Sorting the living world into groups and identifying organisms with dichotomous keys, then food webs, the energy that flows through them, and what happens when a species disappears. Concept tutorials with an interactive key and food web.
Each lesson works two ways. Students can work through the online tutorial at their own pace (it checks their answers and saves their progress in their browser), or you can teach it to the whole class from the slides, then send students into the tutorial for the Modify and Make steps.
Every lesson guide has plain-language notes, the answers to every check, a solution for every task, and slides and a worksheet for Waypoints Prepare. These guide pages are not linked from student pages, but they are not secret either: keep printed Teacher editions for answers you do not want students to find.
Kingdoms and dichotomous keys: grouping and identifying organisms by observable features (AC9S7U01).
Scientists sort living things into groups by features they can observe. The biggest groups are kingdoms. A common five-kingdom scheme for Year 7:
| Kingdom | Observable features | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Animals | many cells; move; eat other living things | kangaroo, bull ant, sea star |
| Plants | many cells; make their own food from sunlight (green) | gum tree, moss, grass |
| Fungi | absorb food from dead or living material; grow from spores; not green | mushroom, bread mould, yeast |
| Protists | mostly one cell, with a nucleus | amoeba, paramecium, Euglena |
| Bacteria | one tiny cell, no nucleus | yoghurt bacteria, E. coli |
A dichotomous key identifies an organism by a series of two-way choices ("Does it have a backbone?"), each about an observable feature. You follow the choices that match the specimen until the key names it. One wrong choice leads to a wrong name, so each step needs checking against the specimen.
Classification helps us identify organisms, communicate with one shared name and see relationships. It groups by shared features (unlike a list), and every system is built for a purpose, including First Peoples' systems tied to Country.
Optional ideas if you run a practical for this unit: pick one, adapt it to your equipment, or use your own.
Safety and ethics: seal mould bags with tape and never open them (spores can trigger asthma and allergies); dispose of them sealed. Collect fallen leaves only, from school grounds.
Who eats whom, where the energy goes, and how a change ripples through a web (AC9S7U02).
A food chain shows one path of who eats whom: grass → grasshopper → lizard → kookaburra. A food web joins all the chains in an ecosystem. Arrows point the way energy flows: from the food to the eater.
Energy flows one way. At each step up, most of the energy (about 90%) is used for living (moving, keeping warm) or lost as heat and in parts not eaten; only about 10% is passed on. That is why there are few top predators. Matter cycles: decomposers return the atoms to the soil and air, where producers use them again.
A biotic factor is a living part of the ecosystem (predators, prey, competitors, disease). Changing one population ripples through the web: a trophic cascade.
Optional ideas if you run a practical for this unit: pick one, adapt it to your equipment, or use your own.
Safety and ethics: keep water away from the lamp's power; never open mould bags. Observe small animals gently and return them where found. Use school grounds; for sites on Country, check with local Traditional Owners or your school's First Nations contacts first.