A1258609358qKwNU

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Birds of Prey
Teachers Page
A WebQuest for 4th Grade
Designed by
Debbie
Popolillo based on a template from San Diego
State Universitys The WebQuest Page
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Introduction This lesson was developed as part of
the elementary science methods course at Roger
Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. The
book of The North American Owls by Helen Roney
was the catalyst for starting this web quest. The
last chapter of this book discusses the future
for owls and what we have done as a society to
cause some of the species to almost become
extinct. The book would make a great read for the
classroom before beginning this web quest.
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Learners This lesson was designed for students
in a fourth grade science class. The following
information lists the knowledge your students
should have prior to this lesson. All information
was gathered from the Benchmarks for Science
Literacy, chapter 15 The Research Base. THE
LIVING ENVIRONMENT Several areas related to The
Living Environment have received considerable
research attention over recent years. These
include student meanings of the terms animal,
plant, and living students' ideas about plant
nutrition and their understanding of genetics
and natural selection. Little has been published
about students' understanding of cells, or the
dependence of organisms on one another and the
environment, or the flow of energy through the
living environment. Research has focused on what
students understand about the living environment
at isolated points in time or on how this
understanding evolves naturally in students.
Research on instructional interventions that
improve students understanding is limited.
Reviews of research can be found in Carey (1985),
Good et al. (1993), and Mintzes et al. (1991).
5d Interdependence of Life Relationships
between organisms Lower elementary-school
students can understand simple food links
involving two organisms. Yet they often think of
organisms as independent of each other but
dependent on people to supply them with food and
shelter. Upper elementary-school students may not
believe food is a scarce resource in ecosystems,
thinking that organisms can change their food at
will according to the availability of particular
sources (Leach et al., 1992). Students of all
ages think that some populations of organisms are
numerous in order to fulfill a demand for food by
another population (Leach et al., 1992). Habitat
Middle-school and high-school students may
believe that organisms are able to effect changes
in bodily structure to exploit particular
habitats or that they respond to a changed
environment by seeking a more favorable
environment (Jungwirth, 1975 Clough
Wood-Robinson, 1985a). It has been suggested that
the language about adaptation used by teachers or
textbooks to make biology more accessible to
students may cause or reinforce these beliefs
(Jungwirth, 1975).
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• Curriculum Standards
• National Science Education Standards
• Life Science
• CONTENT STANDARD CAs a result of activities in
  grades K-4, all students should develop
  understanding of
• THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISMS
• Organisms have basic needs. For example, animals
  need air, water, and food plants require air,
  water, nutrients, and light. Organisms can
  survive only in environments in which their needs
  can be met. The world has many different
  environments, and distinct environments support
  the life of different types of organisms.
• The behavior of individual organisms is
  influenced by internal cues (such as hunger) and
  by external cues (such as a change in the
  environment). Humans and other organisms have
  senses that help them detect internal and
  external cues.
• ORGANISMS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS
• All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat
  plants for food. Other animals eat animals that
  eat the plants.
• An organism's patterns of behavior are related to
  the nature of that organism's environment,
  including the kinds and numbers of other
  organisms present, the availability of food and
  resources, and the physical characteristics of
  the environment. When the environment changes,
  some plants and animals survive and reproduce,
  and others die or move to new locations.
• All organisms cause changes in the environment
  where they live. Some of these changes are
  detrimental to the organism or other organisms,
  whereas others are beneficial.
• Humans depend on their natural and constructed
  environments. Humans change environments in ways
  that can be either beneficial or detrimental for
  themselves and other organisms.

