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Presenter: Keanna Leonard - Education Director |
Email Address: |
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Presentation Date: February 18, 2005 |
Web site URL: http://www.rowesanctuary.org/ |
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Rowe Sancutary: Lillian Annette Rowe Sanctuary, commonly known as Rowe Sanctuary, is dedicated to the conservation of sandhill cranes, whooping cranes and other migratory birds, and their habitat along the Platte River in south-central Nebraska. Owned and managed by the National Audubon Society, the original purchase of 782 acres in 1974, which was funded by Lillian Annette Rowe of Trenton, NJ, included 2.5 miles of river channel, wet meadows, and some agricultural fields. Additional land acquisitions have increased the current size of the sanctuary to 1,248 acres. Along with preserving habitat for wildlife, nature-based education is a major focus as well. With the addition of the newly constructed Iain Nicolson Audubon Center, year-round, nature-based education opportunities exist for local schools and the general public. Meet Your Presenter: |
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Lesson Description: From wildlife artists and naturalists throughout history, such as John James Audubon in the 1800's to modern wildlife artists and photographers like Michael Forsberg, the quest for scientific understanding and the artistic beauty of nature have walked hand-in-hand in a symbiotic relationship. The "Whoop it Up" project takes this symbiosis one step further by combining art and science with interactive, distance learning. It provides students, who have not witnessed cranes in the field or as art, opportunities to begin to build a scientific understanding of this ancient species and an appreciation of their artistic magic. Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary is excited to be a part of this endeavor. We will help provide the science component of this project by examining crane behavior both through distance learning and field experience. |
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Lesson Objectives Rowe Sancturary will look to provide students
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Nebraska sits in the middle of the central flyway migration route for millions of ducks and geese, approximately 600000 sandhill cranes and countless shorebirds and songbirds. The pre-lesson information focuses on the part of this annual migration phenomenon dubbed "one of the greatest wildlife spectacles" &endash; the largest gathering of cranes in the world. Students need to have a basic understanding of sandhill crane biology and migration before attending teleconference lesson. Click here to download the two documents that will be used as part of the pre-lesson student activities (Note that these documents are in both Word or Appleworks format)
Objectives: By completing pre-lesson, students will:
Books:
Website Support Information:
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The focus of this lesson is to develop a greater appreciation of sandhill cranes by way of examining their social behavior. The lesson will begin with a quick review of crane biology and migration, then turn to a discussion of crane behavior. By observing body posture, vocalizations, and other indicators, students will learn to read their behavioral language. Ethologists, scientists who study animal behavior, normally do not assign animals human emotions. But to make a more memorable and enjoyable lesson, we will look at crane behavioral language and compare it with our own communication behaviors. Objectives: By completing this lesson, students will:
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The focus of the field experience will be to re-enforce Lesson Objectives. Students will observe cranes in the field using binoculars and spotting scopes and will journal observations. Assignment before coming:
Other lessons can be arranged as part of this project. |
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Science: 8.1.1, 8.2.1, 8.4.3, 8.4.4, 8.4.5, 12.1.1, 12.1.4, 12.2.1, 12.4.6, 12.7.4 Reading/Writing: 8.2.1, 8.2.4, 8.2.5, 8.3.1, 8.4.1, 12.1.2, 12.2.4, 12.2.5,12.4.1 Social Studies: 12.2.9, 12.2.15 |