Extreme Adaptations

School booking form

Monday to Friday during school term

Year 5 & 6

Science - Biological Sciences

Facilitated by museum staff

60 minutes per session, rotations for large groups will require a reset period.

Queensland Museum Tropics, Townsville

Map

$7.50 per student
28 students per session

Enhance your visit to Queensland Museum Tropics with our facilitated school program Extreme Adaptations where students investigate how animals and plants have adapted to live in different natural environments.

About the Program

Join our museum facilitators as they guide students in the role of futuristic astrobiologists, preparing for missions to distant planets with extreme environments.

Students will explore a range of natural environment displays, including the deep sea, mangroves, and rainforest. Through these experiences, they will investigate the diverse animals and plants that inhabit these environments and identify the behavioural and structural adaptations that support their survival.

Building on this knowledge, students will work in small groups to creatively design a new species adapted to an extreme planetary environment. Each group will then present their design and decision-making processes to classmates as part of a mini “Species Showcase”.

Learning outcomes

Students will:

recognise and understand the function of adaptations that enable living things to survive in extreme environments
differentiate between behavioural and structural adaptations
identify the environmental factors that influence adaptations and how changes in these factors might impact the survival of living things
describe and communicate their understanding of these features through verbal explanation and drawings/diagrams.

Curriculum Links and Program Information

Download the Program Guide for more information including how to book, what to expect, and the v9.0 Australian Curriculum links for the program.

Year 5 Science
Science understanding
Biological sciences	Examine how particular structural features and behaviours of living things enable their survival in specific habitats (AC9S5U01)
Science Inquiry
Questioning and predicting	Pose investigable questions to identify patterns and test relationships and make reasoned predictions (AC9S5I01)
Processing, modelling and analysing	Construct and use appropriate representations, including tables, graphs and visual or physical models, to organise and process data and information and describe patterns, trends and relationships (AC9S5I04)
Communicating	Write and create texts to communicate ideas and findings for specific purposes and audiences, including selection of language features, using digital tools as appropriate (AC9S5I06)

Year 6 Science
Science understanding
Biological sciences	Investigate the physical conditions of a habitat and analyse how the growth and survival of living things is affected by changing physical conditions (AC9S6U01)
Science Inquiry
Questioning and predicting	Pose investigable questions to identify patterns and test relationships and make reasoned predictions (AC9S6I01)
Processing, modelling and analysing	Construct and use appropriate representations, including tables, graphs and visual or physical models, to organise and process data and information and describe patterns, trends and relationships (AC9S6I04)
Communicating	Write and create texts to communicate ideas and findings for specific purposes and audiences, including selection of language features, using digital tools as appropriate (AC9S6I06)