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Keane
Elementary School
Keane Students Tackle Research Project
 Who
teaches a polar bear cub how to survive? The students in
the youngest grades at Keane Elementary School know the answer
to that question.
School library
media specialist, Suzanne Bernadt, led the students in grades
kindergarten, first and second, through a research project on
polar bears. The students learned how to be resourceful
using the tools at their fingertips to tackle a research project
and get answers to important questions.
Bernadt said
the students began the project by looking up books about bears.
Students used non-fiction books like "Bear," written by Mary
Hoffman, to determine the characteristics of many different
kinds of bears. "We narrowed our research to the kind of
bear type we were interested in learning about," said Bernadt.
"Polar bears."
 The
students were responsible for determining what resources are
available. Bernadt said they had nonfictional reference
books such as encyclopedias and specific books about polar bears
in the library. They referred to other books like "Animal
Close-Ups, The Polar Bear," by Valerie Tracqui, and "Polar
Bears," by Timothy Biel to learn about physical characteristics,
behavior, habitats, infancy and the future of the polar bear.
 Bernadt
said she directed the students to two websites, Polar Bear
International and the San Diego Zoo, from nettrekker.com,
a web-based education program. "We determined that
these websites were from reliable, accurate and trustworthy
sources," said Bernadt who added that the class discussed how to
choose valuable website information.
 Bernadt
said Polar Bear International website was useful because the
students could view actual videos that show where a polar bear
lives and how they survive. The San Diego zoo website
presented a photo slide show that depicted how far a polar bear
could swim and showed how they clean their fur by rolling in the
snow.
The students
also got the answer to their big question - "Who teaches a polar
bear how to survive?"
"Polar bear
cubs will stay with their mother for about two years," said
Bernadt. "They learn all they need to know, hunt and
survive in their frozen world." Bernadt said it was "cool"
to view the polar cam where students watched the polar bears
live in real time.
 The
students also enjoyed stories about polar bears. "We read
'Little Polar Bear' by Hans de Beer," said Bernadt. "The
main character goes on a hunting and fishing trip with his
father."
She said her
students knew right away that the book must be fiction because
they already learned that mother polar bears are the ones who
teach their cubs how to hunt and fish.
They also read
"Swim, Polar Bear, Swim," by Joan Stimson. This is the
story of a mother polar bear who is very patient while training
her cub to swim. "Students remarked that this must be a
realistic story because they had learned that mothers taught
their cubs to swim," said Bernadt.
The group read
many books including the Little Polar Bear series, "Ahoy There
Little Polar Bear," "Little Polar Bear, Take Me Home," and
"Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?"
Students in
second grade enjoyed additional lessons and books like "Polar
Bear Math: Learning About Fractions from Klondike and
Snow," by Ann Whitehead Nagda and Cindy Bickel. Bernadt
said this book provided many factual pieces of information about
polar bears and fractions by using charts and recipes for bear
milk to be prepared for two baby polar bears born in a zoo.
"By doing this
type of research, students gain the skills needed for the 21st
century," said Bernadt.
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