AZADV Conference Nashville 2015 Are You Smarter than a 5 Grader?

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1 AZADV Conference Nashville 2015 Are You Smarter than a 5 Grader? th The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Garden is located in a metropolitan area and for many students the zoo is their backyard. Over 134,000 students visited our zoo last year. Many participated in docent led tours, primarily first through fifth graders. Lately when teachers are booking their docent lead tours, they have started to request that we speak about specific school science standards such as habitats, biomes, or adaptations. Due to the increase of these requests, our docents asked for age appropriate vocabulary and concepts to enhance the experience of their school tours. A docent committee developed posters according to the California state science standards to help direct conversations with students about animals, plants and conservation. These posters can be adapted to conform to your own state science standards. Most states have a series of standards that children learn at each grade level. How are these posters used? Each morning the Chairman of the Day verifies the grade level of the student tours. A poster for each grade level is displayed during the docent briefing. Docents identify one or two vocabulary words or a concept that they would include in their tour. It is important to remember that if a tour is scheduled early in the school year, the previous grade level should be displayed as well. (Some teachers use the zoo tour as a visual introduction to new class curriculum and some use it to reinforce curriculum already covered. Students animal knowledge can vary.) The science standards for each grade level build upon the previous poster s content but can also stand alone. This allows our zoo student volunteers to use the interactive game presented at the 2015 Nashville AZADV conference. Docents also expressed an interest in outdoor classroom management techniques to keep students engaged in learning. The following paragraphs describe the techniques that were suggested for managing student behavior. They encourage active participation and promote engagement while discussing the concepts or vocabulary words listed on the posters. (These techniques will be modeled during the paper s presentation at AZADV.) Attention getter or call and response techniques: Page 1 of 14

2 Example: When moving to a new exhibit say Jaguar, jaguar. The students respond by saying follow me. This gets the students attention first and then expects a behavioral response. Use any comfortable cue that requires a student response. Example: When using a visual aid say One, two, three eyes on me this is used to direct a student s attention to the docent. Example: To quiet a group down say Gorilla, Gorilla and the students respond with Shshsh this way they know you have something important you want them to hear. You may want to follow up by saying if you can hear me touch your head, clap your hands, or thumbs up. Check for understanding technique: TURN and TALK: After discussing a concept such as predator or prey, initiate this technique by saying Turn and Talk tell your partner something you just learned. Example: A student turns to a classmate and describes a predator or prey behavior. Close procedure technique: repeat a question and leave out a word. Example: If an animal is endangered it means the students answer there are not many left in the wild. Choral response technique: Example: Ectothermic means cold blooded. What does ectothermic mean? All together the students say cold blooded. Provide think time technique: To get all the students to participate in answering a question, before they answer have them put their hand on their head and tell them to think about the answer. You put your hand up and say hold it, hold it and when you lower your hand and say now. The students then answer out loud. (This is especially good if one student is dominating answers). Example: Ask what do all reptiles have on their skin? When you lower your hand and say now, the students answer scales. Page 2 of 14

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4 The kindergarten poster lists reptile, scales, eggs, land and/or water. It also list the additional vocabulary words habitat and predator. When visiting the Komodo Monitor a docent could choose to talk about one or two of the following points. It is a reptile that lives on a few islands of Indonesia. It is the largest living lizard. It has skin with scales that shed in pieces. It lays eggs over several days. A juvenile s habitat is in trees for about 8 months. It is a predator that mostly preys on large mammals. It lives on land but is a good swimmer in water. Page 4 of 14

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6 The first grade poster states animals in each habitat need adaptations to get food, water and shelter. Concepts include herbivores as prey, omnivores as predator and prey and carnivores as predator and prey. Additional vocabulary includes mammal and tooth shape. When visiting the African Lion exhibit, a docent could choose to talk about some of the following points. It is a mammal that is the largest of the African carnivores. It is a predator that eats meat. It uses its sense of sight, hearing and smell to hunt prey. Long, sharp canine teeth are used for stabbing food. Carnassial teeth are used for shearing meat. It lives in prides to protect (shelter) each other. Page 6 of 14

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8 The second grade poster states plants and animals have predictable life cycles and environment, light, habitat and stress affect the growth and development of plants and animals. Concepts include some amphibians and insects go through metamorphosis. Additional vocabulary includes endangered, extinct, and survival. When visiting the Axolotyl, a docent could choose to talk about some of the following points. It is a salamander, which is a type of amphibian. Its habitat is in two lakes near Mexico City. It never completes metamorphosis, it keeps its gills and fins as an adult and lives in water permanently. It stays in its larval stage for its entire life. It never develops lungs or eyelids. If damage occurs to limbs, tails, gills or part of the head, it will regrow in 2-3 months which helps with survival. Pollution in the lakes is causing the population to be critically endangered. It is almost extinct in the wild. Page 8 of 14

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10 The third grade poster states change in physical structure or behavior may improve chance of survival and adaptation is a modification that makes an animal or plant more fit to survive. Additional vocabulary includes adaptations, behavior and environment. When visiting the Gray Seal exhibit, a docent could choose to talk about some of the following points: It is highly adapted for aquatic life. It has physical adaptations to survive in its environment of cold ocean waters: Its large size and layer of fat play an important part in their temperature control and survival. The physical structure of blubber serves as insulation, padding and as an aid in buoyancy. Its chest is able to withstand the pressure of deep diving behavior. Structural changes in circulation and oxygen use help to increase the length of time spent underwater. It is an important part of the food chain, it is a predator of fish and is prey for sharks and killer whales. Page 10 of 14

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12 The fourth grade poster states All living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. Additional vocabulary includes consumer, food chain, producer and energy transfer. When visiting the Brazilian Agouti, a docent could include some of the following points. It is a consumer of food and is an important part of the food chain. It is an herbivore, eating fallen fruits, nuts and succulent plants. The Brazil nut tree depends on the agouti for survival. It is one of the few animals capable of breaking open the hard pods of the Brazil nut. It will bury excess nuts over a wide area to eat later. Thus, the seeds are dispersed and those not retrieved by the agouti will sprout and grow into new trees which contribute in energy transfer. Page 12 of 14

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14 The fifth grade poster states plants and animals have structures for respiration, digestion, waste disposal, and transport of materials. Additional vocabulary includes ruminant and vascular. When visiting the Masai Giraffe exhibit, a docent could include some of the following points. It is a ruminant with a four chambered stomach. It swallows food, regurgitates, re-chews and re-swallows the food allowing it to transport its food when necessary. Low crowned, wrinkled molar teeth and prehensile lip assist in eating leaves, twigs, bark, and flowers. Its vascular system is highly adapted to cope with the high blood pressure needed to pump blood from the heart to the brain. The neck arteries have thick, elastic walls and veins that have valves to counteract the effects of gravity. The L.A zoo docents make the following recommendation: Now that you have seen how the process of relating animal facts to the school science standards works, DON T PANIC. You do not have to use all the facts provided or all the concepts on the posters. Just pick one science standard and get used to using it at your favorite animal exhibit. Try to start using one outdoor behavior management technique that fits your personality. Become comfortable with it. When you are ready, step outside your comfort zone and try another. Were you surprised by the level of learning at the various grade levels? With a little effort, the students you tour will walk away with knowledge that will enhance their school curriculum. You truly are smarter than a 5th grader! You can request an editable soft copy of the posters and/or animal facts by ing Sgilbert444@hotmail.com. Page 14 of 14