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Mammoths extinct - Extinction activity from Wikid

  • Key Stage 3
  • SciQ Sequences

Type: Activity
Learning Strategy: Imaginative inquiry
Topic: Feeding relationships

This activity is a sample from the upd8 Wikid Y7 proghramme. Find out more about the course

Introduction to the Extinction unit
As the Arctic ice melts away, polar bears are sliding towards extinction. Climate change is radically altering many of the Earth's environments. Will other species be able to adapt? Earth's history also shows there have been many extinctions in the past. So should we be worried that species are dying out today? And which should we be trying to save? Students are trainee reporters for environmental awareness channel Planet TV. As part of their assignments they learn about the changing atmosphere, adaptation, variation and classification, behaviour, collaboration, developing argument and scientific communication.

About this activity
The students are on their first assignment as trainee reporters for Planet TV. They have been sent to Siberia where they helped Lauren, an experienced reporter, produce an 'on the spot' news report on the discovery of a frozen baby mammoth. They learned what Europe was like 15,000 years ago when mammoths were alive and suggested what might have changed to make Mammoths become extinct.
Now their editor thinks there's a bigger story so they are sent to Yakutsk to cover a Mammoth conference. They collect evidence from an international panel of experts to find out what changed when the mammoths became extinct. The experience shows scientists from different disciplines collaborating to gather evidence and come up with explanations.

11-14 How Science Works:
The unit focusses on 'Scientific Communication': (PoS 2.3, strategy 1.1a2)

Good communication captures attention, keeps the audience interested, and gets the message across with clarity and impact.

Published: 3rd June 2008
Reviews & Comments: 7

Learning objectives

- The composition of the atmosphere has changed continuously since Earth formed and so has the climate.

Try the activity


You will need Acrobat Reader installed to open the activity sheets.

Changing atmosphere (PoS 3.4c, strategy 5.3)

Running the activity

Download the lesson plan for full details.

News links

upd8 wikid course
Details of the science course for 11-14 year olds from which this sample came
upd8 Segue course
Details of the Y9-GCSE transition course that follows on from Wikid.
Wikid assessment criteria: Missions
To assess students' grasp of particles from this activity, or other objectives in the Wikid course. It is a booklet of assessment criteria at every level of understanding.

Reviews & Comments

Write your online review to share your feedback and classroom tips with other teachers. How well does it work, how engaging is it, how did you use it, and how could it be improved?

Mammoths

Oct 24th, 2012

5 Star

Thank You for this website. It is extremely useful and there are lots of activities. If possible does anyone have the Mammoths Assessment sheet where it lists all the grades and what you need to include to achieve it. Please as soon as possible help me, I'll be really grateful. Thanks once again.

Reviewer: Hirishika Rajasekaran

Pyrotechnics

Jun 2nd, 2012

5 Star

Where is the pyrotechnics end of unit assessment paper???

Reviewer: qwer wery

website and student sheets

May 12th, 2012

3 Star

I am encountering problems accessing the 'explore' website and students sheets

Reviewer: anita chaudhary

Mammoths`S activity

Apr 26th, 2010

5 Star

I`m very glad that there is a web site like this. It is very useful for teachers to find resources for their lessons. in my case, I work in a very poor institution; here in Costa Rica, the entity managing public education is not able to provide all the tools required by teachers in order to work properly. Then, this year the high school where I work received 10 laptops in order to encourage teachers to use technology to teacher their lessons. As a result, all of us are tryng to find material to use it in the laptops and i just discovered this wonderful web. i will make use of the activity worksheet in two days so after seeing the reaction of my pupils i`ll comment more....thank u.

Reviewer: ELKINM FRAZER

Science

Aug 27th, 2009

5 Star

I have used the resources and they are great for the pupils as they are engaging and creative activities for pupils to develop themselves.

Mohammed Khan
Handsworth Grange Community Sports College

Reviewer: Mohammed Khan

year 7 science

Jul 10th, 2009

5 Star

The resources were excellent but required a lot of organising before the lesson. It required two lessons to really do the topic justice. Overall I was very impressed.

Reviewer: caroline morrison

Mammoths extinct - Extinction activity from Wikid review

Dec 9th, 2008

3 Star

Good resource to use as part of the evolution topic in year 10

Reviewer: Sarah Brookes

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