Flight for Survival
Sample Discovery Activity: Web of Life
In this lesson, the students will be introduced to relationships in the
environment. They will model and discuss these relationships between all
elements (abiotic and biotic) in the environment.
Objectives
The students will:
1. hypothesize causes for the endangerment of bald eagles and use data from
the tape to validate or modify their hypotheses.
2. use the video tape to identify environmental factors that have an impact
on the eagle and ways in which scientists are helping eagles to survive.
3. describe the interdependence of organisms in a food chain.
4. identify science careers.
Time Allotment
two 60-minute sessions
Materials
Flight for Survival video tape
Flight for Survival vocabulary list
Career Connection List and Inventory
cards
string
pictures of animals and other organisms interacting or feeding
journals
pencils or pens
Advanced Preparation
Arrange the students into cooperative groups.
Procedure
Tap Prior Knowledge
1. Ask the students what they know about bald eagles. Why do they think
the bald eagle has become endangered? Accept all answers. These hypotheses
should be based on what they already know. Hand out the Flight for Survival
vocabulary list to help the students learn the new words they will hear
in the video or in the activity. These words aid in the discussion of the
environmental factors that have an impact on the eagle. They can also be
used for many extension activities (see Additional Activities). In pairs,
have the students record their hypotheses in their journals.
2. Discuss the following career questions with the students and make a list
of their answers on the chalkboard:
What are scientists? What do scientists do?
What are the stereotypes of scientists? Where do scientists work?
Share with Neighbor
3. Set the purpose for viewing the video by giving the students a short
synopsis of it. Explain that "James Grier is a scientist. In the video
tape, Flight for Survival, you will be able to watch him work. As you watch
the tape, answer the following questions in your journals:"
Have the students view the video to answer these questions, and to validate
their hypotheses and identify ways that people are helping eagles to survive.
Ask "Does the information from the tape cause you to reconsider your
original hypotheses about bald eagles and scientists? What new information
and ideas have you learned about eagles? How has the environment changed
to make it difficult for eagles to survive, and what did humans do to change
this environment? How was the food chain affected?
In their small groups, give them time to share what they have recorded for
the remainder of the first session.
4. In the next session, introduce the lesson by asking students "What
do animals need for survival?" If possible, allow students to observe
life around a nearby pond, a puddle of water, a lake, or a human-made pond
at a park or zoo before going on with the lesson. List their responses on
cards and put them on the chalkboard or on a big board so the students can
see them together. Do the same with plants.
5. After you feel the students have finished offering responses, show how
plants and animals are interacting and providing needed material for each
other. Inform the class that there are a lot of things "living"
and "non living" that make up the environment (biotic and abiotic).
Some of the needs on the cards were non living things. Have them identify
which are living and which are non living.
Hands-on Activity
6. Play a game called "Web of Life" using the essential interrelationships
among all the members of a natural community. Webbing vividly portrays how
air, rocks, plants and animals function together in a balanced web of life.
Have the students form a circle. Stand inside the circle near the edge,
with a ball of string.
7. Ask "Who can name a plant that grows in this area?" Dandelions.
"Here, Miss or Mr. Dandelion, you hold the end of the string."
8. "Is there an animal around here that might eat the dandelion?"
Rabbits! "Ah, a sumptuous meal...Miss/Mr. Rabbit, you take hold of
the string here; you are connected to Miss/Mr. Dandelion by your dependence
on her flowers for your lunch. Now, who needs Miss/Mr. Rabbit for his/her
lunch?"
9. Continue connecting the students with string as their relationships to
the rest of the group emerge. Bring in new elements and considerations,
such as other animals, soil, water, and so on, until the entire circle of
students is strung together in a symbol of the web of life. Some are biotic
and some are abiotic. You have created your own ecosystem.
Proposing Explanations and Solutions: Introduce the Scientific Concept
10. To demonstrate how each individual is important to the whole community,
take away, by some plausible means, one member of the web. For example,
a fire or a logger kills a tree. When the tree falls, it tugs on the strings
it holds. Anyone who feels a tug in her string is in one way or another
affected by the death of the tree. Now everyone who felt a tug from the
tree gives a tug. The process continues until every applicable individual
is shown to be affected by the destruction of the tree. Often, students
will see relationships among organisms which you did not think of. Allow
them to offer their own conclusions as you play.
11. What does this mean? Discuss how our own actions might be changed knowing
what we now know. Encourage the students to share their hypotheses from
the first part of the lesson and discuss how they are related to this new
information.
Relate Activity and Concept
12. Have the students write a short essay in their journals describing the
interdependence they have just witnessed by doing the hands-on activity.
Invite them to make up new scenarios and discuss them in their small groups
before writing.
Home Activity/Parent Involvement
Following this activity, the students should be encouraged to share what
they have learned with their parents. Review the Career Connection List
and Career Inventory with the students. Have them complete it at home.
Working in the field of science is one of the most rewarding careers a person
can choose. Because science holds an important place in our lives today,
there are many job opportunities available. For example, some government
agencies employ environmental specialists; schools need qualified science
teachers; industries hire technicians to control the quality of products.
The imagination of people in science careers is unlimited.
Many of your students may think of scientists as people working in a laboratory
wearing white coats and never experiencing the outdoors. Television and
movies depict scientists as being "mad" and spending their time
over bubbling test tubes mixing magic potions. But scientists and people
in science-related careers are simply ordinary people with extraordinary
jobs. Some do spend their days working in laboratories, but many others
may be found working in forests and deserts, jungles and prairies, on mountains
and under the seas.
People with science backgrounds can be found working anywhere and everywhere,
including outer space. They are doing and studying anything and everything.
They are very important people. In this lesson, students are given the opportunity
to think about the people in the tape as people with careers in science.
Students should be encouraged to identify with the scientists and possibly
think of themselves as people who may pursue the quest for scientific knowledge.
Lesson Assessment
Collect the students' journals and read their responses. After viewing the
video, the students should be able to:
a) identify positive and negative environmental factors that affect the
eagle;
b) identify human interventions that harm the eagle and those that help
the eagle.
Their writings following the activity should demonstrate an understanding
of the interdependence of organisms in the food chain.
Books to Read
The American Eagle, by Myrtle J. Broley, Pellegrini and Cudahy, 1952
"Save the Eagle," in Ranger Rick, National Wildlife Federation,
January 1981
"The Bald Eagle: New Hopes, New Fears," in Audubon, by
Frank Graham, Jr. January 1981
Taking Action/Additional Activities
Return to Flight for Survival
Return to Chicago Science Explorers
Return to The Chicago Academy of Sciences