All lessons › Surviving Australia’s extremes › Lesson 1
Australian primary science · Year 5 · Lesson 1 of 3
Desert survivors
Inquiry question: How do living things survive in Australia’s hot, dry deserts?
Marked no materials needed
Classifying
What students learn
Living things have structural features (body parts) and behaviours (actions) that help them survive in their habitat. In deserts, these help them cope with heat and very little water.
Success criteria
- I can tell the difference between a structural feature and a behaviour.
- I can explain how a feature helps a living thing survive heat or dryness.
- I can sort features by the survival problem they solve.
- I can use fossil evidence to explain that past life differed from living things today.
Preparation and materials
Before this lesson: Students know animals need food, water and shelter, and can name a habitat.
- iPads with Bottlebrush Education open (nothing else needed) — 13 (one per pair)
- Projector or big screen — 1
Teacher setup
- Open this lesson’s student view (the desert survivors source) on your screen to demonstrate.
- Check the iPads are charged.
Safety and adaptations
Follow school science and equipment risk assessment procedures for the materials used.
Review your school policies and curriculum requirements before teaching.
How to investigate
The lesson sequence should leave pupils with evidence to interpret, not only an activity to finish.
- Pairs read the desert survivors source.
- For each living thing, record one feature or behaviour.
- Label it structural or behavioural.
- Write the survival problem it solves: heat, lack of water, or finding food.
- Compare the fossil connection with living marsupials. Distinguish evidence about past life from a claim about direct ancestry; fossils and other records help scientists investigate changes over many generations.
- Play Body or behaviour?, then Design a survivor (choose Hot desert).
Teacher modelling prompt
Read the thorny devil card aloud. Think aloud: “Tiny grooves between its scales. That’s part of its body, so it’s a structural feature. The grooves carry water from damp sand to its mouth. The problem it solves is lack of water.” Fill the first row together.
Record and explain evidence
Recording question: How do living things survive in Australia’s hot, dry deserts?
| Living thing | Feature or behaviour | Structural or behavioural? | Problem it solves (heat, water or food) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ________________ | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ |
Example recording headings; record actual observations, including inconclusive results.
Discussion prompt
Which explanation matches how features develop?
Check understanding
What should pupils know? What is the difference between a structural feature and a behaviour? Give a desert example of each.
Explain with evidence: Why does staying in a burrow during the day help a bilby survive in the desert?
Apply the idea: Design a desert plant. Give it one structural feature that saves water and explain how it works.
Teacher answer guidance and saved classroom work are available through the main lesson experience where supported.