Students participate in a series of engaging outdoor activities to learn the different methods by which animals move and how to identify local animals and wildlife from the tracks they leave behind.
In the first activity, the students learn the different shapes of tracks and the animals that make them. Working in groups they use this knowledge to identify, from pictures of tracks, the animals that made them.
In the next activity, the students learn about how the gaits of different animals affects the track pattern they leave behind. They then imitate/practice using these gaits before testing their effectiveness in a number of races.
In the third activity, the students become "track detectives" by taking a walk after a snowfall to practice the authentic skills of track location, identification and documentation.
In the final activity students write stories about the animals that left the tracks they found.
This is a well designed, outdoor learning experience that teaches real skills to enhance student learning about animals and their habitats. It is intended to be completed in the winter months once snow is present and is suitable for the upper elementary Science classroom.
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