Project Based Learning: A Trip to the Zoo*

by Lynn Noel

* This is a brief summary of a project that can be adapted for any primary grade level or classroom need.

Driving Questions:

• What is the role of a zoo?
• How do zoos educate the public?
• How do zoos advocate for the animals in it?
• What happens if an animal’s habitat is destroyed?
• Should animals be taken out of their natural habitats for our entertainment and education?

Content Standards / Skills:

• Indiana Academic Standards addressed depending on activities completed: (ELA Standards 2, 4, 5, 7; Mathematics Standards 1, 4; Science Standards 1, 2, 4)
• Depending on what is used in activities, additional NETS standards for Kindergarten to 2nd grade will be met.

Possible Product Outcome:

Work with the zookeeper in town to set up a new animal exhibit area in the zoo. The decisions about what to have and how it will look are up to you. (The plan for how to do this should be determined by the students.)

Possible approaches:

• Gathering information about zoos
• Studying different parts of the zoo and how they are run, along with what visitors might do while they are there
• Setting up plans for how all the areas will be taken care of
• Determining the format in which the final product will be presented (oral formal/informal presentation, book, slide show, video etc.) Brainstorm ideas, provide models of different formats, prepare the product

Possible Activities:

• Use graphic organizer to plan and organize information
• Access information, from internet, books, and video
• Keep a student journal for gathering information and thoughts
• Take a Field trip – real or virtual
• Talk to a local expert
• Draw pictures of zoo animals or parts of the zoo and writing descriptions using paper/pencil/crayons or computer drawing programs
• Make descriptive booklets with describing words on front, picture of animal inside
• Design a map/model of the zoo
• Write and/or perform short skits using animal and zookeeper props,
• Develop a zoo newspaper or poster
• Create a digital documentary
• Survey and graph results of zoo animal similarities and differences in regard to their needs or what students at the school would like to see happening at the zoo

Assessment:

Depending on how the class chooses to achieve the final project, a balance of assessment methods should be used. They may include assessment of:

• Targeted skills, such as in social development or literacy, through use of checklist, rating scales, picture documentation and anecdotal records.
• Knowledge of factual information through use of interviews, dictations, drawing/writing/presentations, video documentation.
• Products based on pre-determined criteria through use of rubrics and portfolio evaluation.
• Self-assessment can be done through reflection, checklist and rubrics.

Internet resource sites:

Zoos:

• San Diego Zoo
• St. Louis Zoo
• National Zoological Gardens
• Smithsonian National Zoological Park

Virtual Zoos:

• Zoo Books
• Mr. Crean’s Virtual Zoo
• Matt Wolf’s Virtual Petting Zoo

Zookeepers:

• Zookeepers Jobs
• Information about Zookeepers

Fun Sites:

• Make a New Animal
• Who Belongs at the Zoo

WebQuests:

• Create a Zoo WebQuest
• Zoo’s Clues WebQuest

Additional Resources:

Zoobooks Magazines
Multidisciplinary Units for PreK through Grade 2

by Jeri Carroll, Peggy Kelly & Tonya Witherspoon (ISTE Publications, 2003)

Lynn Noel

Lynn Noel, former special education teacher, first grade teacher, Title I coordinator and building technology coordinator, is an independent consultant. Among other roles and contractual arrangements with local school districts and the Indiana Dept. of Education, she is a facilitator for the Buddy project and a trainer for the BTLC.

This featured article appeared in Volume 3, Number 3 issue of the Write Connections quarterly newsletter. View other archived newsletters , a topical organization of all newsletters, or sign-up to receive notification when the next newsletters are ready to download.