What is ‘growing and changing’?

Preparation

Pupils can bring in a picture of themselves as a baby before the lesson. The class can try to guess who belongs to each picture.

Curriculum links

Animals, including Humans

• Notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults.

Suggested teaching strategies

• Use the turn and talk strategy to encourage pupils to think about how they have already grown and changed.

Introduction

If pupils have brought in pictures of themselves as babies, start with a game where the class guesses whose photo belongs to who.

Display the digital lesson on your smartboard to introduce growth and change.

The summary and worksheet pages should be used together.

Development

Provide pupils with the summary and worksheet to complete.

The aim of the investigation worksheet is for pupils to understand some ways change and growth in living things can be observed, measured and recorded.

Differentiation

• Use real images of a five-month-old rabbit and a one-year-old rabbit to support pupils to complete the final column of the experiment table.
• As an extension to this lesson, pupils could predict the changes in their diet, abilities and appearance that will happen as they change and grow.

Conclusion

Discuss the answers to the investigation worksheet’s table as a class, especially the fifth item (behaviour).

Assessment

Worksheet answers
1. When living things grow, they get heavier and taller, and change. They can usually do more things and look different.
2. Teacher check. Answers might include the tree has grown taller, has more branches, has more leaves, is heavier and has flowers.
3. Teacher check. Answers might include same eye colour, same number of fingers/toes/limbs, same hair colour, same skin colour.
4. 2, 1, 4, 3
5. (a) Answers should indicate their hands are bigger, their fingers longer, maybe the skin is a little rougher. (b) No.
6. Pupils should respond that they have not changed in exactly the same way. One pupil might be taller or shorter, have lost more or less teeth, have longer hair, weigh more or less, have bigger or smaller feet.

The uses and implications of science question
An animal scientist or zoologist studies animals.

Investigation worksheet answers
1. (a) a ruler or tape measure (b) scales
2. Teacher check: drawings, photographs, videos, labelled diagram
3. Teacher check. As it is an adult, it will probably not grow much more in length. It might continue to grow in weight, its behaviour might change as it gets older, its diet should stay the same.