Original Public Television Broadcast of These NATURE Programs Was Made Possible in Part by Park Foundation

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Original public television broadcast of these NATURE programs was made possible in part by Park Foundation. Major corporate support was provided by Canon U.S.A., Inc., and Ford. Additional support was provided by the nation’s public television stations. NATURE is produced for PBS by Thirteen/WNET in New York. Canon U.S.A., Inc. One Canon Plaza Dear Educator: Lake Success, NY 11042-1113 Dear Teachers: For the fourteenth consecutive year, Canon U.S.A., Inc. is proud to sponsor NATURE and to again support the creation of another wonderful Teacher’s Guide. Park Foundation is dedicated to supporting quality television and excellence Among its many informative, exciting and entertaining programs this season, in education. Once again we are pleased to fund NATURE and the class- Flight School and Land of the Falling Lakes help to convey a very important room materials that accompany the series.Year after year NATURE provides lesson — each of us is responsible for conserving the precious natural wonders its audience with a greater appreciation of the natural world and has helped that surround us. This year’s study theme also significantly compliments teachers encourage their students to develop an interest in science. Canon’s commitment to environmental conservation and education. In the spirit of our corporate philosophy of kyosei — living and working This season’s Teacher’s Guide accompanies two programs that deal with the together for the common good — Canon takes an approach to business that is importance of conservation. In different ways, both programs show how socially responsible and economically logical. Our company’s commitment and contribution to the environment and the world community is an integral part people are attempting to ensure the survival of some of the world’s threatened of Canon’s corporate culture and an inspiration for many special corporate species. Flight School tells the story of scientists trying to reintroduce the programs at both the global and regional levels. whooping crane to the East Coast. Land of the Falling Lakes provides viewers with information on a national park in Croatia where primeval In the U.S., the Canon Envirothon and our relationship with Yellowstone National Park are just two of the initiatives we have taken to promote forests, lakes and wildlife were recently imperiled by the Balkan war. conservation and education regarding our environment.

We hope these programs help your students understand the importance of The Canon Envirothon is North America’s largest annual high school environmental competition. It is a yearlong learning process designed to encourage the environmental stewardship and the ways in which people are working to study of environmental conservation in high school and beyond. Half a million protect vulnerable species and habitats. teens participate every year.This year’s finals will be held in July in West Virginia, followed by Missouri in 2005.You can learn more at www.envirothon.org. We appreciate your efforts in inspiring your students to learn more about Eyes on Yellowstone, made possible by Canon is an educational and research nature. program that assists with important scientific research and breaks new ground in conservation, endangered species protection and the application of Trustees cutting-edge science and technology that is essential to managing park Park Foundation wildlife and ecosystems. For more information, please visit the Yellowstone Park Foundation Web site at www.ypf.org and the Windows into Wonderland Park Foundation, Inc. Web site at www.windowsintowonderland.org. P. O. B o x 550 Canon is honored to help provide you with this valuable tool for teaching Ithaca, New York 14851 America’s children the importance of conservation and about the natural wonders of our world. Join us in encouraging them to watch NATURE, and maybe soon we will see them compete in the Canon Envirothon, or even join the staff at Yellowstone. William Clay Ford, Jr. Sincerely, Chairman of the Board Ford Motor Company One American Road, P.O. Box 1899 Learn more about Canon’s conservation Dearborn, Michigan 48126-2798 USA Dear Educator: Kinya Uchida and education efforts at President & CEO www.usa.canon.com/ Because of our strong commitment to education and the environment, Canon U.S.A., Inc. environment Ford Motor Company is pleased to bring you this Teacher’s Guide for NATURE. Making the world a better place is an important part of Ford’s view of the world. This includes educating the next generation about society’s role in the global ecosystem. The NATURE series, with its focus on preserving wildlife and natural habitats, is an inspiring and exciting way for children to encounter the environment in their classrooms. We are proud to be associated with this series. This Guide provides stimulating lessons and activities for teachers and students to use as they learn more about protecting the natural world. It focuses on two new NATURE programs, Flight School and Land of the Falling Lakes. These programs examine conservation issues here and abroad. Flight School follows the triumphs and tragedies of scientists teaching whooping cranes raised in captivity to migrate. Land of the Falling Lakes chronicles the wildlife and unique geology of the beautiful Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, which has returned to normal after being threatened by the recent Yugoslav conflict. On behalf of all of us at Ford Motor Company, I salute your work and hope you find these NATURE materials a useful tool.

