Bird watching as an alternative to chick hatching
Apr 7, 2000 4:03 PM
POSSIBLE SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS:
Make a bird feeder and place it so it can be viewed by students. Make a daily log nearby? Which birds come to feed? Chart the names of the birds as well as a count of the number of each type of bird which comes to feed. Supplement with photos or drawings. If space allow, set up two feeders and place different food in each. Note what type of food attracts what bird(s).
Have students make a class book about birds. Be sure to include information about chickens. Younger students can contribute to a big book which contains information about kinds of birds including the fact that all birds have feathers. Drawings and photographs can be used to enhance this book. Older students can contribute research, book reports, poems and essays about birds.
Have students make a dioramas including clay figures of birds which they have sculpted themselves. Use photos, clay, straws, sticks or magazine pictures. Attach a report about the birds featured.
Older students might make a video about birds. Which birds are seen in the school or community? Which birds are seen most frequently? What do they eat? Are different birds seen at different times or are the same birds seen all day? Are different birds seen in different seasons? Display the results on charts backed with cardboard or oaktag.
At the beginning of this unit, have the students choose several primary questions which they want answered from their research on birds. Before they begin to gather their data, have them make predictions about what they think they will find out. Their prediction, or hypotheses, could be about the kinds of birds, number of birds or the most common bird in the local community. Have students collect data and record their observations. Design a chart to record data which answers their primary questions. Help children to analyze their records. Which of their predictions came true? Which did not? Did some new birds come to a feeding station after several weeks? Did a bird that fed at these stations for several weeks not come in the last weeks of observation? Have the students develop a written statement explaining what they found through their research. A culminating activity could be the construction of a display board which includes predictions, hypothesis, procedures, data and conclusions as well as drawings, pictures from magazines or photographs.
Children in grades four and above can be helped to conduct an experimental study about student attitudes toward birds. Design a pre-test with input from the students and teacher. Formulate questions which will show student knowledge and attitudes about birds. What do all birds have? What do birds eat? How do birds get from place to place? Is it okay to photograph birds? feed birds? shoot birds? hatch bird eggs in the classroom? Administer the test to the class carrying out the project (the treatment group) and a class that will not be learning about birds in a given time period (the control group). Carry out activities as outlined in this unit. Administer a post - test to the treatment and control groups. Record results. Are the results the same or different? Do students in the treatment group know more or less about birds? Have their attitudes changed? Do girls or boys have more humane responses? older or younger students? Construct a display board or a class book to record this study.
