Adam+Cole

=Detailed Resource Explanation and Rationale=

This lesson includes, (from the 2011 University of Sydney EDUP3006 UOS Outline, p10),:
 * a) An introduction to the content of the focus outcome using 1 of the resources.**

The website of The Office of Environment and Heritage of the NSW State Government ([]) is a reliable and reputable source website for children to take their research from as it is a government website with high quality visual images and trustworthy information without negative biases. It stores a large number of different animal factsheets allowing children to have a high percentage chance of being able to find the animal which they are interested in researching for their information report. It shows a clear link to the science focus outcomes of //“living things depend on other living things to survive”// and //“plants and animals live in environments that supply their needs”// as each of the website’s animal factsheets has subheadings such as “What do glossy black-cockatoos look like?”; “Where do they live?”; “What do they eat?”; and “What you can do to help glossy black-cockatoos”. The information is presented in an easily accessible style for children to read and with some simple prompting (some children may not even need that) children may navigate through the website to other points of interest such as “Animal and Plant (biodiversity) Studies” which provide extra interesting snippets of information which could be a valuable addition to an information report. The website of The Office of Environment and Heritage of the NSW State Government also has educational links to issues of concern to people in modern times, such as conservation/environmental links which I believe is good to expose children to these issues from a young age and is sound scientific research on the children’s behalf.

Some of the other resources listed for student research purposes are: The website of the Australian Reptile Park; which I included for its clear and useful-sized images of Australian fauna, which are eye-catching and would look great as pictorial representations of the text in an information report and also for the fact that they run school incursions, bringing animals into schools for education programs. Finding this on a website could give students the impetus to recommend these incursions to their teacher / principal which could provide motivation for children to find out about local fauna which could provide exciting and engaging science lessons for more children in the school; And a National Geographic book called “//All About Australian Animals”,// //as it is of a very reputable publisher in the National Geographic brand/ organisation, who, for many years have published magazines and video documentaries of high quality and educational value. I wanted to use this book to show students a model of exactly that because its content may be relied upon.//

**Resources:**

 * These websites should be bookmarked in a web browser for students' research use for their information reports:**

NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage

Australian Government DFAT website (Flora and Fauna section)

Australian Reptile Park


 * Students should also have access to non-fiction books about Australian animals such as these titles:**

Australian Geographic, (2011). //Australian Geographic: All About Australian Animals. // Publisher: Australian Geographic. = =

Cheng, C., & Rogers, G., (2007). //Amazing Australian Animals //**. ** Publisher: Random House Australia.

Gallagher, D., (2009). //MYL Australian Animals: Potaroos and Numbats //. Publisher: Macmillan Education Australia.