Who Gives a Hoot?

Note: This lesson was originally published on an older version of The Learning Network; the link to the related Times article will take you to a page on the old site.

Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students consider an unusually large wave of owl migration and its various impacts on the environment and food chain. They then understand how different biological and environmental factors affect a food chain by creating a model and posing questions about a particular species.

Author(s):
Priscilla Chan, The New York Times Learning Network
Bridget Anderson, The Bank Street College of Education in New York City

Suggested Time Allowance: 1 hour

Objectives:
Students will:
1. Pose possible scientific explanations for an invasion of owls.
2. Understand the irruption of these owls by reading and discussing the article “In a Vast Hungry Wave, Owls Are Moving South.”
3. Learn about different food chain scenarios for other species of animals.
4. Reflect and ask questions about how biological and environmental factors affect these food chains.

Resources / Materials:
-student journals
-pens/pencils
-paper
-classroom board
-arts and crafts materials (enough for class to share)
-slips of paper, as described in Activity 3 below
-copies of the article “In a Vast Hungry Wave, Owls Are Moving South,” found online at //www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20050308tuesday.html (one per student)
-resources about food chains (computers with Internet access, library resources, science textbooks, encyclopedias, etc.)

Activities / Procedures:
1. WARM-UP/DO NOW: Upon entering class, students respond to the following prompt in their journals (written on the board prior to class): “The following is a true-to-life news item: ‘Minnesota is being invaded. By owls. They started flying south in November and they have kept on coming.’ What are possible scientific explanations for this phenomenon? What factors might cause this bird population to go in large numbers to new territories?” After a few minutes, allow students to share their responses. You may also wish to discuss the following questions: If this news item were aired in your state, would it seem scary or bizarre? Why or why not?
2. As a class, read and discuss the article “In a Vast Hungry Wave, Owls Are Moving South” (//www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20050308tuesday.html), focusing on the following questions:
a. What is an irruption, and why is the current irruption in Minnesota of “historic proportions”?
b. Where do these owls normally live, and where are they heading?
c. What is the favorite food of the great gray owl, and why has the decline in numbers of this food item caused the movement of the owls?
d. How many owls are involved in this movement, and how do these numbers compare with last year’s?
e. What causes fluctuations in the vole population?
f. Where else besides Minnesota are the owls invading?
g. Why does the irruption provide good opportunities for scientists and birders?
h. What are some problems that the owls are encountering?
i. What is being done with the owls that have been killed in this irruption?
j. What information can be gathered from these dead owls?
k. What is being done with the owls that have been injured in this irruption?
3. Divide students into groups of two to three students. Before class, write the following animal names onto separate pieces of paper: barnacles, octopi, owls, snappers, salmon, trout, crabs, bears, wasps, raccoons, chickens, snakes, frogs, spiders, beetles, lizards, rats, voles, or bats. Each group should pick a slip of paper.
Using available resources, groups should then select one particular species of their animal on which to focus. For example, if they have selected barnacles, they can then specifically select the Giant Rock barnacle.
Then students must research the food chain of which this particular species is a part. Questions to answer include the following (to be copied on the board for easier student access):
-What type of environment does this animal live in?
-What does this animal eat primarily?
-What eats this animal?
-Do these eating habits change throughout the year? Does the animal migrate to another location during winter or spring? Does the animal hibernate?
-What are important biological and environmental factors that affect the livelihood and survival of this animal?
-What would cause the populations of organisms in this food scenario to increase or decrease?
Using their information and available arts and crafts materials, students should construct a basic model or poster of this food chain. The animals or plants in the food chain should be drawn or placed in a background resembling their natural environment.
Using the information gathered from their research, students must then come up with five questions that follow this model: “What would happen to the population of A if B occurred?” where A refers to an organism shown in the model and B should describe a changing biological or environmental condition. For example, in line with the New York Times article, one question might be “What would happen to the population of the great gray owl if the red-backed vole population decreased?” Another appropriate question might be, in an underwater environment, “What would happen to the population of the black fin snapper if the water became polluted?” Students should know the answers to their questions from their research.
Allow students to finish designing their models and coming up with their five questions. Then each group should partner with another group. Each group should describe their model and food chain with their partners and then pose their five questions to the other group. Each group should try to rationalize the answers to the questions, and the other group should confirm or further explain the correct answers.
4. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: For homework, students should describe the model of their partner group from the perspective of one of the organisms depicted in their model. Their description should fully explain the specific biological or environmental factors that might affect the described food chain, as discussed through the explanation and questions from class. For example, from the perspective of a red-backed vole: “It was a cold hard winter. I do not know how much of my family has survived. There are few great gray owls in the air. I bet they are hungry.” In a future class, students can share their descriptions of their peers’ models. As a class, students may discuss the intricacy and complexity of food chains and their surrounding environments.

Further Questions for Discussion:
-What food chains are humans a part of? In what position are humans in these food chains?
-What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?

Evaluation / Assessment:
Students will be evaluated based on initial journal responses, thoughtful participation in class discussions, cooperation in small groups, and presentation and written description of a food chain model.

