(Click here for a printer-friendly version of this lesson.)

GRADE LEVEL: 9-12

TIME ALLOTMENT: Three 45-minute class periods

OVERVIEW: The traditional view of animal behavior is that it is driven by inherited, innate instincts, but recent scientific research is revealing a larger role for complex cognitive processes among many species. The lesson will explore some of the more commonly accepted indicators of animal intelligence as demonstrated by the most brainy of all birds-the raven.

Students will first explore a series of science Web sites to compile a list of certain animal behaviors and abilities that indicate higher intelligence. They will then find and analyze examples of these behaviors and abilities as demonstrated by ravens in selected clips from the NATURE episode “Ravens.” Based on what they learn, students will then work in groups to create a theoretical intelligence-challenging “obstacle course” for ravens.

This lesson could be used following (or in conjunction with) the lesson “Symbiotic Strategies.”

SUBJECT MATTER: Living Environment/Biology

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Students will be able to:

• Compare “classical” and “modern” views of bird brain anatomy and function, and compare bird brains to human brains;
• Describe various raven behaviors and abilities that indicate intelligence;
• Explain why many of these behaviors indicate cognitive intelligence rather than simple inherited instinct;
• Assemble a realistic sequence of intelligence-testing challenges for ravens.

STANDARDS AND CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT:

National Science Education Standards

CONTENT STANDARD C: As a result of their activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop understanding of:

THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF ORGANISMS

• Organisms both cooperate and compete in ecosystems. The interrelationships and interdependencies of these organisms may generate ecosystems that are stable for hundreds or thousands of years.
• Living organisms have the capacity to produce populations of infinite size, but environments and resources are finite. This fundamental tension has profound effects on the interactions between organisms.

THE BEHAVIOR OF ORGANISMS

• Organisms have behavioral responses to internal changes and to external stimuli. Responses to external stimuli can result from interactions with the organism’s own species and others, as well as environmental changes; these responses either can be innate or learned. The broad patterns of behavior exhibited by animals have evolved to ensure reproductive success. Animals often live in unpredictable environments, and so their behavior must be flexible enough to deal with uncertainty and change. Plants also respond to stimuli.
• Like other aspects of an organism’s biology, behaviors have evolved through natural selection. Behaviors often have an adaptive logic when viewed in terms of evolutionary principles.
• Behavioral biology has implications for humans, as it provides links to psychology, sociology, and anthropology.

CONTENT STANDARD G: As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop understanding of

NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

• Scientific explanations must meet certain criteria. First and foremost, they must be consistent with experimental and observational evidence about nature, and must make accurate predictions, when appropriate, about systems being studied. They should also be logical, respect the rules of evidence, be open to criticism, report methods and procedures, and make knowledge public. Explanations on how the natural world changes based on myths, personal beliefs, religious values, mystical inspiration, superstition, or authority may be personally useful and socially relevant, but they are not scientific.
• Because all scientific ideas depend on experimental and observational confirmation, all scientific knowledge is, in principle, subject to change as new evidence becomes available. The core ideas of science such as the conservation of energy or the laws of motion have been subjected to a wide variety of confirmations and are therefore unlikely to change in the areas in which they have been tested. In areas where data or understanding are incomplete, such as the details of human evolution or questions surrounding global warming, new data may well lead to changes in current ideas or resolve current conflicts. In situations where information is still fragmentary, it is normal for scientific ideas to be incomplete, but this is also where the opportunity for making advances may be greatest.

NEW YORK STATE CORE CURRICULUM ALIGNMENTS

Living Environment Core Curriculum

Standard 1: Students will use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, as appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers, and develop solutions.

Key Idea 1: The central purpose of scientific inquiry is to develop explanations of natural phenomena in a continuing and creative process.

Performance Indicator 1.1: Hone ideas through reasoning, library research, and discussion with others, including experts.

1.2a Inquiry involves asking questions and locating, interpreting, and processing information from a variety of sources.

Standard 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.

Key Idea 1: Living things are both similar to and different from each other and from nonliving things.

Performance Indicator 1.1 Explain how diversity of populations within ecosystems relates to the stability of ecosystems.

1.1a Populations can be categorized by the function they serve. Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers carrying out either autotropic or heterotropic nutrition.

1.1b An ecosystem is shaped by the nonliving environment as well as its interacting species. The world contains a wide diversity of physical conditions, which creates a variety of environments.

1.1c In all environments, organisms compete for vital resources. The linked and changing interactions of populations and the environment compose the total ecosystem.

Key Idea 6: Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment.

Performance Indicator 6.1 Explain factors that limit growth of individuals and populations.

6.1g Relationships between organisms may be negative, neutral, or positive. Some organisms may interact with one another in several ways. They may be in a producer/consumer, predator/prey, or parasite/host relationship; or one organism may cause disease in, scavenge, or decompose another.

