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Teaching activity - White tail spider

This resource for level 1-2 students illustrates how to use evidence to support ideas around identifying spiders.

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Tags

  • AudienceKaiako
  • Curriculum Level1-2
  • Resource LanguageEnglish

About this resource

This resource illustrates how a Ready to Read book, "The White-tailed spider", can be used to provide opportunities for students to strengthen their science capability by using evidence. Students will develop their ability to determine what counts as useful evidence, and use information and observations to identify features of white-tailed spiders.

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Teaching activity: White tail spider

Mātauranga Māori

“Te aitanga pepeke” (the insect world) refers to a wide range of insects and creatures in the Māori world. They share certain features:

  • They have four or more legs.
  • They sit in a crouching position.
  • Some can leap or jump.

Te aitanga pepeke feature in the narrative of Whiro who sent an army of small creatures to kill Tāne to obtain the three baskets of whatukura (sacred knowledge). See Te Ara’s Te atitanga pepeke - The insect world for more.

Learning focus

Students use evidence to support their ideas.

Learning activity

The White-tailed spider

This non-fiction book is about the white-tailed spider. It includes written descriptions of white-tailed spiders supported by enlarged photographs, one of which is labelled, as well as life size drawings.

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After reading and discussing the book, turn to the centre page. Discuss what features would help students identify a white-tailed spider. Include:

  • features of spiders in general (8 legs, 2 body parts.)
  • features of white-tailed spiders specifically. (Shape, size, length of legs, covering, colour, markings.)

Provide the following sets of cards describing features of some small animals.

  • 8 legs
  • 2 body parts
  • fangs
     
  • 6 legs
  • 3 body parts
  • brown and grey
     
  • 8 legs
  • fangs
  • very hairy
  • round body
     
  • 8 legs
  • white stripe
  • 40 mm long
  • long body
  • fangs
     
  • 8 legs
  • long body
  • grey colour
  • orange bands on legs
  • white patch at end of body
  • 15 mm long
  • white patch at end of body
  • long legs

Ask students to sort into two piles, those that could not be a white-tail spider and those that could.

For the first group (not white-tails) ask:

  • What evidence do you have that makes you think this isn't a white-tail?

For the second group (possibly white-tails) ask:

  • What evidence do you have that makes you think this could be a white-tail?

Ask:

  • Do you have enough evidence to be sure that any of these descriptions are white-tails?
  • What else could you find out about this spider to be surer that it is a white-tail? (Prompt if necessary to use information from the book.)

Science is a way of explaining the world and in science, explanations need to be supported by evidence that is based on, or derived from, observations of the natural world.

Developing an appreciation of what counts as evidence helps to support students become scientifically literate, that is, to participate as critical, informed, and responsible citizens in a society in which science plays a significant role. This is the purpose of science in The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum.

What are we looking for?

When students are justifying their decisions are they using all the relevant evidence needed?

If they think it is a white-tail does it meet [bold text] all the criteria for whitetails?

If they think it is not a white-tail are they able to describe which criteria it doesn't meet?

Do they understand that if any feature of the spider is different it cannot be a white tail?

Can they identify which observations are useful and which are not for identifying a specific type of spider?

This activity could be adapted to any context where students are asked to identify a specific animal or plant.

The Assessment Resource Banks item, Insect or spider, is designed to be used to support students to differentiate between insects and spiders. This is a  level 3 resource so students may need some support to complete it. Consider using it as the basis for a class discussion. A good beginning point might be deciding what makes a white-tail a spider.

The Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao has some useful resources to explore classifying and identifying living things: