:Animal Adaptation — Spider
Trend Task
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Approach:  Station
Level: Year 4 and year 8
Focus: Animal adaptation   
Resources: Picture in recording book
100Kb

Questions/instructions:

Look carefully at the picture.
Write about the parts of the spider that help it to survive.
An example has been done for you.


% responses
2003 ('99)
y4
y8
legs for moving
72 (74)
82 (78)
disposable leg parts for escape
0 (0)
1 (3)
fur/hairs on legs/body to sense movement
3 (3)
9 (13)
special leg tips with secretions to walk on web/water
7 (8)
7 (11)
spinneret (source of web material)
25 (31)
33 (42)
mouth to eat
14 (11)
13 (20)
fang to poison/paralyse prey
20 (28)
36 (48)
eyes (special) to see prey/enemies
41 (50)
49 (48)
colour pattern on body for warning/protection
17 (18)
23 (29)
abdomen to carry eggs/babies
1 (3)
3 (3)
spikes/barbs on legs/body to defend against enemies
3 (13)
5 (9)
Total Score:
5
2 (4)
6 (7)
4
9 (14)
18 (29)
3
25 (29)
30 (34)
2
31 (28)
29 (21)
1
19 (18)
11 (8)
0
14 (7)
6 (1)
Commentary
This task shows a quite modest advantage for year 8 students over year 4 students, and limited evidence of a decline in performance for both year 4 and year 8 between 1999 and 2003. It was one of the least popular tasks in the student evaluations.
 
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