more
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• Curriculum Standards (continued)
• Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
• CONTENT STANDARD FAs a result of activities in
  grades K-4, all students should develop
  understanding of
• CHANGES IN ENVIRONMENTS
• Environments are the space, conditions, and
  factors that affect an individual's and a
  population's ability to survive and their quality
  of life.
• Changes in environments can be natural or
  influenced by humans. Some changes are good, some
  are bad, and some are neither good nor bad.
  Pollution is a change in the environment that can
  influence the health, survival, or activities of
  organisms, including humans.
• Some environmental changes occur slowly, and
  others occur rapidly. Students should understand
  the different consequences of changing
  environments in small increments over long
  periods as compared with changing environments in
  large increments over short periods.
• English Language Arts Standards
• Standard 4.Gathers and uses information for
  research purposes
• Level II (Grades 3-5)
• Benchmark 7. Uses strategies to gather and record
  information for research topics (e.g., uses
  notes,
• maps, charts, graphs, tables, and other graphic
  organizers paraphrases and summarizes
• information gathers direct quotes provides
  narrative descriptions)
• Benchmark 8. Uses strategies to compile
  information into written reports or summaries
  (e.g.,
• incorporates notes into a finished product
  includes simple facts, details, explanations, and
  
• examples draws conclusions from relationships
  and patterns that emerge from data from different
  
• sources uses appropriate visual aids and media)

back
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Process Once each student has picked a bird, the
groups are ready to begin the investigation. Each
student will find the information they need in
the links below that match the bird they choose.
The following questions can be used as a guide
during the quest. Is your bird extinct or
heading for extinction? What caused the bird to
become endangered or extinct? What is the birds
habitat like? Are there any measures being done
to save your bird? California Condor Defenders
of Wildlife Pinnacles National Monument National
Parks Conservation Association Ivory Billed
Woodpecker Burney's Critter Corner Rediscovering
the Ivory Billed Woodpecker Big Woods Cuban Red
Macaw Macaw Parrots JcMacaw homepage Macaw
If you have access to more than one computer
at a time and would like more than one group of
children to work on this you can group children
in threes by birds. Have three students work on
the Condor, three on the Ivory- Billed and three
on the Maccaw. Or you can find different birds
for each group by going to the following web
pages. The National Geographic Humans Driving
Birds to Extinction The Grinning Planet The
Peregrine Fund
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• Resources Needed
• Materials Needed
• Science journal
• Folder for any printed material
• Pens
• Computer paper
• Access to the internet
• Power Point Program for presentation (optional)
• Book The Book of North American Owls by Helen
  Roney
• Can be found at Amazon
• The following web sites were used to retrieve the
  information on the birds.
• California Condor
• Defenders of Wildlife
• Pinnacles National Monument
• National Parks Conservation Association

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Evaluation Print out the attached Rubric to
evaluate your students performance.
Beginning 1 Developing 2 Accomplished 3 Exemplary 4 Score
  Information presented is correct and organized   Information collected is not relevant to the topic Information is collect but disorganized The information collected is relevant but errors exist The information collected is correct and organized
  Creativity of presentation at the conference and participation of group members.     Great creativity, made use of several resources. All three group members presented. Creativity shown in presentation. Two group members did the presenting. Some creativity shown in presentation. One group member did the presentation. No creativity shown in presentation. One group member did all the presentation.
 Demonstrates understanding of the topic   Complete understanding of topic. Made use of several resources for information and can answers questions on topic. Understands topic. Able to apply information to when asked questions. Some understanding of topic. Able to apply topic to some areas of discussion Poor understanding of the topic. Able to make few statements about information researched
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Conclusion By participating in this web quest and
using it in your classroom, your students will
meet the National Science Standards and learn
valuable information regarding society and the
treatment of animals. In addition, they will be
addressing Language Arts and Technology Standards
through their group presentation . Your students
will also learn the value of teamwork by working
together to create a creative presentation.
Thank you for using this web quest to enhance
your science classroom.
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Credits References
The following list are websites, books, or
pictures that helped create this web
quest. Thank You, Web Sites The WebQuest
Page The San Diego Zoo Defenders of the
Wild Pinnacles National Monument National Parks
Conservation Association Burney's Critter
Corner Rediscovering the Ivory Billed
Woodpecker Big Woods Macaw Parrots JcMacaw
homepage Macaw Owl sounds Classroom Clip Art The
WebQuest Page Pictures Macaw bird page
3 flying condor Jon Concalosi/Area London Bald
Eagle Photos The Nature Conservancy Books The
Book of North American Owls by Helen Roney