MEDIA COMPONENTS:

Video

NATURE: Ravens, selected segments:

Clip 1: “Raven Adaptability”

Ravens are the most intelligent birds in the crow family.

Clip 2: “Feeding Time”

Ravens’ smarts can be observed in many situations.

Clip 3: “The Roost”

Why do ravens gather together?

Clip 4: “Testing Intelligence”

Scientific experiments test how ravens think.

Access the streaming and downloadable video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.

Web Sites

Bird Brain
A site from PBS’s NOVA exploring the most current understanding of bird brain physiology, revealing a less instinctive and more cognitive brain structure than has traditionally been thought.

Measuring Intelligence
A site from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park addressing some of the basic difficulties in determining bird intelligence.

The Animal Mind
A NATURE site from PBS describing the intelligent behavior of four different species.

Symbiosis
A site from North Carolina State University featuring descriptions of the different types of symbiotic relationships among animals.

Nutcrackers
A PBS site exploring intelligent behavior in various bird species.

MATERIALS

For each student:

• “Raven Reason” Student Organizer. (PDF) (RTF)
• Computer with Internet access

For the class:

• “Raven Reason” Student Organizer Answer Key (PDF) (RTF)
• Computer with Internet access and projection system for showing video clips
• Blackboard or whiteboard

PREP FOR TEACHERS:

Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video clips and Web sites used in the lesson.

Download the video clips used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.

Bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tools such as del.icio.us or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal) will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.

Gather the necessary materials listed above in advance of teaching the lesson. Download and print the “Raven Reason” student organizer and make copies for each student in your classroom.

Note that the computer requirements in the “Materials” section reflect an ideal arrangement. You may find it necessary to divide the class into a number of groups equal to the computers available, adjusting the lesson instructions accordingly.

Next: Proceed to Activities

Background:
The traditional view of birds was that they simply acted by a set of inherited instincts, but new scientific research is revealing a larger role for complex cognitive processes in their behavior, including communication, counting, memory, and basic problem solving. These excerpts from the NATURE episode “Ravens” demonstrate several of these commonly accepted indicators of animal intelligence as demonstrated by the most brainy of all birds-the raven.

Suggested Focus Questions:

Clip 1: Raven Adaptability

1. What makes ravens so adaptable?
2. Ravens eat meat but they don’t kill it themselves. What kind of animal does this make them?
3. How might ravens’ relationship with coyotes indicate their intelligence?

Clip 2: Feeding Time

1. What skill does the raven demonstrate at the dumpster?
2. When and why might a raven puff out its feathers?
3. How might ravens’ caching behavior indicate intelligence?

Clip 3: The Roost

1. What’s one theory about why young ravens roost together?
2. How might one raven be able to tell if another knows where food is?
3. Why would a young raven, having found food, call over other ravens to help eat it?

Clip 4: Testing Intelligence

1. Why is it so difficult to measure intelligence in animals?
2. Why is it important that the ravens have never been exposed to the experiment before?

Downloadable QuickTime versions of the video segments:
(Note: To download a video, right=click on the video title and click “Save Link As…’ or “Save Target As…”. On a Mac, press the CTRL key and simultaneously click the mouse, then save the link.)

Clip 1: “Raven Adaptability“

Clip 2: “Feeding Time“

Clip 3: “The Roost“

Clip 4: “Testing Intelligence“

Activity One

The purpose of this activity is for students to activate their background knowledge of ravens.

1. Involve students in a class discussion about ravens. Elicit personal perceptions and encounters with ravens.

2. Read and discuss how the raven is portrayed in the following quotation from BEOWULF:

“… but the black raven, eager for the doomed ones, as he shall say much to the eagle of what success he had at feeding, when he, with the wolf, plundered the corpses.”

3. Generate a list of words that could be used to describe the raven in the BEOWULF quotation.

4. Read and discuss how the raven is portrayed in “The Man and the Ravens” myth from this site (access the site, then select “Stories” from the menu on the left, then “Raven Stories” from the menu that appears): http://www.indigenouspeople.net/ipl_final.html

5. Generate a list of words that could be used to describe the raven in “The Man and the Ravens” myth.

6. Compare and contrast how the raven is portrayed in the BEOWULF quotation and the myth.

7. Find examples from the RAVENS program that illustrate the dichotomy in which ravens are perceived.

STEPS

Activity One

The purpose of this activity is for students to build on their basic knowledge of ravens by collecting facts, artwork, photos, and anecdotes about ravens.

