

   Explore
Session goal: The goal of this session is to introduce and educate the students on the past
historical point of views and perspectives of Indigenous Aboriginal people and how they
interacted and lived an interdependent lifestyle with the living world vs the modern
westernised society. For this to be successful, the students will need to be able to
compare and discuss the differences in the approaches of Aboriginal people vs modern
society today. 
Lead Teacher/s: Michael Newman 
Activity overview: 
 Brief 5-10 minutes reading through this with an additional 5 minute discussion and
improvement on findings and ideas 
 After reading through the site and a brief discussion the students are to set ‘cool
burning’ and safe fires with the simulator using their new found knowledge
 Teacher led explanation of Totems and connection between Indigenous Peoples and
the living world
The students overall activity is based around an inquiry - based approach that allows
students to gather information on traditional land management practices through
exploring new information which will then be put into practice via a fire simulator where
they will need to show the teacher they can successfully create a ‘cool burning’ fire. The
teacher will then explain the ideas of ‘Totems’ and how the Indigenous people had
certain responsibilities to care or nurture their given totems for the students to further
understand the connection and care between Indigenous peoples and the living world. 
   
    Explain
Session goal: The goal of this session is for students to share and gain new knowledge
References: 

2777 | NSW Education Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 April 2023, from

https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/science/
science-and-technology-k-6-new-syllabus/content/2777

Blooms Taxonomy—Best.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 April 2023, from

https://www.utica.edu/academic/Assessment/new/Blooms%20Taxonomy%20-%20Best.pdf

Chandler, G. (2022, June 1). What is a bushfire? - Geography. National Geographic Kids.
https://www.natgeokids.com/au/discover/geography/physical-geography/what-is-a-
bushfire/

Living or non-living? (n.d.). Science Learning Hub. Retrieved 13 April 2023, from
https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/27-living-or-non-living

Plant Life Cycle—Learning Life Cycle—Videos For Kids And Toddlers—YouTube. (n.d.).
Retrieved 13 April 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib5uiLMM2wY

Science. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 April 2023, from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-

10-curriculum/science/

The Amazing Life Cycle Of A Clownfish | The Dodo—YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 April 2023,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgUFkM34R7U

Watarrka Foundation. (2023). Aboriginal Fire Management: What is Cool Burning?

Retrieved from: https://www.watarrkafoundation.org.au/blog/aboriginal-fire-management-
what-is-cool-burning

Queensland Studies Authority. (2008). Birth Ceremonies, Totems, and Rites in Aboriginal
Society. Retrieved from:
https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/approach2/indigenous_res012_0804.pdf

My Time, Our Place. (2023). Some Theories and Approaches Appropriate To School Aged
Care. Retrieved from:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/d/AO22b7lm3yZklcCoMH9ZkNP0FyYzkFpEZsaqgQD_og
wtCJ-mb7kW/#search/some+theories?projector=1
Appendix A: Resources:
 Appendix B: Rubric for Unit Plan  
Excellent Proficient  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory 

Living vs Student can demonstrate Student have a Student have Student have
Non-living  an extensive thorough knowledge shown a sound shown limited
understanding of the  and can explain their understanding in understanding of
characteristics of living understanding of identify the characteristics of
and non - living things.  characteristics of characteristics of living and non -
living and non - living and non - living. 
living things.  living things. 
Students have an Students have a
extensive knowledge of Students have a Students have a limited
recording and thorough knowledge sound knowledge knowledge of
representing data of recording and of recording and recording and
collected.  representing data representing data representing data
collected. collected. collected.

Life Cycle Students show extensive Students have shown Students have Students has
knowledge of the life thorough shown a sound limited
cycle within various understanding of the understanding of understanding of
living things.  life cycle through life cycles and life cycles. 
living things. living things.

Aboriginal Student has shown Student has shown Student has sound Students shows
and Torres extensive knowledge of thorough knowledge of the limited
Straight ATSI and  explains the understanding of the ATSI and  explains understanding of
Islander significance of the ATSI and explains the significance of some of the ATSI
(ATSI) cross cultural connection the significance of the cultural and can only
curricular between the Indigenous the cultural connection between briefly make ties
priority peoples and the living connection between the Indigenous to the cultural
world in relation to the Indigenous peoples and the knowledge.
sustainability and can peoples and the living world with
represent it in verbal living world in no mention of
discussion.  relation to sustainability.
sustainability.

Presentation Students have shown Student have shown Students have Student shows
extensive knowledge of thorough knowledge shown a sound limited
the unit information and of the unit knowledge of the knowledge of unit
present in a highly information and unit information information and
detailed and sequenced present it in a and present their shows some
manner that shows clear comprehensive learnings understanding of
learning and manner that shows unsequenced and or topics.
understanding of all clear learning and not in clear detail. 
topics. understanding of
most topics.