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Year 4 - Science

Land development and deforestation (Climate Change & Sustainability)

Living things and the environment

Unit Summary

This unit focuses on grouping living things and using classification keys to identify and name them in various environments. It explores how environmental changes can pose dangers to organisms. Emphasis is on asking questions, collecting data, and using evidence to support conclusions.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to describe some negative effects of human impact on the environment.

Key Notes

  • The actions of humans can have a negative impact on the environment.
  • A negative impact happens when changes cause harm to an environment or the living things within it.
  • A growing human population can mean that towns and cities are often developed on land where there was once countryside.
  • Deforestation is when forests are removed by humans.
  • Developments in an environment take requirements away from the living things already living there.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • environment: The environment is the surroundings of a living thing, including other plants or animals and the conditions they live in.
  • impact: The impact of something is the effect it has.
  • population: A population is all the living things of one type, living in a particular place.
  • deforestation: Deforestation is the removal of trees from land which is then used for a non-forest purpose.
  • habitat: The place where a plant or animal lives.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Changes in the environment will not directly affect us.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.

The actions of humans can have a negative impact on the environment. A negative impact happens when changes cause harm to an environment or the living things within it.

2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'environment'

The environment is the surroundings of a living thing, including other plants or animals and the conditions they live in. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.

3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.

Mistake: Changes in the environment will not directly affect us. Correction: Encourage the children to become aware of many different habitats and start to see how they are all interconnected and how when one thing is changed, it can impact other living things.

More Lessons In This Unit

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