Geography · 6th Class

Active learning ideas

Biodiversity and Its Importance

Turn your pupils into nature detectives as they investigate the amazing variety of life all around them, from the smallest insect to the tallest tree.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• SESE Geography: Strand - Environmental Awareness and Care; Strand Unit - Environmental awareness

• 30–60 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Concept Mapping
• 60 min · Small Groups

School Grounds BioBlitz

Pupils work in small groups to survey a designated area of the school grounds. They use identification sheets or apps to record every plant, insect, and animal sign they can find within a set time, creating a snapshot of the school's biodiversity.

Identify three endangered species in Ireland and explain the threats they face.

Facilitation Tip

Provide magnifying glasses and sample jars to encourage close observation of smaller life forms.

What to look for

Think-Pair-Share: Pupils individually think about one threat to an Irish species, discuss it with a partner, and then share with the class. This reveals their initial understanding.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

Activity 02

• Concept Mapping
• 30 min · Whole Class

Irish Food Web Collapse

Give each pupil a card with an Irish plant or animal on it. Pupils use string to connect themselves to what they eat and what eats them, forming a large web across the classroom. Then, simulate a species' extinction by having one pupil drop their strings, demonstrating the knock-on effect.

Explain the concept of a food web and how the loss of one species can affect many others.

Facilitation Tip

Start with a simple food chain first before building up to the more complex web.

What to look for

Create an 'Endangered Irish Species' profile. Pupils research and create a one-page report or poster on a species like the red squirrel, barn owl, or basking shark, detailing its habitat, diet, and the threats it faces.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

Activity 03

• Concept Mapping
• 45 min · Whole Class

Habitat Debate: Native Woodland vs. Sitka Spruce Plantation

Divide the class into two teams to debate the pros and cons of a native Irish oak wood versus a commercial forestry plantation. Pupils must research and argue their case based on biodiversity, economic value, and recreational use.

Compare a habitat with high biodiversity, like a native woodland, to one with low biodiversity, like a commercial forestry plantation.

Facilitation Tip

Provide prompt cards with key arguments to help pupils structure their points.

What to look for

Pupils use a traffic light system (red, orange, green) to indicate their confidence in defining key vocabulary terms and explaining the concept of a food web.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

A few notes on teaching this unit

Begin with the familiar by asking pupils about the plants and animals they see near their homes or school. Use local examples and clear visuals, like a diagram of a food web based in an Irish oak wood, to make abstract ideas concrete. A walk around the school grounds to look for different habitats in miniature, like under a stone or in a hedge, can make the learning real and memorable.

By the end of this topic, your class will be able to explain what biodiversity means and argue why it is so crucial for Ireland's environment and our own well-being.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• Biodiversity is just about the number of different animals, especially the big, rare ones.

  Biodiversity includes all living things: plants, animals, fungi, and even tiny microbes. It also includes genetic diversity within a species and the variety of different ecosystems, like bogs, rivers, and woodlands.

• Losing one type of insect or plant doesn't really matter.

  Every species has a role to play. For example, losing bees would mean many of our food crops wouldn't get pollinated, and losing a specific plant could mean an insect that relies on it for food would also disappear, affecting the birds that eat that insect.

• All forests are equally good for wildlife.

  A native Irish woodland with a variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers supports a huge range of wildlife. A commercial plantation with only one type of tree, often non-native, planted in rows creates a dark, uniform habitat that supports far fewer species.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Concept Mapping