SESSION 2

Learning outcomes:
- Students will consider what it means to be bioethical towards animals
- Students will be prompted to think about the effect of human actions on animals and their living environment
- Students will be encouraged to develop an informed opinion on the topic question How do you feel about humans having the right to remove
animals from their natural ecosystem?

Specific activities session 2

Students will respond to images of various animals in both their natural ecosystems and in zoos

Students will discuss the differences between the living environment of animals in their natural ecosystems compared with zoos

Students will research the zoo enclosure of a specific animal in captivity

Students will create accurately-sized chalk drawings of zoo enclosures and imagine how it feels for the animal kept captive

10 minutes - Have 20 printed images of animals (both in natural ecosystem and zoo) on each table group for children to compare and contrast.
What are some similarities in the images? What are some differences in the images? How could you categorise these images? Agree with your group
how your will sort the images and put them out clearly so we can see your separate groups.

5 minutes - Children to roam the classroom and observe how other groups have categorised their images.
What might other groups have been thinking when sorting the animals into groups? Do you think they were thinking along the same lines as you were?
If not, what were the defining features of each of their categories?

10 minutes - Class discussion - Address the fact that everyone has a right to their own opinion. There is no right or wrong.
What were you thinking about when categorising the animal images into groups? Did everyone on your table agree with your opinion? Why do you
think there might be different views and opinions on where animals should live? What are the positive aspects of both? What are there not-so-positive
aspects?

15 minutes - Groups decide on an animal that theyve seen in a zoo, or on television and research the kind of enclosure theyre kept in (Students could
make a mask, or a characteristic of their animal to help them get into character.) What amount of space does your chosen animal get at the zoo? How
does this compare to the amount of space they get in the wild?
How many other animals of its kind are also kept in the same enclosure? Are they related? Where are the other family members?
How clean does the enclosure look? Does the environment inside reflect exactly what its like in the wild? How does it differ?
Can you imagine the temperature of the enclosure? Where in the world is the animal from? Is this the same? Think about the water, dirt, plants, hunting
for food
As teachers we will have readily available websites/books.

20 minutes - Children draw the enclosure in chalk on the ground and pretend to live as the animal in the zoo enclosure
How would you sleep? Where would you sleep? What would you sleep on? When would you eat? Where would you eat?
Where do you go to the bathroom? Is there a private place somewhere? What will happen when it rains? How much space will you get then?
How comfortable are you in the enclosure? How happy are you in the enclosure?
Students will take on different roles. One could act as an interviewer to further understand and develop descriptive language based on how animals
may feel in their enclosures.