Student Data

Student data was gathered in bird observation booklets and transferred to classroom charts. Students had to discuss how to make their data relevant and reliable. They figured out how to keep from counting the same bird twice. They decided to recheck their method and have everyone point out the birds for one recorder with a quality control assistant. That way they got a more reliable count. The children decided to go out to the to gardens only once a day limited to an observation time of twenty minutes a day for exactly one week. The sample size was limited to 140 students. The number of samples of observations were five twenty minute intervals taken at the same time each day. The data was collected as one bird sighting equaling one unit on the bar graph..

The bar graph represents the number of birds observed at Canfield under the guidelines of the experiment. The last column shows the total number of birds observed in the two locations at the school. The results show that more birds were sighted in the school garden than the kindergarten garden. The students concluded that the birds have more privacy in the school garden. They noticed that when they came near the garden the birds would fly up to a high tree. From this they decided that the birds were afraid of people. The school garden is so far away from the classrooms that birds felt safe when they visited the feeders there.