Keep this beat light. Do not hand out hoops or ID sheets yet. Take three or four quick ideas, then name the puzzle: scientists cannot count every living thing on a whole site, so they sample carefully and compare spots.

Bridge: today we work like ecologists. Before anyone plants a wild corner or builds a bug hotel, they survey what already lives there. That survey is called a biodiversity audit, and it is Part 1 of our school-grounds project.

Have coats and outdoor shoes ready for later, but stay in the classroom for the next two steps.

Project only the short board text. Use the table below yourself; do not project the whole table.

Three words to land today: biodiversity, microhabitat, quadrat survey. Treat community lightly as a look-ahead word (living things that share a place and depend on one another). Pupils will ground that idea from their own tallies in the closing talk, not master a full definition now.

Protect this beat: the carpet hoop model is non-negotiable before outdoor work. If the clock runs long, cut the partner share-back to one quick idea (or skip the share-back and move straight into the model). Do not shorten the model itself.

After a brief partner talk (optional share-back of one or two ideas on why two spots beat one favourite corner: fair comparison, different conditions, avoiding a lucky or unlucky single drop), run the model.

Misconception to head off: pupils often think biodiversity means "lots of animals" or "the biggest creature". Steer them to kinds. Ten woodlice of one kind is less varied than four different kinds with fewer individuals.

Nature of STEM: say plainly that this is how ecologists work in Ireland before a habitat project. Groups such as those linked to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan start with what is already living on a site, not with a guess.

Modelled survey cycle (do this on the carpet or desk with one hoop so every pupil sees the method before going out):

• I wonder: which classroom spot would hold more kinds of life if it were outdoors, the open middle or the shady edge?
• I predict: the edge would be more varied because it has more shelter.
• I test: I drop the hoop the same way each time, look for one full minute, and only count what is inside the hoop.
• I observed: (act it) empty open spot: one kind; edge spot: three kinds.
• I think: variety changed with the microhabitat, so our outdoor audit must compare spots, not only count totals.

Name the method as a quadrat survey while you model it. Optionally add one line: the living things that share a place form a community; we will notice who might need whom when we look at our finds later.

That full cycle is what groups will run outside on real ground.

Before groups talk

Show the outdoor map or simply name the allowed zones (garden, hedgerow edge, grassy patch, wall base). Groups pick two contrasting spots within the safe boundary. That choice is their design decision for Part 1.

Set the outdoor tally layout before exit

Before anyone leaves the room, every group must have on the journal page:

• a clear name for spot A and spot B (re-findable later, e.g. "hedge by the shed")
• an empty list or tally column under each spot for kinds found
• one written prediction line (which spot will be more varied, and why)

You do not design the journal layout; say the headings aloud and check each group has those three things ready. Outdoors, one clipboard per group holds the recorder's journal page as the working group tally.

Prompts

• What is different about light, dampness or shelter in your two spots?
• Are you predicting more kinds, or just more individuals of one kind?

Predictions are never wrong; they start the science.

Differentiation: less confident groups may use your two suggested pairings (grass vs hedge edge). Confident groups may add a third spot if time allows later, but the core task is two fair hoop samples.

Suggested outdoor timing (within 20 minutes)

• Transition out, coats, boundary briefing: about 3 minutes
• Teacher hoop demo at the edge of the grounds: about 2 minutes
• Groups run two timed hoop samples (move, place, one full minute looking, ID and tally, move): about 11 minutes — keep groups moving; plant kinds count if minibeasts are scarce
• Return to class and settle: about 4 minutes

Keep the demo short: groups already saw the carpet model. Outside you only restate fair-sample rules and show one real drop.

Outdoor recording set-up

One clipboard per group holds the group recorder's Investigation Journal page. That page is the working outdoor tally (spot A kinds list, spot B kinds list). Other group members spot, call names from the ID sheet, and help time the minute. Back in class, every pupil copies the group tallies onto their own journal page and finishes the close-out fields.

If a group has no spare clipboard hand, the recorder can write on a stiff card or plain paper under the same headings and transfer later — but the headings must match what was set in the predict step.

