Science Lesson: Atlantic Puffins
Lesson Plan
1 hour 40 minutesGrades6, 7, 8Science
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Written by Katie Coppens
About this lesson
Students learn about the Atlantic Puffin’s recovery in Maine and design solutions to help counter the impacts of rising sea levels on their burrows on Eastern Egg Rock Island.
Inquire: Students explore the design of burrows made by Atlantic Puffins as well as human-made burrows and apply this information to their own design ideas.
Investigate: Students come up with a solution to help Atlantic Puffins as sea levels put Eastern Egg Rock and its burrows at risk.
Inspire: Students explain their solution designs and select ideas to be submitted to Project Puffin. Optionally, students can work together to fundraise at least $100 to adopt a puffin and fund the research of one Atlantic Puffin.
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Suggestions
- This lesson can be taught as part of a larger unit on climate change, greenhouse gases, or abiotic factors impacting biotic factors.
- Teachers can begin the lesson with slide 7 of the Teacher Slideshow.
- Consider teaching students that there are three types of puffins in the world, the Atlantic Puffin, the Tufted Puffin, and the Horned Puffin. A slide with images can be found at the end of the Teacher Slideshow.
- Students learn how animals like the Atlantic Puffins are dealing with the consequences of climate change and rising sea levels.
- Students are empowered to see the role they can have in helping seabirds through their design ideas and fundraising. Students can also broaden their knowledge beyond the Atlantic Puffin to learn about other organisms impacted by rising sea levels.
- When explaining the problem of rising sea levels, delicately approach the concept that the pufflings would probably die if their burrows were flooded because they live in the burrow until they can fly and be independent. Pufflings stay in the burrow for protection from predators and their parents bring them food until they can fly away and be independent in early-mid August.
Prerequisites
- Teachers can familiarize themselves with the work of Project Puffin with these videos. One video is from when the program began in the 1970s (trigger warning: you see a puffling get eaten by a seagull), and a more recent update that includes more female representation of scientists.
- While this lesson is designed around the Atlantic Puffin (see slide at the end of the Teacher Slideshow), it can be modified for other regions of the world.
Differentiation
- If students are having a hard time picturing the terrain of the island, this 5-minute video can help them visualize it and the tricky process of bringing materials out to the island.
- If students have a hard time fitting their annotations on the paper, they can put numbers next to design elements and have a separate document for their annotations.
- Students can use the sentence starter, “I included this design element because…“
- The design component of a burrow idea to deal with rising sea levels could be modified into an outdoor learning activity by getting natural items and having students try to make their own puffin burrow outside rather than doing a drawing of one.
- Natural materials could include large and small rocks, hay, and sod.
- Human-made materials could include wood and metal materials.
- Steve Kress, the director of Project Puffin, said some of the student sketches could be mailed to Project Puffin, and they may respond. Students can put together their sketches to mail to Project Puffin. Teachers should include a note with the teacher’s email.
- Project Puffin
Attn: Steve Kress
311 Main Street
Rockland, ME 04841- Students who are curious about Project Puffin can also learn about what it’s like to be an intern by watching this 5-minute video. This may benefit all students because it can also help them get a better sense of the terrain on the island.
- Students who feel successful with the design process may be inspired to learn more about ideas that involve engineering solutions for climate change. These websites could be inspiring about the connection between climate change and engineering solutions: Geoengineering.Global, Dartmouth Engineers.
From the scientist review
In addition to enhancing students' conservation abilities and enabling them to delve deeper into the effects of rising sea levels on puffins, this lesson offers strategies to prevent Puffin extinction. After a careful evaluation, the lesson has passed our science credibility review.
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About the teacher writer
Katie Coppens
Katie Coppens holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a Minor in Environmental Conservation and a Master of Arts in Teaching with a Concentration in Environmental Science from the University of New Hampshire. She has 25 years of teaching experience, specializing in biology and English for grades 1–12, with most of her career spent teaching middle school and additional experience teaching high school biology and English in Tanzania. Katie is certified in K–8, 6–12 Life Science, and 6–12 Social Studies. She is the author of the National Science Teaching Association's Science Scope "Interdisciplinary Ideas" column, has written eight science-themed children's books, received three national writing awards, and was honored with the 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).
