Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Science
ScienceAnimals in ecosystems30 min★★★ difficulty

Planning an animal behaviour investigation

You can run real animal science from a garden, a park or a window. What separates it from watching is the plan.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Select, plan and carry out the most appropriate types of scientific enquiry to test predictions, including identifying independent, dependent and control variables

Key learning points

  • • From curiosity to enquiry
  • • Choosing the type of enquiry
  • • Sampling honestly
  • • Ethics is part of the method

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

appropriatescientificenquirypredictionsidentifying

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Planning an animal behaviour investigation

An English teaching video on this topic from Revision Monkey. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Select, plan and carry out the most appropriate types of scientific enquiry to test predictions, including identifying independent, dependent and control variables

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know how to write a prediction and the difference between an observation and a conclusion.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Independent variable
The one thing you deliberately change.
Dependent variable
The thing you measure.
Control variable
Something you keep the same so it cannot affect the result.
Sampling
Recording part of a population to represent the whole.
Repeat reading
Doing the same measurement again to spot anomalies.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Turning a question into a test

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

From curiosity to enquiry

"Do birds prefer sunflower seeds?" is a question. An enquiry names what you change (seed type), what you measure (number of visits in ten minutes) and what you hold steady (feeder position, time of day, weather, observer). Now two people could repeat your work and compare.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Choosing the type of enquiry

Some questions suit a controlled experiment, some a survey, some an observation over time, and some pattern-seeking across sites. Animals often rule out full control, so field biologists use careful observation with fixed methods instead — camera traps at set heights, transect walks along the same route.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

You change seed type and count bird visits. The dependent variable is

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

Which is a sensible control variable here?

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Fair tests with living things

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Sampling honestly

You cannot count every bird, so you sample: the same ten-minute window, the same three days a week, the same location. Bias creeps in when the method changes with the weather or your mood. Recording the conditions alongside the count lets you spot that later.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Ethics is part of the method

Good animal enquiry does not stress the animals: no handling, no baiting that changes behaviour long-term, no disturbing nests. Working within those limits is a design constraint, like any other, and it usually improves the data because the animals behave normally.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Why do field biologists often observe rather than experiment?

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

Recording weather alongside your counts helps you

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • The dependent variable is what you measure, not what you change.
  • Repeats reduce the effect of anomalies; they do not remove bias in the method.
  • More data is not automatically better data if the method changed halfway through.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

An ____ names what you change (seed type), what you measure (number of visits in ten minutes) and what you hold steady (feeder position, time of day, weather, observer).

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Planning an animal behaviour investigation

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. A transect walk keeps the same

  2. 2. Sampling is needed because

  3. 3. Repeat readings mainly help you

  4. 4. Which plan is ethically acceptable?

  5. 5. The independent variable is

  6. 6. A conclusion should

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
  2. Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
  3. Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

  • Method and results

    Writing

    Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.

    1 page + results table

  • Conclusion

    Writing

    Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.

    6–8 sentences

  • Labelled diagram

    Diagram

    Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.

    1 labelled diagram

  • Reading and notes

    Reading

    Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.

    Half a page of notes

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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