Instruction Begins in Biology Class: Introduction to beak and feet adaptations This activity allows students to examine different

examples of feet and beaks from birds all over the world. During this time students are required to call upon prior knowledge to identify the habitat of the bird and also provide some insight into why a bird is suited to a particular area. The major purpose of this activity is for students to realize there are advantages for birds having a particular appearance and how this plays into adaptation. Objectives: students will be able to identify the major characteristics of birds and be able to describe the adaptations of birds feet and beaks. 1. Students will be provided with pictures of birds which show both their beak and feet. 2. Students will determine where the bird lives and write an explanation of why they think this. This description should also include what advantage to the bird having a particular beak have and why. Throughout the exploration of the pictures, students have conversations with one another regarding their thoughts about where the bird might live. It is interesting to hear students conversations and what evidence they base their opinions on. Many students draw on prior knowledge or experience, or have had some sort of interaction with a bird and relaying this experience to their peers. They tend to ask each other questions focusing around why a bird would have a certain shaped beak and what they could eat with this beak. Another focus is on the description of the legs and feet and what they would be best suited for and why. This exercise provides both the teacher and the student with a good understanding of what misconceptions may be present in students understandings. The explanation of why they think something is integral for students to formulate appropriate argumentation strategies which are the focus of The Next Generation Science Standards as well as Common Core standards for writing, and speaking and listening. Adaptation and natural selection In these activities, students are asked to work with different items to explore the concept of beak adaptation. This activity reinforces the concept that birds are adapted for specific conditions and types of food.

1.Students are presented with a 10 gallon fish tank filled with water and balloons filled with rice which are placed at various positions in the tank. Some of the balloons, representing fish are on the bottom of the tank while others are floating in the middle of the tank or towards the surface of the water. Students are given one of 3 different sized beaks (long, medium, short) constructed from paint stirrers cut into different lengths to represent different types of birds. 2. Students will carry out a series of three scenarios to illustrate natural selection. The first scenario is to illustrate stabilizing selectionindividuals with the average form of a trait will have the advantage. Only food found in the middle of the tank will be provided, thus the bird with the average form of the trait, medium beak, will be most successful. The second scenario will illustrate direction selection where individuals with one of the extreme forms of a trait have an advantage. Students will only be provided with food at the top and bottom of the tank, with more food at the bottom. The bird with the extreme form of the trait, the long beaks have the advantage. The third scenario focuses on disruptive selection where individuals with either of the extreme forms of a trait have the advantage. Students will be provided with only food at the top and bottom of the tank. The birds with the two extreme forms of the trait, long and short beaks, have the advantage. 3. Conclude this activity with relating it back to mechanisms of natural selection, including the overproduction of organisms is directly related to food supply in that food is necessary to reproduce. The best competitors survive to reproduce, thus being the most fit owing to the saying survival of the fittest. This activity builds on prior knowledge of how different birds are suited to specific habitats. Students enjoy the hands on activity and the ability to discuss what they actually saw and participated in rather than just reading about it. Students are better able to discuss why only certain birds survived under specific conditions and how this ties into the previous discussion about specific adaptations of birds feet and beaks. Students are often encouraged to think about how the beak could be modified to better suit the habitat or to be

able to get food at every level, or how the bird itself would have to adapt behaviorally in order to out compete other birds.