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| |  | SCI-LIT LINKS QUICKPLAN
OWLS ARE A HOOT!
(QuickPlan developed by Dr. Ken Mechling, Clarion, Pennsylvania)
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OVERVIEW: Students investigate the contents of owl pellets, identify numbers and species of animals found, and construct a food web with the owl at the highest trophic level.
BOOKLINK: Welcome to the World of Owls by Diane Swanson, Whitecap Books, Vancouver/Toronto, Canada, 1997. ISBN 0-937934-32-1
SCIENCE ACTIVITY LINK: Children "dissect" an owl pellet, identify the number and species of animals found, describe the characteristics of owls, and construct a food web with a barn owl as the top carnivore.
OBJECTIVE: Students investigate an owl pellet, identify its contents, research and describe the characteristics of owls, and construct a food web with a barn owl at the highest trophic level.
SCIENCE PROCESSES AND CONTENT: Processes-Observing, inferring, measuring, communicating, predicting, investigating, gathering and analyzing data, and constructing models. Content-Skeletal anatomy of animals found in pellets; anatomy, physiology, and habits of the barn owl; energy flow in an ecosystem--food chains and food webs.
NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS: Unifying Concepts and Processes, (1) Processes of Science, (3) Life Science, (5) Science and Technology (6) Science in Personal and Social Perspectives, (7) History and Nature of Science
MATERIALS: Book, Welcome to the World of Owls, owl pellets (Owl pellets are available from numerous sources. Check on the Internet under "owl pellets." Sources include Delta Education, www.deltaeducation.com and Museum Products, Inc. www.museumproducts.net), magnifying lenses, plastic gloves (optional), toothpicks, paper, and small mammal bone identification charts (available from Lab-Aids,Inc., 249 Trade Zone Drive, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779; NASCO, 901 Janesville Ave., PO Box 901, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538; Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN; Pellets, Inc., PO Box 5484, Bellingham, WA 98227
PROCEDURE:
1. Begin with a "discovery" or "constructivist" approach to teaching about owls. This is sometimes called the "learning cycle." The learning cycle is usually comprised of three parts; "exploration, concept introduction, and concept application." To begin the "exploration" phase, do not provide students with any information about the pellet or even what it is. Rather, place it in front of them on a sheet of white paper and ask them to infer what it is, where it is from, and what is inside.
2. Next, students explore the pellet and its contents. Using toothpicks as probes,(and gloves if the students wish), ask students to carefully "dissect" the pellet, taking it apart while observing, describing, and recording their results. Have them group their "findings" on the white paper.
Expect students to find the skulls and bones of 2-3 mammals or perhaps even other animals such as birds or insects. Small mammal skeletons usually found in barn owl pellets include voles, shrews, mice, and moles. In "Owl Pellet Kit, Teacher's Guide," (Museum Products, Mystic, CT) Irwin Slesnick describes owl pellets as "masses of bones, teeth, hair, feathers, scales, and insect skeletons. They are produced and regurgitated, not only by owls, but also by hawks, eagles, and other raptors which swallow their prey whole or in large pieces. The soft part of the prey are dissolved by proteolytic enzymes (protein digesters) and strong acids which occur in high concentrations in raptors' stomachs. The relatively weak stomach muscles of the birds form the undigested fur, bones, feathers, etc. into wet, slimy pellets which are regurgitated several times per day. Each whole owl pellet usually contains virtually complete skeletons of the animals which the owl ate the night before." Pellets are usually found below where owls roost, e.g. for barn owls on barn floors or beneath trees.
3. After the exploration stage comes "concept introduction." Assist students to identify bones and animal remains they have found. Use skeletal guides to identify bones (see materials). Introduce the concept of predator-prey relationship and energy flow in an ecosystem. Describe the feeding habits of owls and the nature of the pellets. This is a good time to read the book, Welcome to the World of Owls, and discuss its contents, e.g. territorality, owl talk, owl vision and hearing, and owl homes.
4. The third stage of this learning strategy, called the learning cycle, is "concept application." In this stage, students work on new problems using their previously constructed knowledge from the exploration and concept introduction stages. In this application stage you may wish to have the students construct food web diagrams which include the owl and a variety of selected prey species including shrews, voles, and deer mice plus the animals and plants in the food chain that provide energy to them. You may want to have teams of students make posters of the food web of a barn owl or other owls they choose to research.
SAFETY: None
RELATED BOOKS:
Owls by Zoobooks, Wildlife Education Ltd., San Diego, CA, 1977. ISBN 0-937934-32-1
Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber, Harper Collins Publishers, NY, 1995. ISBN 0-06-445130-5
Night Creatures by Simon M. Bell, Somerville House, NY, 1998. ISBN 1-58184-006-3
Birds of Prey by Simon M. Bell, Sommerville House, NY, 1998. ISBN 1-58184-002-0
Animal Lives: The Barn Owl by Sally Tagholm by Kingfisher, NY, 1999. ISBN 0-7534-5171-9
Barn Owls by Wolfgang Epple, Carolrhoda Books, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, 1992. ISBN 0-87614-742-2
The Barn Owl and the Pellet by Bret Gaussoin and Janice Lapsansky, Pellets, Inc., Bellingham, WA, 1994. ISBN 0-9620281-0-X
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