Aquatic Detectives
Source:
- Second Nature - Environmental Studies Pack (SNH & RSPB) available from the RSPB
- Schools Out - Fieldwork Made Easy: A teacher's pack for 5-14 Environmental Studies produced by Highland Environmental Network School Group
OBJECTIVES
- To appreciate the abundance and diversity of life in aquatic habitats
- To develop sampling and recording skills
- To look at adaptations
Time
20-60 minutes
You will need
- pond / river dipping kit - see river/pond dipping activity
- recording sheets (see downloads)
- keys (see downloads)
- pencils
Did you know?
Aquatic minibeasts display a huge range of body types and adaptations to life in the water. In clean freshwater burns, river, lochs, ponds and peatland pools they are easy to discover and observe. You can find caddis fly larvae which crawl along the bottom in their home-made cases, leeches which move by looping, water boatmen whose legs have been flattened into 'oars' and many other strange and wonderful creatures, breathing using gills, bubbles or tubes.
Before the activity
Undertake the river dipping / pond dipping activity
The activity
Ask the children to focus in on two creatures which they find the most interesting and yet are very different. Ask them to look very closely at their chosen creatures and draw and answer the questions on the recording sheets for each one. If they have time, get them to make a further recording of a terrestrial minibeast they have found. Would they have been able to tell which one lives in water and which on dry land if they had just seen a drawing of them? If so, how?
Suggested Follow up
Find out more about their chosen creatures by searching for information on the web. (See the links below) and find out if they got the answers to the questions right!
Research, write and draw aquatic food chains or food webs based on their chosen creatures
Downloads
- Aquatic Detectives recording sheet
- Minibeast Detectives recording sheet
- Pond educational resource pack on the Cornwall Wildlife Trust web site
- Pond explorer on the Naturegrid web site to explore pond habitats and their inhabitants, do a virtual pond dip and identify and find out about small pond creatures
- Photographs and in depth information about adaptations and biology of aquatic invertebrates. Although this is a Northern Ireland Peatland site, it is also ideal for fresh water in general in Scotland
- Water creatures sheet llustrations of commonly found aquatic minibeasts, plus general information on the creature
- Freshwater creatures key
Additional Information
Schools Out - Field work made easy from the Highland Environmental Network
Curriculum Links
Science - main
Age Range
2,3,4