Introduction
Hello young Zoologists!
We are taking a trip to Africa! Africa is located in the western hemisphere and features diverse wildlife and vibrant cultures. We have been traveling a long time to reach our transit deeper into Africa. As we are in transit to our destination, watch this video together in your group & answer the three questions below. Your goal is to work together through every process of this experience, go explore zoologists!
1) Name the three locations the video named:
2) The Savannah only has two seasons. What are they?
3) Africa is the ___________ largest continent on Earth.
Task
Africa is full of wildlife & human life! As Zoologists, we will be focusing on the animals of Africa specifically the African Savannah. Animals of all different kinds live here and your team's task is to scientifically organize and identify three animals given to your team. Each team will be given three different animals. You will present this information in a google slides presentions in front of the class for the other teams to see what you discovered. Your team will divide up the work and be ready to help each other if you get stuck somewhere along the way. No zoologist left behind!
To organize your given animals you will be classifying them as mammals, reptiles, and bird. In the animal kingdom we group certain animals into classes, groups, families, and so on by certain identifying features. For example, a golden retriever is a mammal since it gives live birth, has hair, and feeds young with milk. All three characteristics are basic features of mammals. A turtle would be classified as a reptile since they give birth through egg-laying, has scales, and are cold-blooded. Cold-blooded creatures can not control their body temperatures like warm-blooded creatures can. A bird can be easily identified by having feathers, giving birth through egg-laying, have a beak or bill, and most times can fly.
Your team will need to find out what the animal's diet is and if they live in groups or alone. Zoologists study animal behavior daily and understand how each species' social order works. Let's look at our assignments and what specifically you need to find out about the animals in your group. Watch the video below and then let's get started!
Process
Group 1:
- Topi
- Leopard Tortoise
- Drongos
Group 2:
- Giraffe
- Savannah Monitor
- Ostrich
Group 3:
- Lion
- Gaboon Viper
- African Savanna Hare
Group 4:
- Elephant Shrew
- Steenbok
- African Bush Elephant
Questions to Complete for Each Animal:
- What class are they? (mammal, reptile, or bird)
- What is their diet? (carnivore, herbivore, omnivore)
- Do they live in groups or alone? If they live in a group what is the group called?
- What is their scientific name?
- Find one interesting fact about the animal.
Sources You May Use:
- Wikipedia
- Youtube
- National Geographic
- National Geographic Kids
Remember you must work as a group cooperatively to complete the project.
Evaluation
Project Rubric
| Category | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Attractiveness | Makes excellent use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the presentation. | Makes good use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the presentation. | Makes use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. but occasionally these detract from the presentation content. | Use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. but these often distract from the presentation content. |
| Requirements | All requirements are met and exceeded. | All requirements are met. | One requirement was not completely met. | More than one requirement was not completely met. |
| Workload | The workload is divided and shared equally by all team members. | The workload is divided and shared fairly by all team members, though workloads may vary from person to person. | The workload was divided, but one person in the group is viewed as not doing his/her fair share of the work. | The workload was not divided OR several people in the group are viewed as not doing their fair share of the work. |
| Mechanics | No misspellings or grammatical errors. | Three or fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors. | Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors. | More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar. |
| Questions Answered | All questions answered correctly. | Most questions answered correctly. | Some questions answered correctly. | A few questions answered correctly. |
Conclusion
OH! You all are back! Turn in your discoveries and we will share them with the whole team! I am so proud of you all! Doing resource like this is a very good skill to learn. Not only did you learn today about some amazing animals of the savannah you also learned how to find information with limited sources. Learning about other places around the world opens your mind to really how much there is to discover in our world. You could go out and discover a missing animal species or help save a species from going extinct. So much is do be discovered in our big amazing world!
Want some fun after completing all that work? Check out PBSKids.org and find the Wild Kratts section. They have facts on animals and fun animal-related games.
Credits
All rights belong to video's respected owners.
This WebQuest may be used by anyone with proper citing and recognition of the original designer.