1. Break students into small groups and send them on a scavenger hunt to find information on ravens.

2. Information should be collected for these categories:

• Create a raven attribute chart including the following:  
  • Where ravens live  
  • What ravens eat 
  • Physical characteristics 
  • Particular characteristics useful for a raven’s survival
• Works of art containing ravens
• Photos of ravens
• Raven anecdotes

3. Encourage students to use a variety of resources. These sources might include the RAVENS program, books, magazines, personal stories, and Internet sources. The following sites are a good place to begin Internet research:

• Pennsylvania Game Commission Web site:
  http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=458&q;=150475
• ADF&G Wildlife Notebook Web site:
  http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/adfg/notebook/bird/raven.php

4.  Provide time for students to select information from each category and share it with the class.

Activity Two

The purpose of this activity is for students to use the knowledge acquired in Activity One to convince a person to change his negative opinion of ravens.

1. Read the following quotes and discuss how ravens were portrayed by William Shakespeare:

• In Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth,” the raven “croaks the evil entrance.”
• In the play “Othello,” Shakespeare writes that the raven flies “o’er the infected house.”

2. Tell the students that William Shakespeare is going to visit their class, and they will be presented with an opportunity to convince William Shakespeare to change the way he portrays the raven in his writings.

3. Working in the same small groups from Activity One, ask students to complete the following activities:

A. Choose one of these activities:

• Write a poem about the raven and copy it onto a piece of poster board
• Create a work of art featuring the raven (example poster, mural, sculpture, etc.)

B. Choose one of these activities:

• Write a short story about a raven’s antics from the raven’s point of view
• Write a skit about a raven

C. All groups must complete this activity

• Write an impassioned plea to Shakespeare that explains why he has been wrong in his portrayal of the raven

William Shakespeare Day

4. Invite an adult to visit the class to pretend to be Shakespeare. (Teacher’s Note: If you can’t find a willing adult, you may choose to be Shakespeare.)

5. Ask each group to display its artwork or poetry around the classroom.

6. Provide time for each group to present its activity and to read its plea.

7. After all of the groups have presented, ask Shakespeare to respond to their plea.

8. As a homework assignment, ask students to rewrite the two Shakespeare lines in a way that is more flattering to the raven.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

Continue to expand your knowledge of ravens. Visit “The Raven Archive” site and select a book to read. (Your school or local librarian may be able to help you locate the book.)

This site contains a comprehensive bibliography of biological and mythological books on the raven:

http://www.rinzai.com/raven/bibliography.html

From images of death or ill omen to images of placing the sun in the sky, the raven has captured the attention of civilizations throughout the centuries. In this lesson students will conduct research to learn about the fascinating ways and lore of the raven.

Grade level: Grades 4 – 6

Subject area: Language Arts

Learning objectives:

Students will be able to do the following:

• Analyze the variety of ways the raven has been perceived by different cultures. 
• Conduct research on the raven and classify the information. 
• Design art and language activities using their knowledge of ravens.

Bookmark the following sites:

Native American Lore
http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/loreindx.html

Ravens and Crows – Pennsylvania Game Commission
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=458&q;=150475

Common Raven: Alaska Department of Fish and Game
http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/bird/raven.php

The Raven Archive – bibliography
http://www.rinzai.com/raven/bibliography.html

“The Raven” – E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore
http://eapoe.org/works/poems/ravenb.htm

Standards

www.mcrel.org

Language Arts

Uses the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing

Level 2 (Grade 3-5)

1. Uses descriptive language that clarifies and enhances ideas (e.g., common figures of speech, sensory details)

2. Uses paragraph form in writing (e.g., indents the first word of a paragraph, uses topic sentences, recognizes a paragraph as a group of sentences about one main idea, uses an introductory and concluding paragraph, writes several related paragraphs)

3. Uses a variety of sentence structures in writing (e.g., expands basic sentence patterns)

Level 3 (Grade 6-8)

1. Uses descriptive language that clarifies and enhances ideas (e.g., establishes tone and mood, uses figurative language, uses sensory images and comparisons, uses a thesaurus to choose effective wording)

2. Uses paragraph form in writing (e.g., arranges sentences in sequential order, uses supporting and follow-up sentences, establishes coherence within and among paragraphs)

3. Uses a variety of sentence structures to expand and embed ideas (e.g., complex sentences; parallel structure, such as similar grammatical forms or juxtaposed items)

4. Uses explicit transitional devices

Life Sciences (Grade 3-8)

Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

Working With Others (Grade K-12)

Contributes to the overall effort of a group

NATURE’s Ravens explores how these all-black creatures acquired their dual and contradictory images — as birds of both life and death.

Long recognized as one of the most intelligent birds, the raven also has a less than savory image throughout history as a scavenger that does not discriminate between humans and animals.

Ingenious and versatile, ravens are members of the crow family, which includes jays and magpies. They are found everywhere in the northern hemisphere and adapt to very different terrain, from deserts to mountains — a feat requiring high intelligence.

