Teaching activity – Which ones are spiders?
This resource for level 1–2 students focuses on developing the nature of science understanding in the context of the classification of insects and spiders.
About this resource
Spiders have eight legs and two main body parts. Adult insects have six legs and three main body parts. Asking children to group things encourages them to observe carefully and think about how things are the same or different. This provides opportunities to extend their experiences of the natural world, build their language, and develop understandings of how the natural world can be represented.
Teaching activity: Which ones are spiders?
Curriculum Links
Level 1 and 2
Nature of Science: Investigating in science
Students will:
extend their experiences and personal explanations of the natural world through exploration, play, asking questions, and discussing simple models.
Level 1 and 2
Nature of Science: Communicating in science
Students will:
build their language and develop their understandings of the many ways the natural world can be represented.
Level 1 and 2
Living World: Evolution
Students will:
Recognise that there are lots of different living things in the world and that they can be grouped in different ways.
Mātauranga Māori
- Stories like The kuia and the spider by Patricia Grace (not available online)
- Connections with raranga
- Te Ara -Te aitanga pepeke
Close observation contributes to the development of mātauranga Māori. Any raranga or whakairo of great beauty and intricacy were likened to a spider’s web in the whakataukī, “Ano he whare pungawerewere.”
The beauty of the spider’s weaving also appears in a pūrākau that teaches the importance of giving respect to te taiao. When Tane climbed to the heavens to gain the three baskets of knowledge, he engaged in battle with Whiro from the underworld and his army of insects, te aitanga pepeke. Tane defeated Whiro and his army of insects, birds, and bats, and so they were sent to the forest where they remain to this day. It was this army that prevented a man called Rātā from chopping down a tree to make a waka as he had not asked permission of Tane. Once Rātā made amends, the insects built him a waka that the spiders adorned with beautiful carvings.
Students and teachers could visit a local wharenui to observe the whakairo closely to see in what ways the work is similar to that of the spider.
Resource overview
Spiders have eight legs and two main body parts (cephalothorax and abdomen). Adult insects have six legs and three main body parts (head, thorax, abdomen).
Students are invited to group things based on close observation, identifying how things are the same or different. This provides opportunities to extend their experiences of the natural world, build their language, develop the science capability of gathering and interpreting data, and grow their understanding of how the natural world can be represented.
Activities like this one prepare students for thinking about classification in science.
Learning intentions/ success criteria
Students will:
- make close observations of a range of images or specimens
- identify similarities and differences
- understand that scientists group things to better understand how they look, function, and respond
- appreciate that within te ao Māori, spiders are admired for their skills in creating webs.
Learning Activity
What you need
- A range of pictures of insects and spiders and, if possible, some actual (dead or alive) examples.
- Colour images - Images of spiders and insects - for students; Images of spiders and insects - for teachers
Starter questions for students
- What is the most noticeable difference between spiders and insects?
- If we look at examples of spiders and insects, will we be able to tell the difference between them?
- Do the bodies of all insects look the same? Do the bodies of all spiders look the same?
- Do all insects look the same at all stages of their life? (Teachers are alerted to insect lifecycles, many of which include metamorphosis e.g. egg - larva - pupa - adult)
- Do all spiders look the same at all stages of their life?
For teachers: Guiding student exploration
- Indicate to students that perhaps some of the images are spiders and some are insects. Which images do they think are spiders and why? Or why not?
- Discuss the characteristics of a spider with the students.
- Show them the pictures/examples and get them to sort the items into three groups: spiders, insects, and not sure.
- Encourage them to share the reasons for the choices they are making.
- When they have sorted the items, as a class, look at each group and help the students to formulate an answer to the question, “What do all the things in this group have in common?”
- Discuss with the class the items that are in the not sure group and help them to sort those items into spiders and insects. Landcare’s All about insects could be helpful – available in English and te reo Māori.
Questions for students
- How did you make your decision about which group to put things in?
- Which parts of the animal are you comparing?
- Was it easy to see what you wanted to see? For example, legs, mouth parts, eyes.
- Do you have any animals that you didn’t put in a group? Why couldn’t you group them?
Resources to go further
- The kuia and the spider by Patricia Grace
- Te Ara’s Te aitanga pepeke
- Ready to read book – The White-tailed spider
- Junior Journal – The jungle in my garden
- Junior Journal poem – Spider
- Spiders of New Zealand from Te Papa Collections
- Te Papa’s blog New Zealand’s Most Popular Spiders (2019)
- Which New Zealand Spider? Andrew Crowe (Published 2007)
- Youtube video: Dr Fiona Cross Dr Spider is a NZ scientist who specialises in spiders- and Arachnologist
- Science Learning Hub resources: Living world - insects
See Materials that come with this resource to download
- Images of spiders and insects - for teachers (.doc)
- Images of spiders and insects - for students (.doc)
For more on classification
- Science Learning Hub’s Native plant leaves – DIY classification system
- Science Learning Hub’s Looking at plants and leaves