Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Merin.

I am so excited to be learning with you today.

We are going to have such a great time learning all about amphibian lifecycles, and we're going to do brilliantly.

Welcome to today's lesson from the unit reproduction and lifecycles, animals.

This lesson is called Amphibian Life Cycles, and by the end of today's lesson, we will be able to recognize amphibian life cycles and the differences and the similarities between them.

Now, some of the learning is going to be brand new to you, but I am here to help you.

And sometimes learning can be a little bit challenging, but that is great because it means that we're going to work really hard together and we're going to learn lots of new things.

So your lesson outcome for today is to describe the stages in the lifecycle of different amphibians.

Let's begin.

So today you are going to see a lot of keywords.

I'm going to show them on the screen now.

If you'd like, you can jot these down, but I am going to be going over them throughout the whole lesson.

So I'll give you five seconds, or if you want to jot them down, you can pause the video here.

Off you go.

So here are the meanings to the words.

If you'd like, you can pause the video here.

You can jot the meanings down or you can have a read through them.

It's up to you.

We are going to be going through these words later on in the video anyway, but if you'd like to do that now, please pause the video.

Fantastic, well done.

So our learning today is going to be split into two sections.

Let's begin with the first one, which is what are the stages in amphibian life cycles?

So amphibians are cold-blooded vertebra animals that have smooth, moist skin and can live on land and in water.

What do you know about the life cycles of amphibians already?

I'd like you to pause the video here and I'd like you to have a think or I will give you five seconds to just have a quick think about what you already lnow.

Off you go.

Fantastic, well done.

So we're going to go through the life cycles of amphibians throughout the lesson.

Let's do a quick check-in of your learning.

So which of these is not a characteristic of an amphibian?

Is it A, cold-blooded?

B, vertebrate?

C, dry scaly skin?

Or D can live on land or in water?

I'll give you five seconds to think about it, but if you do need longer, please pause the video here.

Off you go.

Fantastic, well done.

The answer is dry scaly skin, so that is not a characteristic of an amphibian.

Well done.

So amphibian life cycles begin with jelly-like eggs laid in water.

These eggs are called spawn.

Amphibians usually lay lots of spawn at once.

So as they become older, the larvae of most amphibians grow two hind legs.

So these are the back legs.

So here you can see the tadpoles and you can see their hind legs in the picture.

And then they grow two more legs at the front.

So these are tadpoles here.

They've still got their tail and they've got four legs now.

Now frogs and toads then have a lifecycle stage called froglet or toadlet.

So in this picture here, you can see the froglet.

So at this stage they lose their tails and they look like small versions of an adult toad or an adult frog.

Now, not all amphibians have this stage in their life cycles.

So there are similarities and there are differences between these stages of an amphibian.

So finally, amphibians reach the adult stage.

So here you can see an adult frog and you'll be able to spot the differences between the adult frog and the froglet.

So when they are adults, the amphibians can reproduce and they can create more spawn, and most amphibians are able to leave the water and move around on land at this stage.

So most amphibians go through a big change during their lifecycle.

So young amphibians look completely different to adult amphibians of the same type.

So here you've got a young frog, which we call a tadpole or larvae.

And then you have the adult frog.

Now when this kind of change happens where they look completely different from when they are young to when they become an adult, this change is called metamorphosis.

So you've done lots of learning.

So let's do a quick check-in to see how much you've learned.

I want you to use the words on the right hand side of your screen to fill in the blanks.

Now, you're not going to need to use all of the words, so just think really carefully about which words would fit inside the blank spaces.

I'd like you to pause the video here because it might take you a while to do this.

And then come back again once you've finished and we'll go through the answers.

Off you go.

Fantastic, really good work.

Well done.

So let's see if you've got the answers correct.

So an amphibians lifecycle begins with spawn.

When this hatches, a young amphibian called larva comes out and lives in the water.

Most amphibians grow two hind legs first, then two more legs at the front.

Finally, the amphibian becomes an adult.

The big change the amphibian goes through is called metamorphosis.

So we discussed what the word metamorphosis meant.

It's when they change completely from when they are young to when they are an adult.

Fantastic, really, really good work.

I know there's a lot to learn here, but you are doing brilliantly, well done.

So we can use lifecycle diagrams to represent amphibian lifecycle.

So here we have a frog lifecycle diagram, and this diagram shows the stages in the lifecycle of a frog, and the arrow shows the direction the lifecycle moves in.

So there are small differences between the life cycles of some amphibians.

So here you have two life cycles.

You've got the lifecycle of a frog and the lifecycle of a salamander.

And what I want you to do is to see if you can spot the similarities and differences between these life cycles.

Now, if you need to pause the video, please do so as this might take you some time to really observe and have a look at these two lifecycles.

Off you go.

So you may have spotted that both the frog lifecycle and the salamander lifecycle both begin with the egg, and then you have the larva.

Now in the frog lifecycle, the larva grows its hind legs first.

But if you look really closely at the salamander lifecycle, the salamander actually starts growing all of its legs at the same time.

But the next stage for the frog is that it then grows all four of its legs, but the salamander now has fully developed legs and then becomes an adult.

The frog then goes from grow growing its four legs to becoming a froglet, still has its tail when it's a froglet and then becomes an adult.

