How do birds fly?
Bird feathers are light.Bird feathers are flexible (flex-i-ble).
Bird feathers are strong.
Birds use their wings and feathers to fly.
When a bird flaps its wings, the feathers act like a propeller (pro-pel-ler) on an airplane (air-plane).
New Words:
flaps
propeller
airplane
flexible
Vocabulary
flap
wings
feathers
propeller
Write the correct words on the lines.
1. Birds fly using their -- and their
3. Birds -- their wings when taking off into the air. --
4. Airplanes need wings and a -- to help them fly.
Answers: wings and feathers; flap; propeller
Writing in Science
Many birds can fly, walk, run and hop. Some birds are too heavy to fly. Some birds glide in the wind. Write down all the ways that you can move.
I can:
dance
walk
run
fly
hop
skip
slide
turn
swim
flap
jump
roll
Background
Anyone who has observed a bird flying can make a general description of what wings do to help them fly. Studying aerodynamics and flight helps to put this process into perspective.
Leonardo da Vinci studied bird flight around the 1500s and concluded that it was the movement of the wing relative to the air and the resulting reaction that produced the lift necessary to fly. He designed several machines to copy the action of a bird's wing. In addition, he designed the first helicopter and parachute.
How Birds Fly
The anatomy of a bird is designed for flying similar to the aerodynamics of an airplane. In order to stay in the air, birds need to weigh very little. They have hollow bones, almost like macaroni, which are different from the bones of humans or other animals.
The most important part of a bird's body is its feathers. It is the light, flexible, strong feathers that enable birds to fly and change direction instantly. Birds are able to fly because of lift. Lift is the scientific word which keeps an object in the air by equally opposing forces between the wind and the pull of gravity. Here is how lift works: When a bird's wing moves or flaps through the air, a force is created. The top of the bird's wing is curved, which means the air must move farther over the wing than under. Because the air has farther to go, it moves faster, creating a difference in air pressure on top of the wing and below it. To keep up with the faster moving air on top of the wing, the pressure underneath is greater, which is what lifts the bird in the air.
All the feathers on a bird's body have different functions. The different groups of feathers are controlled by muscles. These muscles allow the feathers to perform different functions of flying. Propulsion comes from the bird flapping its wings. Flying is the most strenuous activity an animal can perform.
Initiating Questions (Levels Pre-A--C)
1. What do birds need in order to fly?
2. What happens when a bird flies?
3. How are birds able to stay in the air?
4. Who studies birds?
5. Why can't people fly?
Follow-up Questions (Levels Pre-A--C)
1. Name several things that influence flight.
2. Compare birds with other flying things.
3. Why are feathers important to a bird?
4. Describe how you would fly if you could.
5. If you could be any bird, which bird would you pick? Why?
Level Pre-A
Main Concept: Birds need feathers to fly.
Picture Activity
Identify the correct parts of the bird in the picture. Ask, "How do you think the bird flies?"
Ask students if they know what type of bird is in the picture. Explain that different types of birds fly in different ways. The bird is a California condor. It is a large bird like a hawk or vulture, so rather than flapping its wings frequently, it soars using air currents.
Vocabulary
Students will match the words to correct part of the bird. Students can color the picture.
Weekly Lab
This activity encourages students through the use of a hands-on project that they can do anywhere. It also demonstrates how an object can fly through the air. Because the paper airplane can fly differently based upon where the student is standing and how hard they throw it, these factors can be discussed.
Math
Answer: 2 red cardinals + 2 blue jays = 4 birds in all; Bonus Answer: Crows are black.
Students color all the birds.
Storytelling
To open up more discussion of birds, talk about the birds in the picture (blue jay, cardinal and robin), and whether students have seen these types of birds and what they are. Discuss what things the birds eat and their prey (worms, seeds, insects, berries).
Challenge
This activity reinforces the connection to what types of things have the ability to fly.
Answers: A) hot air balloon; B) helicopter; D) rocket; E) hang-glider; F) goose
Bringing It Home
Students will use the information they have learned in order to be good observers of birds and how they fly. Encourage students to use their home-made binoculars to spot things, or use real binoculars if they have them.
Level A
Main Concepts: Students learn the basics of how birds fly through comparisons to planes.
Picture Activity
(See Level Pre-A.)
