Biodiversity and sustainability
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain what biodiversity is and give some reasons why nature matters for a sustainable world.
Key learning points
- The demand for resources for land, water, food, and shelter shapes the environment for other wildlife too.
- Many animal populations have become much smaller, but a few have increased, thanks to conservation and rewilding.
- Pollinator insects – bees, wasps, beetles, flies, ants and butterflies – play an important role in agriculture.
Keywords
Climate crisis - Climate crisis is a term used to describe climate change and global warming, and the impact of these on Earth.
Conservation - Conservation is the careful protection of something.
Rewilding - Rewilding allows an area to restore itself to a natural state in which wildlife can return without human intervention.
Pollinator - A pollinator is an animal or insect that helps transfer pollen from plants.
Common misconception
Children may assume that biodiversity means the total population of a species.
Biodiversity is is the variety of all living things on Earth.
Teacher tip
After completing task B, children could fundraise to buy wildflower seeds or plants so that they can actually rewild part of their school site. The impact of the project could be measured by completing a pollinator count before and after rewilding.
Equipment
Aerial or OS map of your school site, clipboards and pens.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What are some of the reasons why people waste food?
Q2.You can reduce your carbon footprint by eating red meat and dairy products.
Q3.Which of these would help to reduce food waste?
Q4.To reduce your carbon footprint you could air-freighted foods where you can and buy locally.
Q5. is a measure of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of our activities.
Q6.Reducing food waste decreases the need for high levels of food production, which can carbon emissions.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Biodiversity, also known as ‘biological diversity’, is the of life on Earth.
Q2.Match the key word to its definition.
Q3. is a term used to describe climate change and global warming, and the impact of these on Earth
Q4.Why is biodiversity so important?
Q5.Around the world, the variety of living things is .
Q6.What is the biggest cause of biodiversity loss?
To help you plan your 5 geography lesson on: Biodiversity and sustainability, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 5 geography lesson on: Biodiversity and sustainability, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 geography lessons from the Sustainable world: does it matter how we live? unit, dive into the full primary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.