Hart Lab

The Hart Lab at UH Hilo focuses on the ecology and conservation of native Hawaiian forests and birds.  The lab and its members, including Principal Investigator Patrick Hart, share much of their work with the public, through media like Hawai‘i Public Radio’s Manu Minute.  Are you interested in incorporating native birds into your classroom teaching and learning?  Here are some possible connections!

How do Hawai‘i’s birds use their internal and external structures to share information and survive (4-LS1-1; 4-LS1-2)?  See pictures of birds, learn about their relationships to their environments, and listen to their calls on “Meet the Birds” and Manu Minute.  Use this information to construct arguments and understand how birds use their physical features and senses to survive.

How might bird calls help birds to survive and reproduce (MS-LS1-4)?  Listen to a variety of bird calls on “Meet the Birds” and Manu Minute.  Incorporate this evidence into arguments for how animal behaviors help them to survive and reproduce.

Why do birds in Hawai‘i have different types of beaks (MS-LS4-4; MS-LS4-6)?  Listen to this episode of the podcast Ka Leo o ka Uluau, Nuku Superpower, with Patrick Hart and Lisa Kapono Mason.  Construct explanations of how Hawai‘i’s bird populations have survived, reproduced, and adapted over time.

Related lesson resources  If standards are not noted, the lesson may not be fully aligned to NGSS and may need to be adapted.

Listening to Bird Songs GRC Lesson (4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2)

Engineer a Bird Beak:  Our Endemic Hawaiian Birds STEM Pre-Academy EDP Lesson (Grades 6–8)

Hawaii’s Endemic Birds: Keauhou Bird Conservation Center (KBCC) Discovery Forest Bundle(Grades 6–8)