Vocabulary
Discuss the concept of propulsion through a discussion of what propellers do for planes and helicopters. Ask students, "What does it mean to be flexible?" Birds need to be flexible in order to fly and change directions quickly.
Writing In Science
Students will examine all the ways in which humans move. Discuss why humans cannot fly.
Weekly Lab
This activity will reinforce the concept of propulsion and how seeds spread. Ask students how the wind affects the flight of the seeds. Also discuss why it is important that seeds travel. Help students record their data, using drawings.
Challenge
Students will have an opportunity to discuss what they know about insects as the prey of birds, Ask students, "How many legs do spiders have?" and "How many legs do lady bugs/beetles have?" Bug poetry is another way to introduce characteristics and comparisons.
Level B
Main Concept: To understand bird flight it is important to understand the anatomy of birds and what makes them capable of such a strenuous activity.
Vocabulary
Students can discuss what it takes for different things to stay in the air. How does the shape of an object affect its ability to stay in the air?
Writing In Science
Students will have an opportunity to be creative and descriptive. Acrostic poems may be read aloud and also converted into an art project on larger paper with illustrations.
Weekly Lab
Students can discuss the concept of air resistance and how different objects fall at different speeds. Students can be asked, "Why does one object fall faster than another?"
DID YOU KNOW??
To turn, a bird often clips its inside wing downward. The action has been compared to an airplane but birds can use the entire wing which is one reason why they can turn faster than a airplanes.
Math
Students will complete a chart and draw conclusions from the chart about which of the objects fell the fastest and how much faster than the others. Students will create their own chart following the sample chart shown.
Challenge
Riddles--A fun opportunity for students to reinforce their knowledge of terms.
Answers: l) D; 2) C; 3) E; 4) B; 5) A
Bringing It Home
Discuss movement through flapping and why people cannot fly. Ask how the shape of the wing affects the movement of the air around it.
Level C
Main Concepts: Students learn about the scientific concept of lift.
Vocabulary
Further reinforcement of the concept of lift.
Weekly Lab
The paper should lift up in the middle. The blowing action makes the air on the top surface of the paper move quickly. The slower-moving air on the lower surface pushes up, helping to lift the paper. When the air moves, the paper lifts up.
Math
Flocks Away
Answers: 18 Canada geese; 60 hummingbirds; 45 egrets; 63 flamingos
Writing In Science
Students will write up their LAB ACTIVITY, using correct scientific procedure.
Puzzle
Bonus Answers: Birds fly in a V-formation because there is less air resistance which creates better lift.
Bird flight is different from airplane flight because birds can flap their wings and change direction quickly. They do not need a lot of room to land, like an airplane.
Word Search Solution:
Bringing It Home
A hands-on activity that will allow for direct bird observation.
Level D
Main Concept: In understanding how birds fly, many researchers have used aerodynamic theory from studying airplanes.
Initiating Questions (Levels D--E)
1. What are all the things birds do when they migrate?
2. What are all the things that enable a bird to fly? Name some of the scientific terms.
3. What are some of the different ways in which birds fly?
Follow-up Questions (Levels D--E)
1. Describe how flight and the use of airplanes have changed the world.
2. Do people migrate? If so, describe how they do it and where they go.
3. Compare bird flight to airplane flight.
4. The bird's flexible wings allow it to change direction quickly, We can't fly, but we need to be flexible in many ways too. Explain.
Vocabulary
Students will have the opportunity to learn definitions of pertinent words by unscrambling the letters:
Answers: 1) yaw; 2) roll; 3) pitch; 4) thrust
DID YOU KNOW??
A broad-billed hummingbird can flap its wings at 70 wingbeats per second or more. Studies suggest that fast flappers such as hummingbirds are able to capture and reuse energy from one wingbeat to the next.
Challenge
The concept of migration is expanded and brought to a personal focus in terms of how the students can use the same or similar strategies to get around. The activity could be related to different eco-settings such as the woods or a rain forest.
Weekly Lab
Students should review the following MATH activity before beginning this LAB. Students will make different shaped parachutes from a template and experience different drop rates based upon their shapes. All parachutes have the same surface area, so that is not a variable in the experiment.
Math
Students will record their WEEKLY LAB data, using a method of their choice. They can use the data chart provided or create their own. After calculating averages, they will create a bar graph (or fill in the one provided).
Writing In Science
Students will have the opportunity to research endangered birds and create a visual project all about that particular bird and what people can do to help it.
