Meet+a+Migration+Scientist

Meet a Migration Scientist!
**Big Idea:** Scientists use tools to gather and interpret data and create meaningful information.

**Learning Objectives:** 1. Students will be able to identify and describe the components of a scientific investigation. 2. Students will be able to analyze a "Meet the Scientist" report to identify the purpose of the scientist's investigation, the questions asked, and methods used for collecting data. 3. Students will understand the importance of asking questions and will learn about types of resources/methods they can use to answer their questions.

**Time Needed:** Two 45 minute period plus additional time for extensions

**Materials:**
 * Paper and pencils, colored pencils, markers, or crayons (for "Draw a Scientist")
 * "Draw A Scientist" (Journal Page 3)
 * "Meet a Scientist" (Journal Page 4)
 * "Me, the Scientist" (Journal Page 5)
 * My "I wonder Questions" (Journal Page 6)
 * 'Meet the Scientist' Report (Resource Page 18)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Computer/projector to display video of Nate Senner's work

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Getting Ready:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Copy the 'Meet the Scientist' Report and the 'Kinds of Questions' article if you are giving them out to students**.**Familiarize yourself with the video and blog posts about Nate's work, and decide how you will let students view these resources. Prepare your projector or computers for displaying the video clips (optional). You will need this password to access the video: CBoundaries 2010

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Conducting the Activity** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__1. Draw a Scientist__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ask the students what they think scientists are and what they do. Give them about five minutes to draw and describe a scientist at work on Journal Page X. Ask students to share their drawings. You may want to tape them up at the front of the class grouped by similarity (for example, Do most scientists wear a white lab coat? Do most drawings contain chemicals? Instruments? How many scientists are male? Female? Are any of the scientists outdoors? How do scientists do science?), and discuss these ideas.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__2. Meet the Scientist__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Write these questions on the board, or refer to Journal Page 6. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Questions:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What questions did Nate Senner and his team ask?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Why was he interested in those questions?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What kind of information and data did they collect? What kind of tools did they use or how did they collect this information?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What has Nate learned as a result of his investigation?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Show the video "In the Field"(16 minutes, Note: password to access the video: CBoundaries 2010 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">) and "The Tools I Use" (4 minutes) about Nate Senner's work. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If that is not possible, give the students 5 minutes to read the "Meet the Scientist" summary report on Nate Senner.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then, discuss the answers to the questions. Finally, compare and contrast Nate's work with the work of the scientists they drew.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Depending on time, you may also ask the students to discuss the following questions within small groups or as a class:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What are the challenges that Nate and his team might face?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you met Nate Senner and his team, what questions would you ask them about their work?

__3.<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nature of Science: __ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Emphasize the following aspects of "the nature of science" on the board.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Scientists collect data and information. They look for evidence that will help them draw conclusions.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Scientific ideas change and grow. One observation or experiment often leads to new questions. There is always something new to learn!
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Scientists are creative in the questions they ask and the methods they use to answer them.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Scientists work together, getting ideas from each other as well as from their own experience and research.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Encourage the students to discuss these aspects by sharing examples from the scientific investigations they have read about, seen on TV, done themselves or know about because they know a scientist personally. You may also discuss how these aspects of science relate to Nate Senner's investigation (Resource page 18).

Would you like to be a scientist like Nate or the other people you mentioned? Why or why not? What might be fun about his job? What might be difficult?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Extension:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Activity #1__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Continue to keep track of "I Wonder" questions (see Journal Page 6), and consider using the Investigating Evidence resource to address them (See Journal Page 5). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ask students to go back to their small groups and assign one group scribe. Ask the students to spend three minutes brainstorming questions with the following prompt:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What questions do you have about migratory birds (or birds in general)?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Emphasize that the group should write down whatever questions come to their minds and write as many questions as possible within the allotted time. After three minutes, ask the students to pick one question they would want to answer the most. Write this question on Journal Page 5. Then, brainstorm ways to <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">answer this question for 3 minutes, recording ideas in the Journal.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ask the students: Continue this lesson by covering Investigation 1 of investigating evidence.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What different ways (resources/methods) did you come up with to answer your questions?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Why do different questions require different ways of finding out answers?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As part of class, or for homework, consider having the students read the article "Kinds of Questions" from the Investigating Evidence resource guide. Tell the students that questions can be classified into four categories based on the ways in which they are answered. Introduce the four categories:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Questions answered by **Reference Materials**: These are questions for which you "look up" answers or ask answers from experts. Often, you have to read and put together information from several reliable sources before reaching a conclusion about your question. The references you are looking at are based on the findings of scientists (or experts in any field) who did research before.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Experts themselves can be references. By talking to a scientist, you can learn about his/her research and about other good resources for finding answers to your question. This is one way to find out about very current information.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Questions answered by **Data Exploration**: You'll look at other people's data to answer these questions.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Questions answered by **Observational Study**: If you want to answer these kinds of questions, you'll need to collect data as you //observe// the natural world.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Questions answered by **Experimental Study**: If you want to answer these kinds of questions, you'll generate the data yourself by conducting an //experiment//.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have the students write down answers to these questions/activities in class or for homework:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Put some of the questions you generated in class in each of these categories (Reference Materials, Data Exploration, Descriptive Study and Experimental Study). Write extra questions for the categories that don't have any questions.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Is it important to ask different types of questions? Why or why not?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What kinds of questions do you ask most of the time?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Think back to Nate Senner's work. What types of questions did he ask? Are there types of questions that are most useful to scientists? If so, what? (S//cientists use a combination of all these types of questions to carry out their research.//)