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Designing Your Investigation Module 7 Lesson 5

LESSON 5: DESIGNING YOUR INVESTIGATION

OVERVIEW:
In this lesson, students will create a research question relating animal behavior to urban
ecology. Students will connect the data that they gathered in Lesson 2 on urban noise in their
study site, to their knowledge of animal behaviors from the previous two lessons. Students will
design an investigation determining how they are going to collect and organize their data. They
will also determine how to analyze the data.
SUB-QUESTION:
How do I analyze bird songs?
Ways of Knowing Urban Ecology:
Students will…
Understand No specific goals connected with talking about urban
ecology in this lesson.
Talk • Collaborate and reach consensus about the questions and
investigation that they will do as a group.
Do • Develop a research question and predict the results to their
question.
• Design an investigation appropriate for their research
question.
Act No specific goals connected with acting on urban ecology
in this lesson.

SAFETY GUIDELINES:
There is no specific safety issue associated with this lesson.

PREPARATION:
Time:
1-2 class periods
Day 1: Activity 5.1
Activity 5.2
Day 2: Activity 5.3

Materials:
Activity 5.1 and 5.2
Copies of student sheet “Designing your experiment”

INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE
Activity 5.1: Creating a Research Question
1. Have students take out their responses to reflection questions from Lesson 2.3: What do
you think this map tells you about your schoolyard study site? What consequences might
this have on the birds and people that use this space?
2. Ask students what are some behaviors that birds might change in response to a changing
urban environment?

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Designing Your Investigation Module 7 Lesson 5

o Responses may be specific but they should focus on the three main types of
behaviors: Communication, Foraging, and Reproduction
3. Put students in groups of 3-4 students. These are the groups that the students will be
working with for the rest of this module. Hand out the student sheet.
4. Students should work together to come up with a research question. This should be the
same question for all group members. Students should then make predictions for their
question; predictions may vary amongst group members.
5. If students are having difficulty coming up with a question have them first think of
something that they found interesting. Share examples from the table below to prompt
student thinking.

Research Question Prediction


1. How does the noise of the road Birds singing near the road will have a higher
affect the minimum pitch of birds’ minimum pitch than birds singing behind the
songs and calls? school where it is quieter.
2. How does the road affect the Birds singing near the road will have a higher
dominant pitch/frequency (loudest dominant pitch than birds singing behind the
pitch over the whole bird song)? school where it is quieter.
3. Does the frequency of birds’ song Fewer birds will vocalize during the busy rush
or the number of birds near the road hour traffic, and those that do will have a
change based on time of day? higher minimum pitch to combat the
surrounding noise.
4. Is there a relationship between the As background noise increases, the minimum
loudness of the background noise and pitch of the chickadee will increase.
the minimum pitch of the chickadee
(or other bird)?
5. Is there a relationship between the As the background noise increases, the
number of notes a house finch sings number of notes the house finch sings per
and the loudness of the background minute will decrease.
noise?
6. Does the frequency or pitch of a Birds will increase the frequency and pitch of
bird song/call change if there is a their song/call if there is a predator near by.
predator near by?
7. Does the frequency or pitch of a Birds will have a higher pitch, and an
bird song change if there are other unchanged frequency, when other birds are
birds near by? near by.

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Designing Your Investigation Module 7 Lesson 5

Teaching Alternative
If you are unable to use the recording equipment required for this module, you can opt to do a
low tech version of this investigation. For consistency, students should still be focusing on
animal behaviors and sound in their field sites. General sound data can be recorded using
decibel meters, and animal behaviors can be observed by students. Possible research
questions and predictions for a low tech investigation are:
Research Question Prediction
1. Does urban noise impact where birds Birds will not look for food as much in
feed? a noisy area.
2. Does urban noise impact where some Birds will be more sensitive to urban
animals feed, but not others? (For noise than squirrels when foraging.
instance squirrels vs. birds)
3. Do squirrels act differently when Squirrels will eat faster in a noisy area
foraging in a noisy area vs. a quiet and move to a different location more
area? quickly than in a quiet area.
4. Does urban noise impact where birds Birds will not make nests in a noisy
make their nests? area.
5. Do birds stop and rest in a noisy There will be less birds resting in a
area? noisy area than in a quiet area

For more observation and research ideas check out these resources:
• Animal Behavior Observation
http://www.earthwatch.org/images/Pdfs/AboutUs/Education/Teachers/Observing.pdf
• Squirrels and Food Selection
http://www.animalbehavior.org/ABSEducation/laboratory-exercises-in-animal-
behavior/laboratory-exercises-in-animal-behavior-squirrels-and-food-selection
• Animal Behavior Unit
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/AEF/1994/peebles_behavior.php

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Designing Your Investigation Module 7 Lesson 5

Activity 5.2: Designing Your Investigation


1. Students should complete their student sheet in designing their investigation.
o Focus should be on what kind of data they need to collect and how they are going
to collect that data. Students need to decide if they will stay in one grid section, or
will be comparing different locations.
o Students should come up with their own general idea but because students may be
unfamiliar with specifics you may want to provide them with some examples
from the table below.
 You will notice the first three questions are comparisons (either spatial or
temporal). These three questions don’t require students to identify a single
bird but rather measure all of the birds they record. The last questions
focus on a single species and compare noise levels to minimum pitch or
number of notes.

