ABSTRACT
Interdependence is a big scientific idea which can be witnessed through the interconnected behaviours of living things in the school garden, the local park and many other outdoor learning areas. The chapter contains three topics, designed to help teachers guide the way children work towards understanding the big idea. The journey starts in key stage 1, when children explore the conditions plants need to grow, and experience how animals in the garden feed on them. In lower key stage 2, children focus their attention on plants as producers of food, and explore how animals in the garden depend, directly or indirectly, on the food they produce to survive. They learn how to describe feeding relationships using food chains and webs. In the upper key stage 2 topic, children build on their understanding of feeding relationships. They learn how living things within an ecosystem depend on, and compete with, other living things for food and other resources. Subject knowledge to support the teaching of the big idea is presented at the beginning of the chapter.
