Consumers, Producers and Decomposers

Preparation

Students are expected to:

• Be familiar with viewing AR content in CoSpaces.
  Understand the basic functions of CoSpaces content creation.
  Have an understanding of consumers, producers and decomposers.

Teachers should make sure that:

• All hardware has been charged and sanitised.
• Student Devices have the most recent updated version of CoSpaces installed.
• A CoSpaces class and student logins have been created.
• Students have a copy of their CoSpaces login
• The following slide deck Year 4 Consumers, Producers and Decomposers Teaching Deck  has been checked and the teacher has accessibility.
• Students have been divided into pairs or groups and names are written on Slide 4.
• A copy of the What Am I Template has been printed for students to complete.

Learning Sequence

Introduction

• Draw an Australian native habitat on the Smartboard / Whiteboard. Ask 3 or 4 different students to give you an Australian animal, and write / draw them on the board.
  
• Ask students what they think each animal on the board eats, draw / write their ideas underneath the animal, and start creating a ‘chain’ using arrows. Explain to students that they are helping you create a food chain.
• Continue the food chain by drawing arrows from the foods (particularly plants) and ask students what they think plants eat. Explain that plants produce their own food using sunlight, which means they are called ‘producers’.
• Explain that the animals who eat the plants, or ‘producers’, are called ‘consumers’.
• Tell students that they are about to watch a video about producers and consumers, and another special group of living things. Encourage them to watch and listen carefully to find out what the third group is called, and what their purpose is.
• Watch Understanding Ecosystems for Kids: Producers, Consumers, Decomposers – FreeSchool on Slide 2 of the Year 4 Consumers, Producers and Decomposers Teaching Deck and discuss that the third group are ‘decomposers’, (fungi, insects, worms) whose job it is to break down dead organisms and waste to bring nutrients into the earth.

Development

• Split the class into two groups (write their names on the table on slide 4 of the Year 4 Consumers, Producers and Decomposers Teaching Deck) and explain the following two tasks to students using slide 5.
• CoSpaces Task: with a device from the AR/VR kit, students access the Producers, Consumers and Decomposers AR/VR Experience using the CoSpaces app. In this experience, students navigate to each scene and tap on the objects to learn more about what they eat / how they get energy.
• What Am I?: using the What Am I Template students choose a consumer, producer and a decomposer and write up to 3 clues for each. These will be used for a game of ‘What Am I?’ at the conclusion of the lesson.
• After students have worked on their first activity for 10-15 minutes, swap the groups over.

Conclusion

• Choose some students to share their ‘What Am I?’ clues with the class so they can guess what their consumer / producer / decomposer is.
  
• Ask students what they enjoyed, and what challenged them during their AR experience in CoSpaces on Slide 6.