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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.
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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
4
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)
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
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Designing your Investigation Module 7 Lesson 5
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: