Kingfishers

Kingfishers

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about reading graphs and creating a food chain.

Question Change answer

a) i) Draw arrows to match the kingfisher pictures to a pie graph that best shows what they mainly eat.

Question 1Change answer

ii)  Explain why you chose the particular pie graph for each Kingfisher.
Kingfisher A
Kingfisher B
Kingfisher C

Question

b)  All groups of kingfishers feed on animals only. Animals which have this kind of diet are called ...

    • carnivores

    • producers

    • omnivores

    • herbivores

Question Change answer

c)  All living things are part of a food chain and their place in the food chain is related to their diet.
Use the information from the pie graphs and your own background knowledge of kingfishers to fill in the gaps in this food chain with labels.
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or online.
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
Science, Communicating in science, Living World
Keywords: 
birds, kingfishers, diet, food chains, graph interpretation, matching
Description of task: 
Task: Match descriptions of kingfishers to their likely diet, and answer questions about food chains. Assessment focus: interpretation of text and pie graphs; conventions of food chains.
Curriculum Links: 
Science capabilities
The capabilities focus is brought about by the conversations you have and the questions you ask.
 
Capability: Interpret representations
Scientists represent their ideas in a variety of ways, including models, graphs, charts, diagrams and written texts. This resource provides opportunities to discuss:
  • scientific conventions for representing feeding relationships (a food web) and
  • interpreting pie graphs
 
 

 

 
 

 
Science capabilities: 
Interpret representations
Making Better Sense: 
Food Chains
Answers/responses: 
  Y8 (10/2005)
a) i)

Bird A, Pie 2
Bird B, Pie 3
Bird C, Pie 1

 All correct, easy
  ii) Uses all or some of the following strategies:

  • Synthesises information from both the statements about kingfishers and the graphs;
  • Uses a process of elimination;
  • Incorporates own background information to the above.
 Not graded –
see note*  below
b)   A (Carnivores)  
c)  

Fills in food chain to start with a plant (producer) and uses the information in the pie graphs and own background knowledge to complete.

Begins food chain with an animal (consumer), but order is otherwise valid. Food chain draws on the information in the pie graphs and student's background knowledge.

NOTE: Food chains should always start with a producer (plant) but, as there was no supporting information provided to the students, food chains that were valid and otherwise correct, but did not start with a producer, were accepted.

very difficult

moderate
d)   Arrows should point towards the kingfisher, showing the flow or direction in which energy is transferred. moderate
Trial number 152 students  

* NOTE:  In the trial this part of the question was given no difficulty level as any student who made an error with part i) would also get this part incorrect.

Diagnostic and formative information: 

For question a) i) - Using information in pie graphs

Common errors Examples of students' responses
Confusion between the forest kingfisher and the one found far from water. Most students got the kingfisher found near rivers, lakes and ponds correct, some using the visual of the fish in the bird's mouth to make the link to the pie graph showing the fish.
Difficulty in giving a specific explanation using the information provided in the pie graphs. I chose this pie graph because it lives around forests.
Students tending to focus on one of the animals in the pie graph and ignore the other animals e.g., students focused on the insect, justifying they are found in forests, while ignoring the fact that insects are also in the other pie graph.
  • Because insects are found in a forest.
  • Because mice are found in a forest. 
An example of a more detailed and correct answer is:
  • I chose this pie graph because you would find fish, crayfish and dragonflies near water and this kingfisher lives near water.
Lack of knowledge about the habitat of frogs, a number of students believing that frogs don't live near water. I chose this one because frogs don't live close to water.

After the table for question a)ii) is completed independently, use the students' responses to prompt an oral discussion to identify if they are able to interpret the graphs by using all the information provided, rather than choosing just one animal to focus on.

Discussion will also give an opportunity to:

  • identify student misconceptions;
  • identify lack of background knowledge;
  • assess ability to synthesise the information on the graphs.

For question b): – Vocabulary

A common problem was a lack of knowledge about the meanings of the vocabulary, i.e., carnivore, herbivore, omnivore and predator.

Common errors for question c) and d): Food chains

  • Not starting the food chain with a producer (plant);
  • Arrows pointing in the wrong direction;
  • Not using the information in the graphs to identify what kingfishers eat, for example, including other small birds in the food chain.
Next steps: 

Science has its own particular language and ways of expressing ideas. Food chains, with their arrows showing the transfer of energy to the consumer, are an example of this. If students have difficulty with the correct direction of the arrows in a food chain, discuss how the arrows show the direction of energy flow. Discussion could include providing the prompt "goes into" to help with the understanding that food chains represent the passing on/flow/transfer of energy.

Links to research

Research

Common misconceptions about ecosystems, food chains and food webs include:

  • organisms higher in the food chain eat everything below them;
  • food chains involve predators and prey and no producers;
  • food webs are interpreted as simple food chains
Go to http://ecomisconceptions.binghamton.edu for a summary of research of students' alternative ideas about ecosystems.
  • Ministry of Education (2003). Building Science Concepts Book 21, Life between the tides, Wellington: Learning Media, (for similar concepts in a different context.)
  • Ministry of Education (2003). Building Science Concepts Book 22, Tidal Communities. Wellington: Learning Media, (for similar concepts in a different context.)
  • Ministry of Education (1999). Making Better Sense of the Living World, Who Eats Whom?, Activity 14, page 115.
The following Level 4 ARB resources can be used to support and scaffold students in their understanding of food chains.