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Research Question Data Collection Data Analysis

How does the road affect the • Set-up two transects, one next to the road and one • For each bird song recording, use Raven to determine the
minimum pitch of bird songs away from the road (e.g., behind the school or in a minimum pitch
and calls? quieter area). • Graph the line of best fit for each site
• Record every bird that sings along the transect for • What is the relationship?
10 or 15 minutes each day. • Additional graphs:
• Measure the level of background noise at each o Level of noise each day for each site
recording using a decibel meter o Noise vs. minimum pitch
How does the road affect the • Set-up two transects, one next to the road and one • For each bird song recording, use Raven to determine the
dominant pitch/frequency away from the road (e.g., behind the school or in a dominant pitch
(loudest pitch over the whole quieter area). • Graph the line of best fit for each site
bird song)? • Record every bird that sings along the transect for • What is the relationship?
10 or 15 minutes each day. • Additional graphs:
• Measure the level of background noise at each o Level of noise each day for each site
recording using a decibel meter o Noise vs. dominant pitch
Do the frequency of birds’ • Set-up one transect next to the road). • For each bird song recording, use Raven to determine the
song and number birds near • Record every bird that sings along the transect for minimum pitch
the road change based on time 15 minutes. Return to the site again to collect data • Graph the line of best fit for each time of day
of day? at a different time of day. • What is the relationship?
• Measure the level of background noise at each • Additional graphs:
recording using a decibel meter o Level of noise each day for each site
o Noise vs. minimum pitch
Is there a relationship between • Listen for and record each chickadee song • For each chickadee song, record the minimum pitch
the loudness of the • For each recording, take a measure of the • Graph the background noise level (loudness) vs. the
background noise and the background noise using the decibel meter minimum pitch
minimum pitch of the • What is the relationship?
chickadee (or other bird)?

Is there a relationship between • Listen for and record each house finch song • For each house finch recording,
the number of notes a house • For each recording, take a measure of the o count the number of notes per song
finch sings and the loudness of background noise using the decibel meter o measure the song length or duration
the background noise? o divide the number of notes by the song duration to
get the number of notes per minute (or second))
• Graph the noise level vs. the number of notes

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Teaching Alternative
For the low tech investigation you may want to prompt students thinking with the examples below. Notice how some questions focus on one
location, while others compare locations, or compare animals.
Research Question Data Collection Data Analysis
Does urban noise • Create similar bird feeders and place one in a • Determine how many birds (and what types of
impact where birds noise area and one in a quieter area birds) visited each similar feeder
feed? • Observe birds feeding behaviors. Identify the • Is there a relationship?
birds.
Does urban noise • Pick a noisier grid section as a location • How many of each animal visit the noisier
impact where some • Create a feeding ground for two types of location to forage?
animals feed, but not animals • Look for other explanations for the behaviors
others? (For instance • Observe and count the animals that visit your • Is there a pattern or relationship?
squirrels vs. birds) study location
Do squirrels act • Pick two locations, one quiet one noisy and set • Look for similar patterns of squirrels behavior at
differently when up a squirrel feeding ground both locations
foraging in a noisy area • Observe behavior as well as measure their • Were there any significant differences between
vs. a quiet area? behaviors with stop watches the two locations?
Does urban noise • Pick two locations, one quiet and one noisy • Determine if there were different nesting
impact where birds • Observe birds either building a nest, or sitting behaviors at each location
make their nests? in a nest • Did different species of birds have different
• Look for evidence of nests at both locations preferences?
• Is there a relationship?
Do birds stop and rest • Pick a noisier grid section as a location • Determine how many birds visited your location
in a noisy area? • Observe the birds who visit your location and if there is a pattern of time lengths
• Measure how long they stay in the location • Is there a relationship?

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2. Students should create a data table to organize the data they will collect. Below
are two samples of data tables based on if their question is comparing multiple
birds or a single species.

Data table for site 1 (Grid section next to the road) [Question 1 above]
File Name From Data Sheet Minimum Pitch
Date Collected Background Bird Species (if known) of Bird Song
Noise level (dB) (Hz)

Data table for chickadee song recordings [Question 4 above]


File Name From Data Sheet Minimum Pitch
Date Collected Background Noise of Bird Song
level (dB) (Hz)

Teaching Alternative
Data Table for Alternative Research Question 1: Does Urban Noise Impact Where Birds Feed?
Noise Level Species of Bird Number of Birds
(dB)
Location 1
Location 2

Concluding the Lesson


1. Have students think about their investigations. Either in writing or for discussion,
have students answer: What do you think the challenges will be of your
investigation? What personal responsibility do you have in your investigation?

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Designing your Investigation Module 7 Lesson 5

Name: _________________________________ Date: _________ Class/Period:________

Lesson 5: Designing your Experiment

Activity 5.1 Designing you Experiment

1. What research question will your group study?

2. What is your prediction? (What answer do you expect to find.)

3. What data will you need to collect? How will you collect your data in the field?

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Designing your Investigation Module 7 Lesson 5

4. How will you analyze your data? Make a data table in the space below:

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