Vocabulary:
ornithologists, irruption, unprecedented, neotropics, curator, boreal, spruce, rodents, vole, fluctuate, peninsula, incursion, encountering, preserved, isotopes, nurtured

Extension Activities:
1. View the geographic ranges depicted of four owl species at //www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/03/07/science/20050308_OWLS_GRAPHIC.html. Select one of the species and append an explanation in text to explain its accompanying map. What environmental and biological conditions determine the range of this species through each of the seasons (winter, year-round, or breeding)? Your explanation should include a description of the flora and fauna and geography of the indicated regions.
2. Find a local birding group, such as a local Audubon Society chapter ( //www.audubon.org/) or local university, and participate in a bird count in your community. Make a poster listing the birds you saw including drawings of the birds, notes about their appearance and behavior, and your final count. If possible, participate in the same count seasonally, and keep a record of the changes in the populations, appearances and number of bird species sighted. Alternatively, initiate your own bird counts on your school or local community grounds. Create a way to visually record for the whole school/community the ongoing results of your bird census.
3. Ornithologists and birders are an enthusiastic group of observers. There are many dedicated birders who contribute their knowledge and time to bird counts on a volunteer basis (while having completely different professions). Interview a local ornithologist and ask about how he or she became interested in birding, what his or her favorite birding experiences have been and what a typical day of birding is like for him or her (i.e., what time of day is the best time to spot the bird species being studied, etc.). Use your information to write a short blurb for a career pamphlet about ornithology.
4. Create a pamphlet on what to do if you find an injured bird in your community (whom to call, how to care for the bird temporarily, concerns to be aware of, etc.). Use the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine Web site as a starting point for research (//www.ahc.umn.edu/ahc_content/colleges/vetmed/Depts_and_Centers/Raptor_Center/index.cfm). The Raptor Center specializes in the medical care and rehabilitation of eagles, hawks, owls and falcons. Create a small training session to accompany your pamphlet and facilitate a training with one of the younger classes in your school.

Interdisciplinary Connections:
Economics – Ornithologists often use special binoculars to observe birds up close. Create a buyer’s guide for different models of binoculars, including their special features, expected lifetime and warranty, and price. Which would you recommend for the hobbyist or professional birdwatcher, and why? Which is the better buy? You can start with the suggested models at //www.sailgb.com/c/birding_binoculars.
Fine Arts – Create a diorama for a species of raptor. As a starting point for research, you can refer to the “Information about Raptors” link on the University of Minnesota Raptor Center Web site (//www.ahc.umn.edu/ahc_content/colleges/vetmed/Depts_and_Centers/Raptor_Center/index.cfm). Be sure to include everything the raptor needs to survive and to show its habitat. If it is a migratory species, think of a way to include in your diorama the different habitats and ecosystems it encounters over the course of its migratory patterns.
Media Studies – Create a storyline for a reality television series on birders chasing down the location and movements of a particular species of bird. Imagine that this storyline will be pitched to a major TV network, such as Animal Planet, Discovery, or National Geographic, so you will need to make sure that it provides good entertainment while also being educational. You can research other shows already on these channels for information on what style of show the producers are likely to want. In a later class, share your storyline ideas with the other students and if time allows, create and perform a “pilot” episode to demonstrate how the show would look.
Teaching with The Times – How important is a “lead” for a news story? Reread the lead to the New York Times article about the owls. Did the first few sentences grab your attention? Why or why not? Then analyze 5-10 different articles from the newspaper and rate the interest level you have in each one’s particular lead. Based on your ratings, come up with general criteria that make for a good “lead” to a news story. To order The New York Times for your classroom, click here.

Other Information on the Web:
The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine (//www.ahc.umn.edu/ahc_content/colleges/vetmed/Depts_and_Centers/Raptor_Center/index.cfm) specializes in the medical care and rehabilitation of eagles, hawks, owls, and falcons.
Arcytech (//www.arcytech.org/java/population/facts_foodchain.html) provides a substantial background on food chains and webs as well as definitions of relevant vocabulary terms.

Academic Content Standards:
Grades 6-8
Science Standard 7- Understands how species depend on one another and on the environment for survival. Benchmarks: Knows ways in which species interact and depend on one another in an ecosystem; Knows that all individuals of a species that occur together at a given place and time make up a population, and all populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem; Knows factors that affect the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support; Knows relationships that exist among organisms in food chains and food webs
Science Standard 8- Understands the cycling of matter and flow of energy through the living environment. Benchmarks: Knows how energy is transferred through food webs in an ecosystem; Knows how matter is recycled within ecosystems
Geography Standard 8- Understands the characteristics of ecosystems on Earth’s surface. Benchmarks: Understands the distribution of ecosystems from local to global scales; Understands the functions and dynamics of ecosystems; Understands ecosystems in terms of their characteristics and ability to withstand stress caused by physical events; Knows changes that have occurred over time in ecosystems in the local region
Grades 9-12
Science Standard 7- Understands how species depend on one another and on the environment for survival. Benchmarks: Knows how the interrelationships and interdependencies among organisms generate stable ecosystems that fluctuate around a state of rough equilibrium for hundreds or thousands of years; Knows ways in which humans can modify ecosystems and cause irreversible effects
Science Standard 8- Understands the cycling of matter and flow of energy through the living environment. Benchmarks: Knows that as matter and energy flow through different levels of organization in living systems and between living systems and the physical environment, chemical elements (e.g., carbon, nitrogen) are recombined in different ways; Knows how the amount of life an environment can support is limited by the availability of matter and energy and the ability of the ecosystem to recycle materials
Geography Standard 8- Understands the characteristics of ecosystems on Earth’s surface. Benchmarks: Understands how relationships between soil, climate, and plant and animal life affect the distribution of ecosystems; Knows ecosystems in terms of their biodiversity and productivity and their potential value to all living things; Knows the effects of biological magnification in ecosystems; Knows the effects of both physical and human changes in ecosystems

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This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed above. These standards are drawn from Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education; 3rd and 4th Editions and have been provided courtesy of the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning in Aurora, Colorado.