LIBRARY MEDIA SKILLS OBJECTIVES:

The student will locate specific details about the flight path of a selected migrating bird.The student will use located information to prepare a map that shows the migration path of a selected bird.

MOTIVATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The student will: -become interested in the research process. -understand the importance of information skills. -experience increased confidence in research ability -understand the value of information skills. -achieve satisfaction in research accomplishments.

INSTRUCTIONAL ROLES: The teacher or library media specialist may initiate the activity by introducing automated sources or the Internet as a resource for information. Students are encouraged to become observers of birds.

ACTIVITY AND PROCEDURES FOR COMPLETION

Session 1 -The teacher may ask students to think about how long they could go without food it they were on a journey and determined to get home. As the students provide their own answers, the teacher may explain that they will be looking at members of the animal kingdom who travel for long distances, often without food, in order to get to a summer or winter habitat. -The teacher may introduce reading materials and ask the students (in pairs) to begin browsing through the books and magazine articles. When they come to something that is of interest to them about birds and migration (both topics), they will record a statement on a strip of paper that will be shared withthe whole group. Students may browse for ten or fifteen minutes. Strips may be recorded and posted on the bulletin board for the whole group to see.  Members may share their statements. When all statements have been shared, the teacher may ask students to consider the facts and staements and then form several more questions about bird migration. The teacher may record the questions to be duplicated as question search sheets. The teacher may add a question or problem to answer some of the questions in relation to a specific bird or interest. Students will also be given a map of the North and South American continents (whole world might also be used) that they will use to show the flight path of the specific bird selected.

Session 2 -During a second session, the students will review their questions and meet with the library media specialist, who will listen to the questions and suggest a number of sources. Automated encyclopedias and bookmarked Internet sources should be introduced if available.The library media specialist may instruct students on how to combine words for locating information in automated encyclopedias. Students may be encouraged to try two different ways to find information. They may look for the name of the bird that they have selected or they may look for more general terms such as "bird migration" to find out where birds migrate.

-When Students have located information that will help them answer the questions they developed, they may also find the flight path of the selected migrating bird. The students may pencil-in the pathway on the maps. When they return to class, the students will color maps and show the flight path by gluing glitter on the map in the penciled section. A picture of their slelected bird may be glued on a point on the map where the birds might stop for a rest. Students may display their maps and share what they have learned during a class discussion.

FOLLOW-UP: The student may: -use a simple computer animation program to show the selected bird on its flight path to a winter or summer habitat. -compare flight paths of different birds researched by classmates to see if there are common fly-ways. (Students may discuss what this might mean for human populations along the path.)