Teacher name: Catherine Hawkins
Grades taught: K-6 (Speech/language)
School name: Conway Elementary 160 Main St. Conway,NH 03818
School telephone number. 603 447-3369
Teacher e-mail: N/A
Subject matter: Science-nature-birds

Key questions to be explored:

1. How do you think you would band a wild goose? List at least 3 steps. (Find where geese generally hang out. "Drive" them into the water. Set up net at opposite end. Gently guide them towards the net from canoes. Have spatters along shore to guide them back into the water if they try to escape. Get them in net and into holding pen. Hold one goose at a time like a football under your arm and take to person who will put a band around the goose's leg. Take to other person who will call out age and sex of goose to another person who will record the data. Let the goose go. Take collected data to central office to be entered into computer.)

2. Why would you want to band a goose in the first place? (Determine health of goose population to determine hunting limits, to determine migration routes, etc.)

3. Are any other kinds of birds banded? ( Ducks, as well as loons and song birds)

4. Who does this kind of work? Where do these people work? (Biologists, bio- technicians, naturalists, environmentalists, etc. These people can work at such places as Fish and Game Departments, Science Centers, Nature Centers, Audubon Centers, etc.)

Outcomes:

Students will become familiar with the entire goose banding process through various activities. They will be able to sequence the steps, either through pictures (picture sequence cards), orally ("First you..., then you...next you..., finally you...") or in written form. They will be able to give reasons why this is done (orally or written) and explain who does this kind of work.

Activities:

The first activity involves critical thinking on each student's part, assuming they know little about this subject matter. (If students are very young, or language-impaired, it would be wise to review the differences among ducks, swans and geese, as well as what "banding" is.) Depending on the age of the students, or learning style, pose the first four questions to them, to be answered either in written form or orally. Written answers (with no names attached) can be collected by the teacher and read randomly, or students can read their own answers, whichever is more comfortable, The next activity involves the teacher explaining the process, using photographs from the actual event. After the explanation, students will act out the entire scenario, with each student assigned a specific role (e.g. goose, biologist in canoe, guard along shore, biologist in net area, bander, biologist who determines age and sex of bird, recorder, central office data entry person). Older students can help determine the layout of the room or outside,if appropriate, and what props will be necessary; younger students can be shown how to make construction paper bands, goose masks or biologist hats or emblems, etc.

After acting out the scenario, students will discuss what they have learned, and if they liked their specific role or not. Younger students will have their own set of picture sequence cards to put in order and discuss with an adult.

How will this lesson be reviewed and evaluated?

This lesson will be reviewed by asking the key questions at a later date. It will be evaluated by observing the amount of enthusiasm generated by the students during the activities and by observing how much of the new information they add to their prior knowledge base for future use.

Other comments:

Another activity that could be set up for two students which involves the ability to plan ahead would be the Checkers-like game called Fox and Geese (renamed Biologist and Geese?). A regular checkerboard is used with four black geese on one end and one red person at the other. The geese try to make it safely to the opposite side without being captured. They can only move forward, while the one red checker can move forward or backward. The geese cannot jump the red checker, but the red checker can jump the geese (considered a capture -- or banding).