They learn to find food even in the harshest conditions, such as the dead of winter in Yellowstone National Park. As scavengers, ravens know how and when to take advantage of other animals to help them cadge a meal they couldn’t otherwise reach. In Yellowstone, bison that don’t survive the harsh winter attract coyotes, whose sharp teeth and strong jaws rip open the tough, frozen hides — making the meat accessible to watchful ravens. They also have been seen following wild wolf packs to a kill; some stories even have ravens flying ahead of the wolves to lead them to prey.

To order a copy of Ravens, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Ravens was originally published December 2001.

Generally, birds don’t get credit for being smart animals. Just think of the way the expression “bird-brained” is used. But corvids, which include magpies, crows, and ravens in particular, flutter in the face of this negative stereotype. Their behavior is often so clever, cunning, fun-loving, smart, and witty that it has motivated researchers to try to explain why. In fact, some scientists consider these black-feathered scavengers’ position on the intelligence spectrum to be on par with canids such as wolves, coyotes, and dogs, and have conducted experiments to try to quantify the raven’s brainpower.

In NATURE’s Ravens we see zoologist Bernd Heinrich of the University of Vermont work with ravens to see whether they could learn to distinguish between strings bearing food and strings bearing rocks and modify their behavior based on their understanding. The ravens performed well, even when the level of difficulty was increased by crossing the strings.

Heinrich has also used anecdotal evidence to point to raven cognitive intelligence. For example, the researcher flushed a bird off a frozen chunk of suet and observed upon inspection that the raven used its beak to carve a precise groove around the fat, allowing it to carry off a large chunk at once instead of several small morsels to eat one at a time. Heinrich commented that “the raven not only had thought ahead, but also had acted on that thought and shown intelligence.”

A central question that presents itself is whether the raven’s sharp behavior indicates complex cognitive processes associated with human learning. Johannes Fritz and Kurt Kotrschal of the University of Vienna, Austria, attempted to provide an answer with an experiment similar to Heinrich’s. Ravens were asked to perform a task — opening a box to get a reward — and then teach the behavior to their fellow birds. According to Henry Gee of Nature Magazine Online, while the birds’ performance indicates a high learning level, the results are inconclusive because it’s impossible to tell how the ravens learn: is it by a complex form of “imitative learning” or by a lesser process known as “stimulus enhancement”?

Gee suggests that while ravens might learn by stimulus enhancement, which means that a learner raven might simply come to link the act of opening a box with getting a reward, it seems likely that the corvids engage in imitative learning, which Gee states is “considered to be the most demanding category of social learning, because it requires the learner to translate what it sees (sensory input) into its own actions (motor output).”

How then can one account for corvids’ seemingly complex decision-making skills? After all, birds don’t have a cerebral cortex, so at one time their actions were considered robotic in nature. But in the 1960s, neurologist Stanley Cobb found that birds have a part in the forebrain, called the hyperstraiatum, that allows them to perform synonymous functions, and that ravens have among the largest brains of any birds as well as a relatively high number of brain cells. Natural history author Candace Savage writes: “Crows, ravens, magpies, and jays are not just feathered machines, rigidly programmed by their genetics. Instead, they are beings that, within the constraints of their molecular inheritance, make complex decisions and show every sign of enjoying a rich awareness.”

Beyond explaining how and why ravens act as they do, it’s how this innate intelligence manifests itself in behavior that makes these birds fascinating to observe. As seen on NATURE, ravens achieve mastery and possess manipulative powers over other creatures in their domain, often letting others do work for them. For example, ravens will call wolves and coyotes to prospective meals so they can expose the carcass and make the meat accessible to the birds. In addition, ravens will show their true scavenger colors by waiting for other birds with specialized foraging skills to make a catch and then cunningly seize the defeated prey for themselves.

Not all raven behavior is so devilish; some is merely mischievous and even good-natured. On NATURE, we are treated to a raven frolicking in the snow as well as the domesticated pet raven named Loki soothingly and majestically flying alongside her owner’s vehicle. Seeing how affectionate and keen these birds are, it’s easy to understand why one might want to keep a pet raven. As Loki’s owner, Rose Buck, says, “Loki’s bright, clever, very intelligent, and mischievous. Sometimes, he can be an absolute pain, but I wouldn’t be without him. He’s just great.”

Though it might be tempting to run right out to your local pet store to buy a raven, they aren’t available and, more importantly, are federally protected in the United States; it’s illegal to buy or even hold a raven (unless one has a difficult-to-obtain permit). However, many people successfully raise orphaned, nestling crows under 3-4 weeks old to the point where they are able to eat independently, and then release the birds when they are approximately eight weeks old. Information on diet and care of orphaned ravens, as well as a wealth of other material, can be found on the American Society of Crows and Ravens Web site.