Cover lesson · Science and Technology · Year 5 · Intermediate
DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Also assessed, LNF: Literacy → Reading → Reading strategies
Name: Class: Date:
What this practises: planning a search, choosing and improving keywords, and judging which search result to trust, using pretend search screens printed on paper. Pupils then skim and scan a web page to find facts and check a second page for mistakes, which is real literacy (reading strategies) and is marked from the sheet. Science topic: the life cycle of the common frog.
Print: this sheet, one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “Pretend search screens and web pages: the common frog”, one between two. No computers are needed. All the websites are invented, but the frog facts on the Pond Life Wales page are real.
Run: 5 min read “What you are doing” aloud · 6 min Step 1 · 7 min Step 2 · 8 min Step 3 · 14 min Step 4 (give a 1 minute skim time first, then let them scan) · 8 min Step 5 · 8 min Step 6 · 4 min share answers to Step 5. Total 60 minutes.
Collect: this sheet. Reading strategies (literacy) evidence is Step 4 (skimming for the right heading, scanning for each fact) and Step 5 (judging which page to trust, with evidence). Quick checks: best search is C, best result C1; frogs lay spawn in February and March; 1,000 to 2,000 eggs; froglets leave after about 12 to 16 weeks; all 3 blog claims are false.
Your class is making a display about how a common frog grows. Your job is to find the facts online. Searching well means choosing good keywords, then picking a result you can trust. You will use pretend search screens on the stimulus sheet.
Your research question: How does a common frog grow from frogspawn to an adult, and how long does it take?
(a) Write 3 things you must find out to answer the question. These are your success criteria.
| 1 | |
|---|---|
| 2 | |
| 3 |
(b) Underline the most useful keywords in the research question.
Ffion typed just one keyword: frog. Look at Search A on the stimulus sheet.
| Result | Useful? (Yes or No) | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| 4 |
Why did the keyword frog give poor results?
(a) Look at Search B and Search C. Which search gave the best results? Explain why its keywords worked better.
(b) Which one result would you click? Write the search letter and result number.
(c) Give 2 clues from the search screen that this result is likely to be reliable.
(d) Why is Search B, result 3 no use for your display, even though it is about a frog life cycle?
Skim means looking quickly over the headings to get the main idea. Scan means hunting for one fact, like a key word or a number.
(a) Skim the Pond Life Wales page for 1 minute. Which heading would you read to find out...
| ... | Heading |
|---|---|
| where frogs go when it is cold? | |
| what tadpoles eat? | |
| how long it takes to grow into an adult? |
(b) Scan for each fact. Write the answer and the heading where you found it.
| Question | Answer | Heading |
|---|---|---|
| 1. When do common frogs usually lay spawn in Wales? | ||
| 2. How many eggs can one female lay? | ||
| 3. How long until the eggs hatch? | ||
| 4. What do tadpoles eat at first? | ||
| 5. When do the back legs grow? | ||
| 6. When do froglets leave the water? | ||
| 7. How long until a frog is an adult? |
Read the Frog Facts Fun Blog. Check each claim against the Pond Life Wales page.
| Blog claim | True or false? | What Pond Life Wales says |
|---|---|---|
| Frogs are reptiles, like snakes. | ||
| Frogs lay their eggs in long strings. | ||
| Tadpoles turn into frogs in just 2 weeks. |
Give 2 more clues, not about the facts, that the blog is less reliable than Pond Life Wales.
(a) Good researchers write down where facts came from. Fill in the source.
| Website name | |
|---|---|
| Page title | |
| Last updated |
(b) Answer the research question in 3 sentences, in your own words. Do not copy whole sentences.