Sincerely, Visit our website at © Darek Karp/Animals Animals www.ford.com/en/goodWorks/ environment/default.htm for more information on Ford’s William Clay Ford, Jr. environmental programs. introduction his Teacher’s Guide focuses on two NATURE programs: T Flight School and Land of the Falling Lakes.

Flight School shows an experiment to introduce a migrating flock of whooping cranes to the East Coast, from their early days as chicks to their first long-distance journey following an ultralight aircraft to their winter nesting grounds. Land of the Falling Lakes travels to Plitvice, an extraordinary national park in Croatia that is home to a Hugh-Jones © Tom variety of wildlife.

Lessons in the guide use the programs as a starting point for teaching more about environmental stewardship — in other words, learning about the importance of taking responsibility for nature and protecting it for future broadcast dates generations. Teacher’s Pages include a list of program highlights, discussion questions, before- and after-viewing Most PBS stations are broadcasting Flight School activities, and relevant science standards. Student Activity and Land of the Falling Lakes on the dates below. pages include activities and vocabulary words. Please Broadcast times and dates vary in some areas. photocopy these pages and hand them out to your students. Please check your local TV listings to confirm when your PBS station will show the programs. web resources Flight School April 11 Land of the Falling Lakes April 18 In addition to using the Student Activity pages, please ask your students to look at the NATURE Web site (pbs.org/nature). It may be helpful to copy and distribute the other Web addresses we’ve included or have your students do Web searches on topics covered in the programs. table of contents using NATURE videos Flight School 2 in the classroom Land of the Falling Lakes 4 Resources Back Cover You may wish to use questions on the Teacher’s Page to spark discussion about Flight School and Land of the Falling Lakes. By posing these questions to students before they watch the program, you can help focus their viewing experience. You might stop the video periodically, so students can discuss the subject matter while it is fresh in their minds. If you are going to use either program in school, please pre-screen each program to find the segments you’d like to use.

videotaping rights R. Schlamberger © ORF/Science Vision,

You have the right to tape the programs and play them for instructional purposes for one year after the programs are broadcast. 1 FLIGHT SCHOOL BROADCAST DATE: April 11, 2004 VIEWING TIME: One hour (Brief video segments may also be used) ACTIVITY TIME: Two – Three class periods at a glance THEME NATIONAL SCIENCE Some conservationists will go to extraordinary lengths to help EDUCATION STANDARDS, GRADES 5-8 an endangered species. In this program, a team of devoted books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/6d.html ornithologists travels thousands of miles in order to help one of HISTORY AND NATURE OF SCIENCE: the rarest birds in North America — the elegant whooping crane. Content Standard G – Science as a human endeavor LIFE SCIENCE: Content Standard C program overview – Population and ecosystems – Diversity and adaptation of organisms lthough whooping cranes are protected by the Endangered – Reproduction and heredity A Species Act, their numbers remain small. Scientists SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL from “Operation Migration” believe that one way to help PERSPECTIVES: Content Standard F this species is to teach a group of young crane chicks a new – Populations, resources and environments migration route along the East Coast of the United States. – Natural hazards First, the scientists must teach the chicks the basics of survival, including how to eat and how to fly. Since whooping cranes and other birds are instinctively attracted to the first animal they see after they hatch, this experiment will fail if the young cranes think of the scientists as human parents. Therefore, the devoted ornithologists must dress in whooping crane costumes discussion to fool them. The scientists then use an ultralight aircraft to fly with the chicks for thousands of miles to teach them the questions migration route. If the chicks are to survive, they must make the return trip north by themselves. • Why is it important to save the whooping crane? • Why might it be important to have whooping cranes living on the objectives East Coast as well as in the western United States and Canada? STUDENTS WILL: • What are some differences between sandhill cranes and whooping • examine the milestones in a young whooping crane’s cranes? development If the scientists in this experiment did not wear whooping crane analyze the conservation efforts of ornithologists • • costumes, what might have happened?

