Assignment - Infographics - 152

A Note on What Makes This an Infographic

Drawing a circle with five stages and five labels is a diagram. An infographic about the frog’s life cycle tells the story of transformation: a creature that begins as a water-breathing animal with a tail and ends as an air-breathing animal with legs. What happens inside the egg? How does a tadpole breathe? What triggers metamorphosis? These are the questions your infographic should answer.

Objective

Create a cycle diagram infographic in Canva that follows the frog’s life from egg to adult, explaining what happens at each stage and what metamorphosis means in biological terms.

Content to Cover

Opening Anchor

The frog undergoes metamorphosis - a dramatic biological transformation in which its body structure, physiology, and behavior change completely between the juvenile and adult stages. The frog is an amphibian, which means it lives both in water (as a young animal) and on land (as an adult).

The Five Stages

Stage 1: Egg

• A female frog lays hundreds to thousands of eggs in water, in a cluster called frogspawn.
• Each egg is a small black dot surrounded by a transparent jelly-like layer that protects it and keeps it moist.
• The jelly swells on contact with water and makes the eggs visible and buoyant.
• Duration: hatches in 6-21 days depending on temperature.

Stage 2: Tadpole (Early)

• The egg hatches into a tadpole (also called a larva).
• The tadpole has a round head, a long tail, and no legs.
• It breathes using external gills (visible on the sides of its head), then develops internal gills.
• It feeds on algae and plant material in the water.
• It looks and lives nothing like the adult frog.

Stage 3: Tadpole with Legs

• After several weeks, hind legs begin to grow from the base of the tail.
• Front legs develop next, appearing from beneath the skin.
• The tadpole starts to change shape: the body becomes less elongated, the head broadens, and the tail shortens.
• The gills are absorbed; lungs begin to develop.
• The tadpole begins to surface for air.

Stage 4: Froglet

• The tail is almost fully absorbed (used as an energy source).
• The froglet now has four legs and lungs.
• It begins to move between water and land.
• It starts eating small insects and invertebrates.
• It still has a small tail remnant at this stage.

Stage 5: Adult Frog

• The tail is completely gone.
• The adult breathes through lungs and also through its moist skin (cutaneous respiration).
• It lives primarily on land but must return to water to reproduce.
• An adult frog can live 4-15 years depending on species.
• When mature, it finds a mate and the cycle begins again.

What is Metamorphosis?

Add a brief panel: Metamorphosis in frogs is called incomplete (gradual) metamorphosis - the change happens in stages over weeks, unlike the butterfly (complete metamorphosis with a pupa stage). The trigger for metamorphosis is the hormone thyroxine, produced by the thyroid gland.

Design in Canva

• Circular layout with the five stages arranged clockwise.
• An illustration of the organism at each stage showing its appearance.
• Each stage panel: name, duration, key changes, and method of breathing.
• Arrow connecting each stage to the next.
• The metamorphosis explanation panel outside the cycle.

Required Elements

• All five stages with appearance, changes, and breathing method.
• Duration for at least two stages.
• Metamorphosis explanation panel.
• Title: “Life Cycle of a Frog.”