Before the lesson (outdoor prep)

• Walk the site and mark a clear boundary. Avoid deep brambles and busy car zones.
• Print one minibeast ID sheet per group using the full card text below (copy onto A4 or photocopy this section).
• Print the Investigation Journal page (one per pupil).
• Gather hoops or string quadrats, magnifiers and clipboards.
• Check weather; postpone only if ground is unsafe.

How to run the survey

At the edge of the grounds, demonstrate one hoop drop so every group sees the outdoor method: same hoop size, look for one timed minute, only count inside the hoop, use the ID sheet, tally kinds (and a rough count of individuals only if useful as an extra note).

Fair-sample rules to keep saying: same hoop, same looking time, gentle hands, no chasing creatures in from outside the hoop. Look first. Only lift a leaf or log edge carefully if needed, then replace it. Do not pick up centipedes.

What "kinds" means on the tally: woodlouse, spider, ant, earthworm, snail, beetle, ladybird, centipede, slug, plant types they can name (daisy, grass, nettle). Unknowns go as "unknown A / B" with a tiny sketch, not a forced wrong name.

Printable minibeast ID sheet (full content — print or photocopy one A4 sheet per group)

Each card below is the exact text pupils read outdoors. Put the title "Minibeast ID sheet" at the top, then these cards in order.

Card 1 — Woodlouse: grey or brown, oval, hard plates, seven pairs of legs; often under logs or stones; rolls or runs when lifted.

Card 2 — Spider: eight legs, body in two parts; may sit on silk or run across leaves; not an insect.

Card 3 — Ant: small, six legs, clear head-middle-rear; often in busy trails on soil or paving edges.

Card 4 — Earthworm: long, soft, no legs; pink or brown; in damp soil or under leaf litter.

Card 5 — Snail: soft body with a coiled shell; leaves a slime trail; on leaves, walls or damp ground.

Card 6 — Slug: soft body like a snail but no shell; on damp soil or leaves after rain.

Card 7 — Beetle: hard wing cases meeting in a straight line down the back; six legs; on soil, bark or flowers.

Card 8 — Ladybird: round beetle, often red or yellow with spots; on leaves hunting small insects.

Card 9 — Centipede: many legs, long flat body, moves quickly; under stones or logs; watch only, do not pick up.

Card 10 — Caterpillar: soft, many short legs, often on leaves; will become a moth or butterfly later.

Safety outdoors

Remind: wash hands after; no tasting plants; mind nettles and brambles; return every living thing; adult eyes on the boundary. Collection pots are optional for a brief look only, then release on the same spot.

If the grounds are very quiet: count plant kinds inside the hoop as well (grass, daisy, clover, moss, dandelion). Variety of plants still answers the audit question and feeds the food-web talk later in the project.

Teacher circulation look-fors: groups timing both spots the same way; tallies listing kinds not only totals; gentle release; prediction still visible on the journal; recorder writing under spot A and spot B.

This beat runs indoors after return. Coats off, group tallies open (the outdoor recorder's page or the plain-paper transfer). Keep it brisk. Do not ask groups to rebuild messy pages before they can talk — the compare rests on the kind-counts already on the outdoor tally.

Pace the four bullets one at a time with a short pause after each so groups rehearse before whole-class share. Do not read them as one dense sentence.

Key questions (same order as the board):

• Which spot was more varied?
• Did more individuals always mean more kinds?
• What condition (damp, shelter, light, plants) might explain the difference?
• Point to two finds: how might one depend on the other for food, shelter, or rotting leaves?

Observation vs inference: "We saw four kinds under the hedge" is observation. "So the hedge is a better home because it is damper" is inference. Both matter; they finish separating these on the journal in the next step.

Dependence prompt (keep living things clear): pupils may name two living things, or one living thing and a resource it uses. Prefer at least one living–living pair when they can point to both on the tally (ladybird and small insects on leaves; spider and smaller minibeasts; plant and plant-eater). Woodlice and rotting leaves is fine if you label rotting leaves as a resource, not as a second living thing. This grounds the community idea in their own audit, not a lecture.

If one group's two spots match, that is still data. Ask what they would try next time.

The full oral share for the board pool is only two numbers plus spot names; the condition and dependence ideas stay in group talk and the journal finish, unless you invite one or two examples aloud.