Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes – Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
15 minutes – Part B: Finding Out
20 minutes – Part C: Desert Art
5 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

You might begin by watching "Wala Is Life" by Yorta Yorta artist Allara Briggs Patterson.

Wala Is Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XACgej9L80)

'Wala is life' is a song that stresses the sacredness of water (wala in Yorta Yorta language is water).

The lyrics of the song focuses on different perspectives - 'Yorta Yorta eyes; eyes of Mother Nature and through Government’s actions.' The song promotes the listener to question how nature has been used as a commodity and a means of profit-making without giving anything back.

Lyrics:

Wala is life

Wala falls from the sky

Rain beginning of life

Like our kinship ties

In mother earth's eyes

Riverbanks flow wide

Fingerlings swim wild

Making mother moon smile

Hasn’t rained in a while

Wala is Blood

Wala gives flood

Wala is life

Gotta get lore right

Limitless undercurrents,

Pushing, pulling, pumping

Gliding, sliding, mulling,

Tickles from nipples

Of sacred springs

An animal thing

Made to give us wings

After the rain the river flows

After the rain the river flows

After the rain the river flows

After the rain the river flows

And the kookaburras sing

In the gubba-sight, in the gubba-sight

In the gubba-sight, in the gubba-sight

In the gubba-sight, in the gubba-sight, ARGH

Seasons, summer breeze

Leaves, south easterlies

Frost on toes will freeze

Plants to make you sneeze

Downpours, thunderstorms

Temps above the norm

Bees will cease to swarm

And the ocean far too warm

An animal thing

Made to give us wings

Might come if we sing

Or will we feel the sting

Of the gubba sight

Endless supply in the gubba-sight

Endless supply in the gubba-sight

Endless supply in the gubba-sight

Endless supply in the gubba-sight

Step 2.

Begin with a word association activity. Write the word "Rain" in the middle of the whiteboard. Alternatively or in conjunction with the association activity, you might also use the Aboriginal dot painting below as a visual prompt. Ask students to suggest other words that come to mind when they think of rain.

An aboriginal drawing of the symbol for rain

Step 3.

Ask students to suggest other words that come to mind when they think of rain. As they do, create a vocabulary list on the whiteboard.

Step 4.

Create a connection between rain, water, and life. Ask students how does rain help to create life? Suggestions might include helping plants to grow and providing drinking water for animals.

Step 5.

Ask students to focus now on the idea of the desert. You can use the image of the Simpson Desert below to prompt their thinking.

Image of the sunset turning the sand dunes red in the Simpson Desert, Australia.

Step 6.

You might create another word association list. Challenge students on the idea that the desert is "empty" or "dead". Pose the question: How can things survive in the desert? Suggestions might include adaptations that help living things survive with little to no water, that maximise the water that is available, or that mitigate the impact of the arid conditions.

Part B: Finding Out

Step 1.

Independently, or as a whole class, students read through the Student Worksheet. Ask them to take notes using a dot point format about:

any adaptations animals have developed to survive the desert conditions
how a rainfall event changes the desert
any adaptations animals have developed to take advantage of scarce rainfalls.

Remind students to only take notes on the most interesting or important points presented throughout the reading.

Step 2.

Come together as a class to share student findings. These might include:

Pied Honeyeaters can breed quickly after a rainfall
Pied Honeyeaters have slender, pointed wings so they can easily fly long distances
Budgerigars can breed at any time of the year
Budgerigars can survive for 30 days without water
Sand Grasshopper eggs can lie dormant in the soil for years
Some insects lay eggs that don't all mature together, hatching at intervals after two or three rains
Plains Rats get all the water they need from their food, meaning they don’t have to find sources of water to drink from
Plains Rats produce highly concentrated urine, meaning they extract as much water as they can and waste very little
Plains Rats don't sweat.

Step 3.

Gather again as a whole class and invite students to share their findings. Students can make additional notes from the suggestions of their peers.

Step 4.

