Discuss with students which birds they have seen in the school yard in the past, then go out into the school yard and look for birds.
• Keep a count of the bird name and the number of them in a table.
• Use your data to prepare a picture graph showing the bird numbers.
• Use your data to prepare a column graph showing the bird numbers.
• Use your data to prepare a pie chart showing the bird numbers.
• Which type of graph do you think represents the data best? Why?
• Write the bird names from your table in order from most common to least common.
Using the ALA, check the bird data in your area. (See User Guide 1 – Finding the species recorded in your area.)
Table 1: Sample bird data from an area within a 1 km radius of Theodore, ACT.
• Write a few sentences to outline the similarities and differences between the bird data you gathered and the data from the same area from the ALA. What are some possible reasons for the differences?