So there's one extra stage in the lifecycle of a frog compared to the lifecycle of a salamander.

Well done.

So here I've got a salamander lifecycle.

What do you think is missing from this lifecycle diagram?

I'll give you five seconds to think about it, but if you do need longer, you can pause the video here.

Fantastic, well done.

So you may have spotted the arrows were missing, which show you the order of the stages in the lifecycle, which is really, really important.

So your first task then is to choose an amphibian and carry out some research into the stages of their lifecycle.

And then I want you to use your research to create a lifecycle diagram.

So I'd like you to have a go at that now, think really carefully about the features that we noticed in the previous life cycles that you've just seen.

And I'd like you to pause the video here and do that please.

Fantastic, well done.

So here is Sophia.

And Sophia says, I found out about the axolotl lifecycle, which amphibian did you research?

So let's take a look at Sophia's example and see if yours looks similar to the way that she has done hers.

So straightaway I can tell in which order this lifecycle goes because Sophia has put her arrows in, which is so important, and with any amphibian you have the spawn.

She's then drawn a really fantastic picture of the larva.

And then for an axolotl, they grow the two legs first and then four legs, and then it becomes an adult.

So take a look at your lifecycle and make sure that you have added in all of the features that are necessary.

If you need to, you can pause the video here to check.

Off you go.

Fantastic, well done.

So we're now on to part two of our lesson, which is communicating lifecycle information.

So a science communicator's job is to share science information with lots of different audiences.

So it may be in a classroom full of children, it might be leading a guided nature walk as well.

Now lifecycle diagrams are useful for clearly communicating the stages in an animal's lifecycle.

So do you think a science communicator would use a lifecycle diagram to share their learning of life cycles with others, and when might they want to use something different?

I'll give you five seconds to have a think about it, but if you need longer, you can pause the video here.

Off you go.

Fantastic thinking, well done.

So lifecycle diagrams do not include much detail, and they might be difficult to understand for someone who has never seen one before.

So science communicators might want to use something different if they're talking to young children, for example.

How might they want to share information about life cycles with this kind of audience or with a young audience?

I'd like you to either pause the video here or I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic, really good thinking.

Well done.

So with such a young audience here, it might be a good idea for a science communicator, rather than showing the lifecycle diagram with the arrows, is to actually show real life pictures or maybe even show videos, for example, of the different stages in the lifecycle of an amphibian.

They may even decide they want to tell a story.

So there's so many different ways that a science communicator can explain the lifecycle of an amphibian.

Let's do a quick true or false to see how much you've understood.

So lifecycle diagrams are always the best way to communicate animal life cycles.

Is that true or is that false?

I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic, well done.

The answer is false.

It is not always the best way to communicate animal life cycles.

Let's see if you can justify your answer with a sentence.

So would it be A, it's false because different types of audiences need different types of information, or B, it's false because lifecycle diagrams are very clear and simple.

Off you go, have a think.

I'll give you five seconds.

Fantastic, well done.

It's false because different types of audiences will need different types of information.

Well done, you are doing so well.

Really, really proud of you.

So task B, I want you to create a piece of work that would explain amphibian life cycles to younger children.

So you can choose the amphibian that you researched in task A.

How are you going to communicate your information?

So Sam says she's going to write a story about a newt.

John says that he thinks, he says, I think young children would really like a comic strip about a toad.

And Lucas is asking, do you have any other interesting ideas?

So think really carefully about how you're going to explain that amphibian lifecycle to a younger child that is not using the lifecycle diagrams that we've seen during this lesson.

I'd like you to pause the video here and have a go at that, please.

Off you go.

Fantastic, well done.

So Jun said, in my comic strip I had the toad talking about how surprised he was that he kept changing.

I think that's a brilliant way to show the lifecycle of a toad.

Laura chose salamanders and she said, I made a video and included lots of interesting facts about salamanders.

So Izzy says, how did you present your information in a way that is interesting and easy to understand?

So you may have done a comic strip or you may have made a video, or you may have planned doing a little nature walk to see if you can, if you can spot the different stages of the lifecycle of an amphibian, or you may have decided that you want to do lots of pictures and tell a story through your pictures.

I'm sure that you have come up with some fantastic ways to communicate lifecycle information.

So let's do a summary of all your learning and you have been working so hard.

Amphibians are animals.

They are living things that grow and reproduce.

Amphibians are usually hatched from eggs, then live underwater before moving onto land.

The big change in form that most amphibians go through is called metamorphosis, and that remember is when the young looks very, very different to the adult.

Scientists use simple language and images to help different audiences understand their findings.

Now before we finish, let's have another quick look at the amphibian lifecycle to remember the really key parts of the lifecycle diagram.

So it's the arrows to show the order in which they happen.

Remember, you always start with the egg, the spawn.

This then hatches and becomes the larva.

Now the next part could be similar or different in different amphibians.

So some amphibians begin by growing their hind legs first.

Some like the salamander that we saw, grow all four legs at the same time.

So remember, that could be different.

However, once they've developed their legs, they then all grow to become an adult.

You have done so well today.

I am so proud of all of your learning.

I know there's been lots of information in today's lesson, but you've really persevered.

You've worked hard, you've created some fabulous work, and I'm really proud of you.

Well done.