Explain to students the connection Black Kites have with rain. Whilst it does not benefit from the rain directly, the rain causes the desert flora to grow, which causes Sand Grasshopper eggs to hatch, which gives the Plains Rats something to eat, which finally gives the Black Kites something to eat.

In this way, all living things in the desert are interconnected, with one species depending on many other species for survival.

Extension: Ask students to identify a simple food chain from the evidence presented in the text. If students are unfamiliar with the concept of a food chain, spend some time explaining how a series of animals depend upon each other as a food source.

Alternatively, start by writing "Plains Rat" on the whiteboard. Ask students, "What eats Plains Rats?", then "What do Plains Rats eat?", and so on.

An example of a food chain described in the reading will look something like this.

Black Kite

eats

Plains Rat

eats

Sand Grasshopper

eats

Green Shoots

eats (or needs)

Rain

Part C: Desert Art

Step 1.

Independently, using art supplies and white paper, students create an image of a desert landscape flourishing after a rainfall. This artwork should be informed by the research undertaken in Part B, with the purpose of communicating students' understandings to the audience.

Step 2.

First, students should create an image of the desert landscape. You could use this image of an oncoming desert storm as inspiration.

Step 3.

Next, artworks should feature a number of elements that benefit from the rainfall, including:

Blossoming Eremophila plants (see below)
Pied Honeyeaters and Budgerigars building nests and laying eggs
An increased number of Sand Grasshoppers and hatching eggs
An increased number of Plains Rats
An increased number of Black Kites hunting the rats.

Step 4.

Students should add labels to their artwork to explain the developments in more detail. You might use sticky notes, or create a border around the artwork, to avoid labelling the artwork directly.

Provisions for Learning Support - If your students are less confident at independent research, consider skipping Part B and instead consider guiding students through Part C in a more detailed fashion to combine the art with learning science-based knowledge drawn from the Student Worksheet reading.

For example, use the following script.

Draw a Plains Rat amongst the sand. Plains Rats get all the water they need from their food, which includes seeds, grass stems, and occasionally insects. This means they don’t have to find sources of water to drink from. They also produce highly concentrated urine, meaning they use as much water as they can and waste very little. Finally, Plains Rats don’t sweat, meaning they waste even less.

Now add a few Black Kites hovering in the sky. These hawks are predators. Do you know what that means?

Reflection

Exit Ticket - Before moving to their next class or an outside break, students purchase their 'exit' with a 'ticket' that demonstrates their understanding of the learning undertaken in this lesson.

You can have students write their responses on a sticky note along with their name, or you can have them line up and verbally communicate their understanding to you at the door as they leave.

Ask students to:

Choose one Australian desert species and explain one way it relies on rain for survival
Choose one Australian desert species and explain how it relies on another animal for survival.

Alternatively, use your own knowledge of species covered in this lesson, such as the Plains Rat or Pied Honeyeater, and challenge students to explain their specifics survival mechanisms in relation to the desert.

For example:

Explain one way the Plains Rat conserves water
Explain one way the Pied Honeyeater has adapted to the conditions of the desert.

Taking It Further

Students might create a second image of a drier desert scene. This landscape would feature, for example, fewer Black Kites, as their main food source is depleted. Using two images to compare and contrast is an effective way to communicate the dependence of species on rain as part of their environment for their survival.
Is a painting the most effective way for students to communicate their understanding of the complex and ever-changing desert ecosystem? Consider asking students to film explanations of their learning, in tandem with artworks or more developed visual presentations.
A desert is defined as a barren area of landscape where little precipitation (rain) occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. This means that Antarctica is actually the location of the world's largest desert, as it hardly ever rains in the icy conditions of the poles. Do you think species here have adapted to the low-water conditions, or rely on each others' lifecycles, in the same way as native Australian desert species?
There are many other ecosystems and habitats that students could explore to satisfy learning about relationships that assist the survival of living things (ACSSU073), the key stages in the life cycle of a plant or animal (ACSSU072), and the effect of environmental changes on individual living things (ACSSU094)

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Beyond the Bushfires - Desert Rain

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