Sound Off (PEEC)

Summary:

The participants will sit quietly in a natural setting and listen.

Grade Level:

K - 6

Recommended Setting:

Outdoor classroom

Outdoor Activity:

No

Location:

Ponca Elk Education Center, Ponca, AR

Contact:

Education Program Coordinator, 870-861-2432

Duration:

30 - 40 minutes

Suggested Number of Participants:

Up to 25

Special Conditions:

Seasonal, weather permitting

Objectives:

  • Understand the significance of a good sense of hearing in humans and animals.
  • Identify sounds of nature.

Key Terms*:

Listening map

Predator

*See glossary for definations

Materials:

Enlarged map of Ponca Elk Center showing the lesson area

Paper

Pencils

Background:

A sense of hearing alerts the elk and other wildlife to danger and possible prey.

Procedure:

  1. Give each participant a piece of paper and a pencil.
  2. Tell them they will identify things they hear in the woods and make a sound map.
  3. To begin the map, have them place a mark in the center of the paper, indicating their location.
  4. From there, they will draw or write the sounds they hear in relation to where they are sitting.
  5. Encourage them to close their eyes to be attuned to the sounds.
  6. Ask them to sit under a tree to create their listening map.
  7. Give them about 10 minutes to listen. Afterward, bring them back to share what they heard and the pictures and words they drew on their map to indicate those sounds.
  8. End the activity by discussing how animals use hearing to survive.
  9. Have each participant indicate where he/she heard something on the Ponca Elk Education Center map. Let them indicate what they heard and where they heard it.

Review:

  • Using the information from the map, what types of animals live in the area?
  • How would hearing affect an animal’s ability to survive in the wild?

Glossary:

Listening map – map on which a listener will mark the sounds heard in relation to where he is sitting

 

Predator – an animal that hunts and kills other animals usually for food