• What kinds of special technology helped the scientists achieve before viewing their goals? ntroduce the whooping crane by showing a photograph of one. I Explain that it is the tallest bird in North America and that each year it migrates more than 1,000 miles. To help students grasp the magnitude of this journey, have them look at a map and locate Wisconsin and Florida. If they were to take a bicycle trip from one state to the other, how long would it take? How many stops would they need? What states might they travel through? Tell your students that the whooping crane, nicknamed a “whooper,” is an endangered species. Explain that because of human actions (hunting, habitat destruction, power lines), there were only 15 whooping cranes in the world in 1941. Due to

conservation efforts, however, there are more than 350 of these Adam White © BBC Worldwide, birds in the world today. (By comparison, there are approximately 1,000 pandas living in the wild.) Hand out copies of the Student Activity page to help provide a purpose for their viewing 2 STUDENT ACTIVITY White Adam Worldwide, BBC © . pbs.org/nature For more on the Web, please visit For more on the Web, , you might get Flight School These materials were made possible by Park Foundation, Canon U.S.A., Inc., and Ford. endangered.fws.gov ane costume! : endangered.fws.gov/kids/index.html : : A Thirteen NATURE: A Thirteen program up close. Who knows? You might even get to You up close. Who knows? an instinctive response in certain birds that causes them to follow and become attached (socially bonded) to the first moving object they see. animals traveling to different climates for breeding or feeding

ts — helping the whooping crane chicks to grow up helping the whooping

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e en u’ve just been asked to join the team of conservation u’ve just been asked rite and illustrate three fictional journal entries about rite and illustrate A great place to start

FWS’s Kid’s Corner Kid’s FWS’s whoop, whoop, and away! and whoop, whoop, Flight School Flight

migration vocabulary imprinting

did you know? explore some more some more explore United States whose Pick another endangered species in the conservation. numbers might be increased through careful or at the library. Investigate the species you selected online became endan- Identify some of the reasons this species taken to help it gered and some pro-active efforts being avoid extinction. some further inspiration and ideas on the Web at: the Web some further inspiration and ideas on Operation Migration — Field Journal www.operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html wear the whooping cr In addition to watching W a whooping crane. Each entry raising and training a milestone in a whooping crane’s should describe topics could be development and learning. Possible with dealing fly, breeding, imprinting, teaching to predators, etc. obstacles (power lines), coping with and survive on their own. You’ll get to observe their get own. You’ll and survive on their exp Yo sci Like humans, whooping cranes are born with blue eyes. At three months, their eyes change to a stunning blue. At about six months, their eye color changes again to bright gold. LAND OF THE FALLING LAKES BROADCAST DATE: April 18, 2004 VIEWING TIME: One hour (Brief video segments may also be used) ACTIVITY TIME: Two – Three class periods at a glance THEME NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS, GRADES 5-8 Conservationists in Croatia want to preserve the wildlife in books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/6d.html Plitvice National Park, one of the last pristine forests in Europe. In this program, viewers observe how flowing water LIFE SCIENCE: Content Standard C forms this park’s landscape, and meet some of the unique — Populations and ecosystems species that thrive there. — Diversity and adaptations of organisms SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES: Content Standard F program overview — Natural Hazards

litvice National Park is one of the oldest national parks P in Europe. Its “falling lakes” are 16 bodies of water, connected by countless waterfalls, rapids and dams. Each spring, after the ice melts, billions of gallons of water wash through the channels, removing the lime from the stone. The plentiful stretches of moss absorb the lime-rich water and form travertine terraces. This setting provides an ideal home for bears, turtles, noble crawfish, and olms. The olm is a blind salamander that swims in the dark Balkan caves.

