Core Skills Analysis
English
Molly used information from the Deep Sea website and Google to explain facts about basking sharks, whale sharks, and Greenland sharks. By gathering and presenting information in her own words, Molly practised research reading, selecting relevant details, and communicating factual ideas clearly. Comparing information about the sharks’ diets and lifespans also helped Molly organize details around shared topics and communicate similarities and differences.
Science
Molly researched three kinds of sharks and compared their diets and lifespans, exploring how animals can differ in their feeding habits and life histories. The activity helped Molly build knowledge of shark diversity and use factual sources to investigate animal characteristics. By placing the sharks side by side, Molly practised scientific comparison and considered how diet and lifespan can be used to describe and distinguish species.
Tips
Tips Extend Molly’s research by having her create a comparison chart for the three sharks, recording diet and lifespan alongside the source for each fact. She could then choose one shark and make an illustrated food-web poster showing where its food fits in the ocean ecosystem. Invite her to present a short “shark expert” talk, using a map to locate each species’ habitat and explaining which facts she found most surprising. To bring the research together, Molly could write a brief comparison explaining how the sharks’ diets and lifespans make each one distinctive.
Try This Next
- Make a three-column comparison worksheet for shark diet and lifespan, with a source note beside each fact.
- Write a five-question quiz about the three sharks using facts from Molly’s research.
- Draw an ocean food web showing one researched shark and the animals it eats.