SW26_Year 5 to Year 6

🦠 Biosecurity

Bird Passport: Can You Complete the Migration? 🛂🌏🐦 

Students become a flock of migratory birds travelling the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. At each “stop”, they draw an event card such as: wetland dries up, new habitat created, food becomes scarce, human disturbance increases, plenty of food, storm, disease outbreak, new predator.

Can they complete their migration?

1. Form flocks: Place students in small groups and give each group a migratory bird species that travels the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (e.g. Brown Skua, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Bar-tailed Godwit)
2. Choose a bird: Give each student or group a Bird Passport showing their migratory bird species.
3. Set up the journey: Place migration stop signs around the classroom with a pile of Event Cards face-down at each stop.
4. Start the journey: Give each group a passport to fill in. Students start at their country of origin and travel to each stop on their way to their destination.
5. Draw an event: When students arrive at a stop, they draw one Event Card at random and read it aloud.
6. Think like a scientist: Students discuss the question on the card and record their response in their passport.
7. Keep migrating: Once they’ve completed the challenge, students travel to their next stop and draw another card.
8. Reach the destination: When they complete their migration, compare journeys. Which challenges affected the birds? Which habitats or conditions helped them? What could people do to make migration safer?

NOTE: Bird Passport and Migration Event Cards are available to download in the Course Materials tab on the course page.