Science and literacy – using Fred the Thread
Communication in science takes many forms. When Dr Corrine Watts discovered unusual pinkish-orange larvae living inside wetland plants, she turned to Dr Robert Hoare for help with identifying the creature. This became something of a detective story, as told in the article Fred the Thread.
In the usual scientific manner, Robert and Corrine wrote a scientific article about a new genus and species of Batrachedridae (Lepidoptera).
In the not-so-usual scientific manner, Robert also wrote a poem about this creature!
Fred the Thread – a poem
Dr Robert Hoare reads a poem he wrote about the native moth (Houdinia flexilissima), whose larva is known as Fred the Thread. The poem is from Robert’s book Six-legged Things and Scaly Wings: An anthology of New Zealand insect verse (mostly about moths). When not writing poetry, Robert is an invertebrate systematist with Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research.
Learn more about Robert’s work with these Hub resources.
The poem provides an authentic cross-curricular learning opportunity. This activity outlines several ways educators can use Robert Hoare’s poem to promote basic literacy skills and support scientific thinking.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
use literacy skills to locate information
identify scientific concepts and specialist vocabulary
discuss the purpose and audience for the poem and associated articles
make comparisons between the different texts
consider how the poem reflects aspects of the nature of science and science communication.
Download the Word file (see link below).
Related teaching resources
Check out the ready-to-use cross-curricular teaching resources for middle primary and upper primary students. Each resource has literacy, maths and science activities that use the Fred the Thread poem as the context for learning.
