Desert Vet

From loveable family pets to deadly stonefish and endangered whale sharks, Desert Vet (2019) is all things animal-in-the-outback of Western Australia. The four-part documentary series follows career veterinarian Rick Fenny, his daughter Lu (herself an accomplished vet) and his marine biologist son Ed, as they run a veterinary hospital that never sleeps and a remote conservational aquarium on the edge of the world.

CURRICULUM LINKS

DESERT VET IS SUITABLE VIEWING FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS IN YEARS 3 – 6 IN THE LEARNINGS AREA OF ENGLISH, HASS AND SCIENCE. THIS STUDY GUIDE PROVIDES RESOURCES FOR EPISODE 1.

Australian Curriculum English

Year 3

  • Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations. (ACELY1676)
  • Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on a growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features. (ACELY1680)
  • Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print, and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose. (ACELY1682)

Year 4

  • Interpret ideas and information in spoken texts and listen for key points in order to carry out tasks and use information to share and extend ideas and information. (ACELY1687)
  • Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts. (ACELY1692)
  • Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features. (ACELY1694)

Year 5

  • Clarify understanding of content as it unfolds in formal and informal situations, connecting ideas to students’ own experiences and present and justify a point of view. (ACELY1699)
  • Use comprehension strategies to analyse information, integrating and linking ideas from a variety of print and digital sources. (ACELY1703)
  • Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience. (ACELY1704)

Year 6

  • Participate in and contribute to discussions, clarifying and interrogating ideas, developing and supporting arguments, sharing and evaluating information, experiences and opinions. (ACELY1709)
  • Use comprehension strategies to interpret and analyse information and ideas, comparing content from a variety of textual sources including media and digital texts. (ACELY1713)
  • Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience. (ACELY1714)

Australian Curriculum HASS

Year 3

  • Locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations. (ACHASSI053)
  • Present ideas, findings and conclusions in texts and modes that incorporate digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms. (ACHASSI061)
  • The similarities and differences between places in terms of their type of settlement, demographic characteristics and the lives of the people who live there, and people’s perceptions of these places. (ACHASSK069)

Year 4

  • Locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations. (ACHASSI074)
  • Present ideas, findings and conclusions in texts and modes that incorporate digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms. (ACHASSI082)
  • The importance of environments, including natural vegetation, animals and people. (ACHASSK088)

Year 5

  • Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary sources and secondary sources. (ACHASSI095)
  • Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions. (ACHASSI105)

Year 6

  • Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary sources and secondary sources. (ACHASSI123)
  • Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions. (ACHASSI133)

Australian Curriculum Science

Year 3

  • Living things can be grouped on the basis of observable features and can be distinguished from non-living things. (ACSSU044)
  • Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions. (ACSHE051)

Year 4

  • Living things have life cycles. (ACSSU072)
  • Living things depend on each other and the environment to survive. (ACSSU073)

Year 5

  • Living things have structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment. (ACSSU043)

Year 6

  • The growth and survival of living things are affected by physical conditions of their environment. (ACSSU094)

An ATOM Study Guide for Desert Vet is available for download.