Bug Hunt: Bugs Building Webs

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• critical thinking
• curiosity
• digital literacy
• global citizenship

Australian Curriculum (v9.0) content description:

Year 7, Science

Students learn to

• use models, including food webs, to represent matter and energy flow in ecosystems and predict the impact of changing abiotic and biotic factors on populations (AC9S7U02)

Relevant parts of Year 7 achievement standards: Students represent flows of matter and energy in ecosystems and predict the effects of environmental changes.

General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Digital Literacy

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability 

Level of teacher scaffolding: High - explicit instruction, direct student research.

UN SDG 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

• Target: 15.8: By 2020, introduce measures to prevent the introduction and significantly reduce the impact of invasive alien species on land and water ecosystems and control or eradicate the priority species.

• Device capable of displaying audiovisual material
• Devices for students to take photographs
• Student devices
• Visual explainer - Invertebrates and Ecosystems 
• Whiteboard

The Invasive Species Council is Australia’s leading advocate for protecting native wildlife and ecosystems from invasive plants, animals, and pathogens. They work to raise awareness, influence policy, and engage communities in practical solutions to prevent and manage invasive species. Invertebrates Australia champions the conservation and appreciation of Australia’s native invertebrates. They provide research, education, and community programs that highlight the vital role these species play in healthy ecosystems and biodiversity.

What Makes a Species ‘Threatened’? Teaching Biodiversity and Species Protection

Quick summary: Learn about biodiversity and threatened species with Ecologist Thomas Nixon. You will learn what biodiversity is and how it is regulated in Australia, and you will look at some specific case studies that show what is being done across the country to protect our unique biodiversity.