Grouping and classifying

Part 1 - Grouping ladybirds

1. Look at an image of a ladybird and ask learners to identify what type of animal it is. (Bird, mammal, reptile, insect etc.)
2. Review what features insects share.
3. Review or introduce vocabulary for parts of a beetle so learners will be able to refer to body parts using appropriate terminology.
4. Explain that learners will be grouping these ladybirds by their similarities in their features. Ask learners to sort the ladybirds cards into groups and use a sticky note to label each group.
5. Ask learners to split each group into smaller groups, giving each group a new label.
6. Continue until each ladybird is on its own.

Part 2 - Making a branching key

1. Divide the class into groups/pairs.
2. Give each group a set of ladybird species cards, numbers xx-01 to xx-10.
3. Spread out the ladybird cards and look at their features.
4. Think of some questions that will give the answer ‘yes’ for some ladybirds, and ‘no’ for the rest. Write down your questions on pieces of paper.
5. Pick a question to be at the top. Draw arrows to show where the 'yes' and 'no' ladybirds should go.
6. Add another question at the end of each arrow to split the ladybirds into smaller groups until each ladybird species ends up in its own spot on the page.
7. Swap your key with another group and see if it works for their ladybirds.
    

Part 3 - Branching key challenge

1. Hand out cards for the variable ladybirds. (Card numbers xx - 11 to xx – 15)
2. Students use their own key or use another group’s key to identify the ladybirds.
3. Reveal which ladybird cards belong to which species.
4. Students inspect cards and identify similarities in each variable species.
5. Reveal the shared features.
6. Students rework their keys to properly identify the variable species.

Plenary

Check learners' understanding using the concept cartoon.