Communication in science takes many forms. When Dr Corrine Watts discovered unusual pinkish-orange larvae living inside wetland plants, she turned to Dr Robert Hoare for help with identifying the creature. This became something of a detective story, as told in the article Fred the Thread.
In the usual scientific manner, Robert and Corrine wrote a scientific article about a new genus and species of Batrachedridae (Lepidoptera).
In the not-so-usual scientific manner, Robert also wrote a poem about this creature!
The poem provides an authentic cross-curricular learning opportunity. This activity outlines several ways educators can use Robert Hoare’s poem to promote basic literacy skills and support scientific thinking.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
- use literacy skills to locate information
- identify scientific concepts and specialist vocabulary
- discuss the purpose and audience for the poem and associated articles
- make comparisons between the different texts
- consider how the poem reflects aspects of the nature of science and science communication.
Download the Word file (see link below).
Related teaching resources
Check out the ready-to-use cross-curricular teaching resources for middle primary and upper primary students. Each resource has literacy, maths and science activities that use the Fred the Thread poem as the context for learning.
