http://www.teachengineering.org/view_activity.php?url=collection/wpi_/activities/wpi_birdhouse/wpi_birdhouse_act_joy.xmlactivitytext/xmlK-12 Outreach Office, birdbirdhousebuildingdesignnaturenatural systemsprototypetoolmaterial

Students construct bird nests and birdhouses. They research birds of their choosing and then design houses that meet the birds’ specific needs. It works well to conduct this activity in conjunction with a grades 9-12 woodshop class by partnering the older students with the younger students (but it is not required to do this in order to conduct the activity).

Building birdhouses can be an involved activity that includes many steps of the engineering process, such as designing a prototype, and deciding what materials and tools to use. While learning these steps, students become familiar with ways that engineering expertise and approaches can be applied to natural systems. To describe properties of materials used and why they are good for building a house.The use of materials, wood and nails or glue, and a tool, the hammer.The relationship between materials and tools.Birds need shelter for protection from weather and predators, and to safely hatch eggs.Different birds require different sized houses. 380TeachEngineering.orghttp://www.teachengineering.org/collection/wpi_/activities/wpi_birdhouse/birdhouse_proto.jpghttp://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/oriole/BuildNest.htmlhttp://birding.about.com/od/birdhouses/bb/beforebuild.htmhttp://www.dvrconline.org/builder.htmlhttp://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse2/nestboxcam/S101F91AMassachusettsScience1.1 Identify materials used to accomplish a design task based on a specific property, i.e., weight, strength, hardness, and flexibility.35S100D107MassachusettsScience1.2 Identify and explain the appropriate materials and tools (e.g., hammer, screwdriver, pliers, tape measure, screws, nails, and other mechanical fasteners) to construct a given prototype safely.35S10047AAMassachusettsScience2.1 Identify a problem that reflects the need for shelter, storage, or convenience.35S100EBE2MassachusettsScience2.3 Identify relevant design features (e.g., size, shape, weight) for building a prototype of a solution to a given problem.35S101ACBBMassachusettsScience2.4 Compare natural systems with mechanical systems that are designed to serve similar purposes, e.g., a bird's wings as compared to an airplane's wings. 35United StatesCopyright 2012 - K-12 Outreach Office, Worcester Polytechnic Institutehttp://www.teachengineering.org/policy_ipp.phphttp://www.teachengineering.org/2011-12-254Teacher