 |
|
|
Be a Class Act: Join Some teachers are actually encouraging their students to stare out the window! That’s because they’re participating in Classroom FeederWatch, the Lab’s exciting new citizen-science program that gives elementary- and middle-school children a chance to learn about birds, computers, and a whole lot more—and to have fun doing it. "I never expected so many of my kids to get excited about birds," says Michael Ashton, a Classroom Feeder- Watch teacher in Pennsylvania. "Classroom FeederWatch really motivates them." Created in cooperation with TERC, a curriculum and technology development company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Classroom Feeder- Watch gives students the opportunity to participate in real hands-on science. They start by hanging bird feeders outside their classroom windows (or some other location on their school grounds), then follow the same easy-to-use protocol developed for Project FeederWatch—identifying and counting the different bird species that visit their feeders, recording the temperature, and taking notes on precipitation. "Classroom FeederWatch teaches kids how to ‘do’ science," says Susan Hoffman, a teacher in Colorado who uses the program. The data that the students record are sent to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where they are analyzed and used to help scientists understand more about bird-population changes, habitat preferences, and more. Students also use Classroom FeederWatch to answer their own questions about bird biology and behavior, incorporating a multidisciplinary approach that meets the new National Science Education Standards. They present their findings through writing exercises and artwork and share their discoveries over the Internet with fellow FeederWatch students throughout the country. "It’s been wonderful reading the notes from everyone across the nation," says Pat Hughes, a Pennsylvania FeederWatch teacher. "This opportunity really enforces the idea of a global community." Student findings are also published in Classroom Birdscope, the national project newsletter that is sent to all participating classrooms. The current Classroom FeederWatch program is the result of extensive field testing by 180 teachers from 39 states. "In addition to ensuring that Classroom FeederWatch would be an effective tool for educating kids, we needed to make certain the curriculum would be easy for teachers to use and adaptable for those with time constraints," says Rick Bonney, the Lab’s director of education. "The feedback we’re getting from teachers this year is that Classroom FeederWatch is both enjoyable and motivational, even for students who’d previously shown little or no interest in science." If you’re a teacher who hasn’t yet discovered the fun and effective educational opportunities bird watching offers, we invite you to clip the coupon on page 10 and join Classroom FeederWatch. A $195 sign-up fee helps cover the cost of the extensive written curriculum containing 15 explorations in which students learn to identify birds, collect and analyze data about feeder birds, write reports based on their own questions and findings, and learn bird biology. Also included in the curriculum are simple instructions, transparencies, drawings of common feeder birds for coloring, student work sheets, tally sheets for counting birds, color posters with accurate pictures of feeder birds, and other learning tools that are fun and easy to use. Classrooms will also be given password access to the Classroom FeederWatch web site, which features an "Ask the Lab" page, a participant list, curriculum-support materials, as well as a data-entry page for online data submissions. Membership to the Classroom FeederWatch listserv—accessible to participants exclusively—is also part of the package. Slides of common feeder birds, additional workbooks, posters, and Classroom Birdscope issues are also available. "Birds have given us a way to collect and analyze data and work with scientists," says Celeste Bunting from Columbia, Maryland. "What a great way to learn!" |
