Identifying Quincy's Birds

 

Subject Area

ECOLOGY
Age or Grade
Grades 11-12, but can be adapted for middle or elementary classsrooms
Estimated Length
2 class periods (90 minutes)
Prerequisite knowledge/skills

 As this will serve as an introduction to identification and classification of birds that students will encounter on a daily basis, students are not required to possess prior skills in bird identification or classification schemes.  However, it would be beneficial for students to have at least seen some of the birds of the local area.  As these students live mostly in suburban areas, invasives, such as the starling and house sparrow, should be common sightings, as well as some of the waterfowl (ducks and geese).  It will be helpful, but not necessary, if students have had some previous experience in visual inspection – type laboratories
Description of New Content

Concepts:
 
1. Criteria Used in Taxonomic Classifications
2. Variety of Forms of Taxonomic Classification
3. Uses of Classification
4.  Introduction to invasive species (to be covered)
 
Skills:

1.    Visual Inspection of Organisms (Pictures in this case)
2.    Web-based exploration
3.    Use of field guides and related texts
4.    Critical thought and evaluation of classification schemes
 
Information:

1.    Morphology vs. Genetics (Taxonomists vs. Evolutionary Classification)
2.    Role of Birds as Bioindicators
3.    Familiarity with local biological communities
Goals

 1.    Students will learn to compare a variety of bird characteristics
2.    Students will learn to identify and classify birds located within their local are
3.    Students will learn how to examine and scrutinize differences in features of organisms (to be used in subsequent lessons)
4.    Students will understand variation in the usefulness of particular classification schemes over others
5.    Lesson will develop a background base for students to identify birds in the field (a later lesson plan).
Materials Needed


 1.    Photos of a variety of local birds (minimum 10, maximum 20?)
2.    Stations labeled with a variety of characteristics assigned to each station
3.    Notebooks
4.    Worksheet
5.    Field Guides for North American Birds (5)
6.    Blackboard
7.    Writing Utensils

Procedure

 

 

 

Opener
a. As students know that I am currently studying birds, this provides a good opener for the lesson.  The day prior to the lesson plan, ask students to keep an eye out for a bird on their way home from school or on their way to school the next morning. 
 
b. The day of the lesson, ask a handful of students to describe the bird they saw, and then ask other students what words he/she is using in this description.  Write these words down on the blackboard (i.e. brown, big, huge feet, etc.).
 
c. Explain to students that all of these words can be used to “group” or classify birds, and that some are used more than others for a variety of reason (to be discovered in the lesson).  Present packets (unopened of bird photos to students), and ask them to assist you in classifying them

Development
a. Allow students to form their own group of three (DANGER!) and send them to a station labeled with a criteria used for grouping birds (i.e. COLOR, BEAK SHAPE, FOOT SHAPE, SIZE).  Ask students to first identify each of the birds in their stack of photos.
 
b. As students begin classification, walk around to each of the stations and assist as needed.  (STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE BIRDS IDENTIFIED CORRECTLY AND HAVE BEGUN
CORRECTLY GROUPING BIRDS BASED ON GIVEN CRITERIA).  You may ask a single student to subgroup some birds from the stack to test individual thinking and learning.

c. As students are classifying, ask if they have seen any of the birds presented before, such as in a pond or on a city street (Test and play on students prior knowledge of subject matter).

d. Ask students to switch stations and begin a new classification scheme based on this station’s criteria (Great place to assess the student’s first data table, making sure labels and ID’s are correct).
 
e.  As students move to each station, ask them if their previous criteria was a better or poorer classification method.  Ask WHY? (Assess students’ ability to distinguish classifiers and the reasons they serve as good classifiers).
 
f.  Upon completion of the station visits, ask students to compare each of their tables to the one on the blackboard, which is based on GENETIC similarities. (This is not THE correct scheme, simply one that is used most often by today’s taxonomists, WHY?)
 
g.  Ask student to record this data table for use in Concluding Activity.

Closure
a.  Students should be assigned 4 or 5 questions to evaluate their ability to distinguish the variety of classification schemes. 
 
b.  As a closer, reveal to students a “BIG SECRET” – two of the birds they had photos of are simply color morphs of the exact same species! (WOW, students will hopefully be surprised and excited about this, start thinking that COLOR, or other criteria once considered a good classifier, may not actually be the greatest way to group organisms.).  Leave something for students to ponder.

 
Evaluation

 Students will be assigned individual questions (5) to be handed in the following meeting.  These will be short-answer questions that will allow students to develop ideas and thoughts about the day’s lesson.  There are no “correct” answers to these questions, for instance, one student may have felt that BEAK SHAPE was a good way to classify birds, while another may have felt that BEAK SHAPE was too small a character to efficiently group birds in the field. 
         Students, from the answers, should nonetheless be able to distinguish the concepts of MORPHOLOGY vs. GENETIC traits, and their importance in classification and taxonomy.  Students should also display knowledge of the birds they inspected and be able to correctly identify these birds on a later date (the next exam could contain the same or different photos of the species encountered in this lesson).
Extensions

 Should time allow, students may be asked to explore the habitat, behavioral characteristics, and/or adaptations of a species of their choice from the stack of photos provided (via the internet or text).  Students may then be asked to relate this species, in a broader context, to topics previously covered in the classroom.  (For instance, students can take the photo of their species and place it in the appropriate place on the carbon cycle flow chart hanging in the classroom, or students may draw an individual of the above species, and then construct a food web with this species as the focus).
While not an extension, students will be taken into the field (QHS has a large campus surrounded by suitable bird habitat) to identify these birds in the field.  Students will hopefully be able to match some birds they see to ones that they had previously seen in this lesson, and perhaps also pick up on the fact that bird identification on the wing is a very different task than photo IDing groups of birds conveniently placed on a desk!)
References

 

None, bird photos were gathered from a variety of sources on the web.

 
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