Ethics in bird conservation
In this activity, students consider the conservation of native birds from a number of different perspectives.
Young takahē
Takahē are an endangered, flightless bird found only in New Zealand. They were presumed extinct in the 1930s but were rediscovered by Dr Geoffrey Orbell in a remote valley in the Murchison Mountains in 1948. Despite a few examples like this, when a species becomes extinct, it is almost always gone forever.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
examine the conservation of native birds from a range of different value perspectives
use their growing science knowledge to make an informed decision on a New Zealand conservation issue
give reasons for the decline in the number of native birds
describe some of the methods used in species recovery in New Zealand.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
introduction/background notes
what you need
what to do
discussion questions
ideas for extending your students
PMI worksheets.
Activity ideas
The Ethics thinking toolkit uses common ethical frameworks to help you explore ethical decision-making and judgements with your students. You may want to use a ‘Consequentialism’ or ‘Rights and responsibilities’ approach to explore the issue of saving native birds such as the kākāpō.
This class case study provides an example of introducing ethical thinking into the classroom. It was part of a science unit focusing on an endangered New Zealand bird, the takahē, year 5 and 6 students considered the ethics of spending money and effort on conservation.
Useful links
Visit the Department of Conservation website for more information on species conservation in New Zealand.
Watch this video to find out about the extraordinary efforts made by Department of Conservation to bring the flightless kākāpō, one of the world’s rarest birds, back from the brink of extinction.