Plitvice’s peaceful isolation was shattered in 1991 with the outbreak of the Third Balkan War. Soldiers killed countless deer and other game, either for food or for sport, endangering the park’s fragile ecology. As a result, many animals there find © ORF/Science R. Schlamberger Vision, the search for food more challenging than ever. before viewing objectives

ntroduce the program by telling students that they will be STUDENTS WILL: I taking a virtual tour of one of Europe’s national parks. Ask students to define a national park. To help them, ask if they’ve • learn about environmental stewardship heard of any national parks in the United States such as • discuss how national parks protect unique wildlife and habitats Yellowstone or Grand Canyon. Make sure that students understand that national parks are established by the government to protect their natural resources and wildlife. Introduce students to the idea of “environmental stewardship,” which can discussion be defined as responsibly managing all of our natural resources for future generations of all living things. questions Explain that the forest they are going to see in this program is Plitvice (PLIT-vit-seh) Lakes National Park, located in Croatia. • What are some examples of environmental stewardship that Have students use a map of Europe to find both Croatia and you know about? the park. Show students photos (from the Internet or from a book) of the park’s breathtaking caves, lakes and waterfalls. Why do you think the government made the Plitvice Lakes Mention that this park is sometimes called “Land of the • region a national park? Falling Lakes,” and ask students to talk about why they think this nickname was selected. Invite students to use what they know about similar settings in the United States to • Were you surprised that certain animals live in the national predict what kinds of animals might live there. Ask students to park? Why or why not? infer what challenges the animals might face during the winter.

Hand out copies of the Student Activity page to help provide • What do you predict might happen if conservationists do not a purpose for their viewing. protect Plitvice’s natural resources? 4 STUDENT ACTIVITY . pbs.org/nature the features of a place animal remains, such as shells or coral when water from the mountains is absorbed by moss, evaporates, and leaves behind a mix of miner- als and plant matter — the shape, height and depth of — a rock that is formed mostly from — a type of limestone that is formed ellowstone Park Foundation did you know? The brown bears that live in Plitvice National Park can sniff out insects and underground bear’s roots because of their mighty noses. A sense of smell is 100,000 times more powerful than a human’s! explore explore some more other library resources to Use the Internet and on one of the 56 National research and report States. Find examples of Parks in the United in the park you “environmental stewardship” words, describe how the research. In other take an active role in naturalists at the park there. preserving the habitats Some useful resources to get you started: Interactive Map of National Parks data2.itc.nps.gov/parksearch/state/usamap.cfm National Parks usparks.about.com/blparktypes-np.htm Y www.ypf.org vocabulary limestone topography travertine

For more on the Web, please visit For more on the Web, © Darek Karp/Animals Animals Karp/Animals Darek © of these ani- : A Thirteen NATURE: A Thirteen program These materials were made possible by Park Foundation, Canon U.S.A., Inc., and Ford.

population in this part of the

x creatures of Croatia of creatures Land of the Falling Lakes Falling of the Land

How does Plitvice National Park help protect the olm? Why do you think the olm is sightless? ability to How does the olm’s sense electricity help it survive? What is a similar animal that is being reintroduced in the United States, and why? Why did the lynx disappear from Croatia a century ago? How did human actions help the lyn world? Which owls are being protected in the United States, and why? How do these owls raise their young? What is this owl’s favorite meal? What is this owl’s

What human activities threaten the olm and other salamanders? olm For more information, see: www.nafcon.dircon.co.uk/euro_ proteidae.html • • • •

lynx ural owl mals. Internet links are provided for each animal. mals. Internet links For more information, see: lynx.uio.no/jon/lynx/lynxhome.htm lynx.uio.no/catfolk/lynxeu02.htm • • • • For more information, see: www.owls.org/Species/strix/ural_owl.htm www.hawk-conservancy.org/priors/ uralowl.shtml • • As you watch the program, you’ll meet some animals that As you watch the program, in Croatia. Some Lakes National Park live in Plitvice (PLIT-vit-seh) else Others live almost nowhere be familiar. of these animals may about these three and listen for information in the world. Watch well as Use information from the program, as Croatian creatures. answer the questions about one library resources, to resources acknowledgements