Level E
Main Concepts: Students learn about the aerodynamics of bird flight and the interplay of the various factors that influence it.
Vocabulary
Answers: migrate; aerodynamic; anatomy; lift; force; air pressure; gravity
Math
Answers: 5 feet; 2 yards; 9 feet, 6 inches
Bonus: Answers will vary depending on the actual size of the kite.
Weekly Lab--Go Fly a Kite! (1)
Encourage use of the scientific method. Ask students to discuss their predictions or hypotheses, and be able to explain their final conclusions.
Writing In Science
This activity requires observation of bird behavior, and the ability to relay the information to others on paper in an accurate, descriptive, and grammatically correct manner. Students should learn to check their own spelling and punctuation.
Challenge
Students will work with a variety of shapes to assemble a space shuttle rocket. (2)
Rocket solution (right):
Bonus Answer: 8 minutes x 60 seconds per minute x 5 tons per second = 2,400 tons of propellant burned in 8 minutes.
Rocket (2)
Space Shuttle Paper Puzzle
DID YOU KNOW??
A hummingbird is a champ on flapper. It can flap 700 times in just 10 seconds while staying in one place in the air or by hovering.
Weekly Lab
Nature's Helicopters--fly farther in the wind? The seeds of a sycamore tree have wings that make them spin around like helicopters. Try to find these seeds or others that can fly or float through the air.
You need: sycamore seeds, meter stick, chair, notebook, pencil and a partner
Step 1: Collect as many sycamore or other seeds as you can find.
Step 2: Go outside on the blacktop and carefully stand on the chair, chair Drop your seeds one at a time.
Step 3: Your partner should measure from the chair to where the seeds landed. How far do the seeds fly before they reach the ground? Draw a picture showing where the seeds land.
Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3 on a windy day (or on a calm day if you start with a windy day).
Do the seeds fly farther when there is a wind blowing or when it is calm?
How do you think wind affects the flight of birds?
Challenge
Many birds get their energy to fly by eating bugs. How can the bugs escape? Circle all, the ways each creature moves.
Bug Parade Bugs Choices 1. fly flies walks skips swims 2. daddy-longlegs flies walks swims hops 3. bumblebee walks swims hops flies 4. ant skips swims flies walks 5. mosquito swims flies walks jumps 6. dragonfly flies walks dances jumps 7. worm wiggles flies glides jumps
DID YOU KNOW??
Daddy-longlegs aren't really spiders. They don't have poison glands like spiders and they don't make webs.
Math
Martha and MiMi the Mallard Ducks laid their eggs. How many eggs did Martha and Mimi lay?
1 [] Some eggs have hatched. How many eggs have not hatched?
2 [] Martha hides half of her eggs from the foxes. How many eggs does she hide?
3 [] MiMi hides half of her eggs too. How many eggs does MiMi hide?
Answers: Martha laid 8 eggs; Mimi laid 5 eggs; they laid 13 eggs altogether.
Unhatched eggs: (Martha's) 4 + (MiMi's) 2 = 6 Hidden eggs: (Martha) 4 / 2 = 2; and (MiMi) 2 / 2 = 1
Note: This activity requires students to look at the unhatched eggs to figure how many are being hidden.
Bringing it Home
With a grown up, take a walk outside. Make a list of ten objects outside and write "yes" if they can fly in the air or "no" if they cannot fly in the air. Draw a picture of what you found.
You need: a notebook and a pencil
Bringing It Home
Students can discuss what they found while on their nature walk. Have them talk about what they found, where they found it, and have them show their drawing to the class.
Weekly Resources
Helpful Sources for Planning Your Science Weekly Classroom Activities
Recommended Resources
* National Audubon Society. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. Alfred Knopf, 2001
* Stewart, Melissa. A True Book of Birds. Children's Press Division of Grolier, 2001
* Williams, John. Projects With Flight. Gareth Stevens Children's Books, 1992
Internet Resources
National Air and Space Administration
http://www.nasa.gov/
National Air and Space Museum
http://www.nasm.si.edu/
Bird Flight
http://birding.about.com/od/flight/Bird_Flight_How_They Do_It.htm
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| Publication: | Science Weekly |
|---|---|
| Geographic Code: | 1CANA |
| Date: | Oct 8, 2007 |
| Words: | 2478 |
| Previous Article: | Weekly resources. |
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