Learning Experience:
Animal Mix-up Research
Written by: Jody Hildreth

Learning Context Math, Science, & Technology: Standard 6

Knows the general structure and function of cells in an organism.

Knows that each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction (e.g., humanshave distinct structures of the body for walking, holding, seeing, and talking.)

English, Language Arts : Standard I

Language for information and understanding

Benchmark # I: Listening and reading to acquire information and understanding involves collecting data, facts, and ideas; discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources.

The Arts - Visual Arts : Standard I

Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts and participate in various roles in the arts.

Students develop their own ideas and images through the exploration and creation of art works based on themes, symbols, and events.

Students understand and use the elements and principles of art (line, color, texture, shape) in order to communicate their ideas.

Where does this fit into the school curriculum?

This lesson was used in an extracurricular group, Bird Club. This lesson could easily be incorporated into the fourth -grade unit on vertebrates, especially when discussing special adaptations,

What must students know and/or be able to do to succeed with this experience?

Students need to have a basic understanding of the research process and basic art skills. It would be helpful If the student had background information on wildlife artists such as Audubon, Fuertes, and Bateman.

Procedure

The students will create fictitious bird parts (heads, bodies, and legs) based on research and imagination. The class will combine these bird parts into a web site where the individual parts can be manipulated thereby creating different combinations of unique birds.

To launch this experience, read the students A Field Guide To Little-known & Seldom-seen Birds Of North America and Another Field Guide To Little-known & Seldom-seen Birds Of North America by Ben, Cathryn, and John Sill. These books should help the students get focused on creating a fictitious bird based upon special adaptations. During the experience it would be helpful to have books and/or prints that show the work of wildlife artists such as Fuertes, Audubon, and Bateman.

Describe the experience to the children. Let them know that they are required to create a fictitious bird which has a unique head, body, and tall. They will be allowed to use print resources as well as internet sites to discover any special adaptations birds might have from around the world. Each students will turn in three drawings: a head, body, and tall, which could be assembled to make one bird. Accompanying each drawing will be a one paragraph description of that part of the bird explaining its special adaptations.

After each student has finished their drawings and written descriptions, students will use a scanner to create .jpg version of their artwork. This .jpg will then be placed into a template for use on the web site. At the same time, students will be typing their descriptions into a template which will be placed onto the web site.

Instructional/Environmental Modifications

Students are encouraged to work by themselves during this project. However, during the research process small groups could work together, especially if access to the Internet is limited. If possible, this lesson could be incorporated with what is being taught in the computer lab and/or art class.

Time Required

Since this experience incorporates different areas of technology (scanning, Internet research, and HTML editing), the time required to complete this experience will be dependent on the speed of the school's equipment and the background knowledge each student brings to these pieces of equipment.

Resources

Multiple Internet connections
Work-sheets for drawing the head, body, and legs
Art supplies - colored pencils, paint, crayons, etc: depending on the medium chosen.
HTML Templates: for pictures and descriptions
Additional teacher assistance such as an art teacher, computer teacher, teacher aide, etc.

Assessment Plan

Students will be given a rubric describing what aspects of the learning experience must be included in the final product.

Students will turn in their work as it is finished. This will help the teacher identify students that are working at a slower pace.

The rubric that was given to the students at the beginning of the learning experience will be used to grade their work. There will be a rubric for the written description and the drawing.

Reflection

This lesson was developed in the bird club at our school, The Sauquoit Wingers. It was easy to see how this lesson could be incorporated into the fourth grade curriculum during the study of vertebrates.

To implement this learning experience you need a strong background in web development in order to make the final product work and to make it easy for the user. Specifically, one needs to have a basic understanding of how to use frames in HTML. Also, the students need detailed descriptions of what is expected for this assignment as well as models of what is acceptable and not acceptable work. It takes a great deal of time to assemble the final product and most of that work will be done by the teacher unless there is a student in the class who excels at creating web pages using frames.

Rubric