FLIGHT SCHOOL This guide was produced by Thirteen/WNET New York. Books Publisher: Robert A. Miller Editor: David Reisman, Ed.D. Parker, Janice. Whooping Cranes. Austin, Tex.: Design: Trina H. Sultan Raintree/Steck Vaughn, 1997. Writer: Jordan Brown Spinelli, Eileen. Song for the Whooping Crane. Grand Rapids, Assistant Editors: Christina L. Draper, Risa Chase Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. Copy Editor: Mary E. Rodriguez Web Sites Business Manager: Bob Adleman NATURE Vice President and Director, www.pbs.org/nature Educational Resources Center: Ronald Thorpe Citizen Science Projects at Cornell Ornithology Consultant: Eleanor A. Miele, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Science www.birds.cornell.edu Education, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York Frequently Asked Questions about Whooping Cranes Land of the Falling Lakes www.pwrc.usgs.gov/whoopers/faqs.htm A Production of Science Vision for ORF in co-production withThirteen/WNET New York and Devillier Donegan Enterprises. Journey North – Whooping Crane Produced and Directed by Michael Schlamberger. www.learner.org/jnorth/spring2003/species/crane Flight School Operation Migration A co-production of Thirteen/WNET New York and the BBC. www.operationmigration.org Produced by Jo Sarsby. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center – Whooping Cranes For the NATURE Series www.pwrc.usgs.gov/cranes.htm Executive Producer: Fred Kaufman Series Producer: Bill Murphy Series Editor: Janet Hess LAND OF THE FALLING LAKES Supervising Producer: Janice Young Executive in Charge: William Grant Books Original public television broadcast of these NATURE programs was Croatia (Eyewitness Travel Guides). New York: DK Publishing, 2003. made possible in part by Park Foundation. Major corporate support National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United was provided by Canon U.S.A., Inc., and Ford. Additional support was States, Fourth Edition. Washington, D.C., National Geographic, provided by the nation’s public television stations. NATURE is 2003. produced for PBS by Thirteen/WNET in New York. Oliver, Jeanne. Lonely Planet: Croatia, Second Edition. Oakland, © 2004 by Educational Broadcasting Corporation Calif.: Lonely Planet, 2002. All Rights Reserved Web Sites NATURE and the tree design is a registered service mark of NATURE Thirteen/WNET New York. www.pbs.org/nature Croatia (CIA, The World Factbook) NATURE Schedule April–May, 2004 www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/hr.html Humpback Whales April 4 Flight School April 11 Plitvice Lakes National Park (World Heritage Site) whc.unesco.org/sites/98bis.htm Land of the Falling Lakes April 18 Trail of the Cougar April 25 National Park Service: NatureNet Tall Blondes May 2 www.nature.nps.gov The Seedy Side of Plants May 9 Yellowstone Park Foundation Pale Male May 16 www.ypf.org Extraordinary Cats May 23 Intimate Enemies May 30 CANON ENVIROTHON The Canon Envirothon (www.envirothon.org) is an exciting VIDEO ORDERING INFORMATION and fun way for North American high school students to learn To purchase copies of Flight School or Land of the Falling Lakes call about the environment. The competition began in 1979 as a 1.800.336.1917 or log on to www.shopthirteen.org. single county event in Pennsylvania. Now, more than 50 states and provinces compete. Five-member teams from a high school or youth organization participate at local, regional and state/provincial competitions. Students are tested on five subjects: soil/land use, aquatic ecology, wildlife, forestry and a current environmental issue that changes annually. Winning teams go on to compete at the international Canon 450 West 33rd Street Envirothon. Top teams at the Canon Envirothon will be New York, NY 10001 awarded Canon scholarships that can be used toward a four- www.thirteen.org year university, two-year college, or trade school. www.pbs.org