Birds in the City Web site Target Science

Birds in the City THIS WEEK, NEARLY THREE DOZEN elementary and secondary school teachers will don binoculars, sun hats, bird guides and magnifying glasses as they scour Los Angeles in search of fine feathered friends. Their quest is part of Birds in the City, an five-part institute designed to acquaint teachers with the biology, behavior, and habitat of local birds such as swallows, pigeons, and owls and how to integrate technology into their study. The workshop is part of Project Inquiry a program made possible by a $400,000 grant from the Eisenhower Professional Development State Grant Program to introduce technology into science curriculum for economically disadvantaged students in Los Angeles. Teachers and their students will use technology to find information, acquire and analyze data, and report results in addition to doing scientific investigations in the field. Project Inquiry's goal is to help teachers develop and implement a school plan for professional development and infusing of technology into the curriculum. Implemented by the Los Angeles Educational Partnership's Target Science teacher network, UCLA Science Project and LAUSD-LA-SI, the workshop will feature field trips to the LA River, Exposition Park and the Sepulveda Basin—locations in and near Los Angeles—where participants can spot and study birds in their natural environments. Muriel Kotin, a bird expert from the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society and Dan Cooper from the Los Angeles Audubon Society will lead the Sepulveda Basin excursion, giving teachers unique insight into bird behavior. Participants will also visit the Bird Hall at the LA County Museum of Natural History. Other classroom-based activities will include a lecture on bird biology and the biology of flight by Barbara Boen of the LA Zoo and technology training, which will instruct teachers on how to find the best Internet classroom resources on the World Wide Web and even how to create their own Web pages to present the findings of their scientific field investigations. Esther Zack, Target Science academic director will give bird watchers some backyard birding tips. Target Science's Birds in the City Web site will be used as a major resource for the workshop. Target Science teacher network has more than 2,000 teachers promoting scientific thinking for all children. Teachers believe children should be able to inquire, reason, problem solve and communicate. Target Science is spearheaded by K-12 teachers whose overarching mission is to empower all children to be scientific thinkers.