Go Out and Enjoy Nature

This article is part two of a middle school activity that gets kids out to nature around the school yard. Less and less students are relating to the natural world around them and they are ... See More

This article is part two of a middle school activity that gets kids out to nature around the school yard. Less and less students are relating to the natural world around them and they are not very good at making real-time observations. The activity described as ‘Birds by the Number’ presented in this article is a weeklong activity that answers the question from the former activity. Students wanted to know why in an urban area were there so many of the same kinds of birds such as grackles. This simple activity gets kids out of the classroom and more aware of nature around them.

A Bird's Eye View of Transecting and Tracking

While learning some of the common bird calls and silhouettes, students conduct real scientific investigations using transects, taxonomic keys, and stop watches. They become familiar with at ... See More

While learning some of the common bird calls and silhouettes, students conduct real scientific investigations using transects, taxonomic keys, and stop watches. They become familiar with at least three different commonly found urban birds by sight and sound as they experience working in small collaborative groups over a week’s time. Many math skills are embedded in this unit including data analysis using the Chi Square test. Even though this article was written in 1999, the lesson knows no time boundaries. It has all of the components of an effective inquiry investigation.