VERTEBRATE ANIMALS

Introduction

The city of Helptarn wants to create a natural reserve to take care of some endangered vertebrate animals and make people aware of the importance of protecting animals and understand their value. The Major of the city has asked your class to create some presentations for the entrance of the natural reserve that will allow the tourists to know the important information they want to transmit.

Task

You will prepare a presentation for the tourists. They will need to know the following:

  • A description of the five types of vertebrate animals.
  • A list of similarities and differences between them.
  • Specific examples of animals that belong to each group.
  • Some interesting facts about the examples given.
  • What tips we should bear in mind to protect the animals of each group.
Process

You will work together in teams of three. Each person on your team will have a specific job.

  • One student will be the RESEARCHER. This person will gather information to describe the five types of vertebrate animals and their similarities and differences.
  • Another student will be the DESIGNER. This student will gather some photos about the animals and will design the presentation.
  • The third student will be the NATURALIST. This person will find out some special features of the animals that make them unique and valuable, and some actions we should know to help and protect them.

You three must coordinate with each other, to work on the same thing and elaborate a good presentation with the necessary information.

When you find an image that you want to use in your multimedia presentation save the image to your pen drive. To do that: position the cursor on any part of the image, click the right button of your mouse and select the option “save”. Select your disk and keep it in that location. Once you have collected the data and pictures, put all that information in your presentation. You will use Power Point for this purpose. As it is a group work you will get a group grade.

Evaluation

Your project will be evaluated using the following rubric:

Awesome:

  • All the members participated in the presentation.
  • Give a comprehensible description of the five types of animals.
  • List some similarities and differences.
  • Include at least two examples of animals that belong to each group, with the corresponding photos.
  • Write at least two special features of each animal.
  • Present a list with 10 actions or more to protect the animals.

Good:

  • Only two members participated in the presentation.
  • Give a comprehensible description of the five types of animals.
  • List some similarities and differences.
  • Include one example of animals that belong to each group, with the corresponding photos.
  • Write one special feature of each animal.
  • Present a list with 5 to 10 actions to protect the animals.

Fair:

  • Only one member participated in the presentation.
  • Give a comprehensible description of the five types of animals.
  • List some similarities and differences.
  • Include one example of animals that belong to some groups, with the corresponding photos.
  • Write one special feature of some animals.
  • Present a list with less than 5 actions to protect the animals.

A FAIR rating will result in a grade of D for each member of the group.

Conclusion

You have classified the different groups of vertebrate animals. You have also learnt about their similarities and differences and their special features. In addition, you have learnt some actions to protect the animals. Can you think of the importance of protecting animals? Think of an endangered animal, explain his situation and give reasons why we should protect him and what specific actions we should carry out to do it.

Credits

You can use any books, magazines or newspapers in your class or in the school library. Moreover, you will find important information on the Internet, which will be your primary resource. To help you, you will find all the information needed on the webpages listed below.

The following websites will help you to classify and describe the five groups of vertebrate animals:

In these webpages, you will find a lot of interesting facts about animals:

The next websites will teach you about how to help and protect animals:

In all the webpages listed above, you can find some pictures. Moreover, you can use the following link where you will find beautiful photos of animals:

Teacher Page

Do not waste time looking for other webpages. All the information needed is the given websites. Thus, avoid using search engines as Google or Yahoo, you will find more than enough information in those links named in the resources section.

In addition, the city of Helptarn does not exist, it is an invention that comes from the words HELP The Animals Right Now; this means you will not find any cities with this name, do not waste time looking for it on the Internet.