Group members:______________________

Why the long beak?

Year 5 Ornithologists! Your task is to investigate how different beaks are suited to help
birds catch and eat certain foods. You will need to research at least 3 birds with
different shaped beaks, and design and create beak models to test how effective these
beaks are at eating certain foods.

Your teacher will provide the ‘food’ to test, including:

- Short pieces of string in soil (worms)
- Sunflower seeds
- Polysterene balls in a container of water (fish)
- Cut up marshmallows (fruit)

Remember! We NEVER eat anything in the science classroom unless directed by

the teacher.

Your task:
1. Research at least 3 birds with different beak shapes. Find out what they eat and
how their beak shape helps them. Make notes on your findings.
2. Once your choice of birds is approved, design and create a model of a bird beak
for each of the birds. You might use tongs, tweezers, straw, mesh, skewers etc.
Be creative and consider how you could most accurately represent each beak.
3. Once you have created your bird beaks, it’s time to test them! For each of the
foods provided by your teacher, test how much food you can pick up with each of
the bird beaks in 30 seconds. Record your results in a scientific table on p.3.
4. Like any experiment, you will need to complete the Variables and Hypothesis
section so you have a clear understanding of what you are investigating, and will
need to make sure your group’s team roles are clear before conducting the
experiment.

Variables: Remember! We only change one variable at a time during our science
investigations.

What Will I change What will I keep the What will I measure?
(Independent) same? (Dependent)

My investigation question… What happens to

___________________________________
(dependent variable)
when we change ___________________________________?
(independent variable)
How can we describe the effect? ________________________
(measures)
Now we have our investigation question, let’s write our hypothesis:

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

Bird research:
Bird Where does What does it Describe the Any other
it live? eat? beak shape important
information

Other notes:
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Draw a scientific diagram of the investigation (including the beaks you have
created and the food items to be tested, and any equipment you will need):

How can we record our results? Design and draw a table below:
Take some time to reflect upon your experiment. Remember to use formal,
scientific language and be as specific as possible.

Was my hypothesis correct?______________________________________

___________________________________________________________

What did I learn from this experiment?_____________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

How does this represent the variation of bird beaks in different environments?
___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

How could I improve the accuracy/reliability of this investigation?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

What questions does this investigation raise for me in regard to animal

adaptations?
___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________