Unit Plan
University of California

Ucmp: The Evolution of Flight in Birds

For Students 9th - 10th
Evidence from the fossil record is used to support bird evolution from small carnivorous dinosaurs. In the student module, feathers, behavior, and skeletal structure are examined in an interactive lesson designed to impart a complete...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian National Zoo: Birds

For Students 9th - 10th
The Smithsonian National Zoological Park provides a detailed look at birds. Content includes a focus on the Zoo's bird house exhibit, as well as bird houses, flight cages, bird facts, bird information for kids, an FAQ section, a photo...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Scientific American: Flying High: Bird Man

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Investigate and demonstrate principles of flight with the Flying Tim Bird. Draw a hypothetical model of the mechanism inside the toy bird that makes the wings flap, then experiment with and videotape its flight to explain how lift works...
Lesson Plan
Crayola

Crayola: Flying Bird Fact Finds (Lesson Plan)

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this lesson plan, younger students wrap up a bird unit by making a bird mobile and then write facts on their display.
Handout
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Cornell Lab of Ornithology: How to Id Birds

For Students 9th - 10th
This thorough site describes how you can identify birds by examining their silhouette, field marks, posture, size, flight pattern, and habitat.
Interactive
Canadian Museum of Nature

Canadian Museum of Nature: How Do Birds Fly?

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Have you ever wondered about how birds are able to fly? View three 3D animations to see a bird take off, flap in flight and glide. This is an excellent resource to develop an understanding of the physical forces that make this one of the...
Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Biology: Bird Structure and Function

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] An overview of flight structures in birds.
Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Life Science: Birds

For Students 6th - 8th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] There is an amazingly wide variety of birds. Birds are vertebrates. Almost all have forelimbs modified as wings, but not all birds can fly. Learn more about birds in...
Activity
DLTK

Kidzone: All About Birds

For Students 3rd - 8th
This is comprehensive site covers the characteristics of birds and looks at various birds through pictures and words. Several puzzles are included and the degree of difficultly can be changed.
Interactive
Other

Australian Museum: Birds in Backyards: Bird Finder

For Students 9th - 10th
Need to identify a bird you saw flying through the sky while you were in Australia? This is the place to go. Choose a the size, color, then a shape and finally add any distinguishing marks. Then read about the bird you saw.
Activity
Other

Council for Environmental Education: Flying Wild: The Birding Beat [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Activity that teaches students how to identify birds. Some useful characteristics to watch for include silhouette, habitat, plumage, sounds, and behavior.
Interactive
American Association of Physics Teachers

Com Padre Digital Library: Open Source Physics: Projectile Motion With Angry Birds

For Students 9th - 10th
Analyze the path of a bird's flight as it attempts to obliterate pigs in the well-known game, Angry Birds. Comes with lab activities, a video, and a simulation. The latter requires software called Tracker, which is free to download.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Why Can't Some Birds Fly?

For Students 9th - 10th
Gillian Gibb explores what makes birds give up the power of flight.
Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Bird in Flight

For Students 9th - 10th
Students are asked to explain the characteristics of the bird in flight and how adaptations would allow the bird to fly a particular way. [0:32]
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Nova: Flying Casanovas

For Students 9th - 10th
Here's another great website that is a companion to a PBS television series. This time the show was called "Flying Casanovas" and the topic is bowerbirds. A lot about courtship and behavior in these bird groups. There's even a matching...
Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: A Proud Flight [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th
"A Proud Flight" is a one page, Greek myth about Icarus and Daedelus. The father and son were imprisoned, and in order to escape, Daedelus made wings using bird feathers covered with wax. He warned Icarus not to get too near the sun or...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Birds in Flight, What a Sight!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This lesson plan has been designed to show students the unique structure that birds possess--feathers--and how they maneuver them in flight.
Handout
Other

Pacifier Online: Bird Flight Basics

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides a simplified explanation of the physics of flight. Site provides information about lift, drag, weight, thrust, Bernoulli's Principle, and much more.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs the Life of Birds: Bills, Beaks and Food

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson plan explores how natural selection has influenced the development of features that contribute to successful feeding (bills, wings, talons, etc.), as well as identifying those characteristics that enable birds to obtain the...
Handout
Open Door Team

Open Door Web Site: Movement in the Air

For Students 9th - 10th
A site on how birds fly discusses their anatomy that allows them to fly. Also discusses the role that feathers play in flight. Also includes a section which discusses other insects that fly.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Adaptations for Aeronautical Engineering

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity first asks the students to study the patterns of bird flight and understand that four main forces affect the flight abilities of a bird. They will study the shape, feather structure, and resulting differences in the pattern...
Handout
University of California

Ucmp: Aves More on Morphology

For Students 9th - 10th
A good discussion of the major adaptations of the skeleton of birds in order to adapt to flight.

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