Animal Adaptations

Science Stage 2 (NSW)  

NSW Science (2024)  

Knowledge of our world and beyond inspires sustainable solutions

ST3-SCI-01 uses evidence to explain how scientific knowledge can be used to develop sustainable practices

Living things may change over millions of years, in response to their environments.

• Observe behavioural and structural adaptations of plants and animals, and suggest how these may help them survive in their environments
• Identify and describe how the loss or introduction of plants or animals affects an Australian ecosystem

ST3-PQU-01 poses questions to identify variables and conducts fair tests to gather data

ST3-DAT-01 interprets data to support explanations and arguments

ST3-CWT-01 creates written texts to communicate understanding of scientific and technological concepts and processes

Creating written explanations of concepts and processes supports understanding of Science and Technology

• Use compound and complex sentences and labelled diagrams to create a text that explains a process, concept or investigation
• Use notetaking, journalling, annotations and labelled images to create a multimodal text that documents the design processes involved in developing a solution 

Science Australian Curriculum 

Biological sciences

Year 5

AC9S5U01 examine how particular structural features and behaviours of living things enable their survival in specific habitats

• identify physical and behavioural characteristics that enable a plant or animal to survive, such as being able to see in dim light and being nocturnal
• exploring features of plants and animals that enable them to survive in Australia’s desert environments, such as bottle (or boab) trees and the water-holding frog
• investigating how camouflage is used by animals to hide from predators and to ambush prey
• using physical or digital simulations to explore how the shape of animals’ body parts, such as the beak of a particular bird species, influence their ability to find food and survive in a given environment  
   

Year 6

AC9S6U01 investigate the physical conditions of a habitat and analyse how the growth and survival of living things is affected by changing physical conditions

• identifying the physical conditions in an aquatic or terrestrial habitat and how they change over time
• examining how changes in physical conditions such as temperature, light availability and rainfall affect animals, such as corals, honey bees or flying foxes, and predict impacts of these changes
• investigating changes in physical conditions that are the result of human activity and exploring the impact of these on living things, such as the impact of urban lighting on nocturnal and migratory animals
• recognising that environmental conditions can affect stages of life, such as ponds drying up, seeds requiring water to germinate, or temperatures being too hot or cold for eggs to hatch