A man named Ted Cheeseman made a computer program called HappyWhale that helps people know which whale they have seen. People can put pictures of whales on the HappyWhale website, and the computer will tell them which whale it is by looking at the tail. The computer knows a lot about whales and can show where the whale has been before. HappyWhale helps scientists learn how many whales there are and where they go.

There is also a special app for birds called Merlin Bird ID made by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. With this app, you can take a picture of a bird or record its song, and the app will tell you what kind of bird it is. The app asks you to share more about the bird, like where you saw it and what it looks like. This information helps scientists know about birds, where they travel, and how many there are.

Another app called iNaturalist can tell you the name of different animals and plants from your photos. The app learned from many pictures and gets smarter with each new photo. It looks for patterns to guess what plant or animal is in the picture. A person who helped make the app, Grant Van Horn, thinks these apps are good because they help people learn and care more about animals and plants.

Original news source: Name that whale! How AI aces animal spotting (BBC)

🎧 Listen:

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📖 Vocabulary:

Group or Classroom Activities

Warm-up Activities:

– Charades

Instructions: Divide the students into two teams. Write down the names of different animals and plants mentioned in the article on separate pieces of paper. One student from each team will come to the front and pick a piece of paper. Without speaking, they must act out the animal or plant for their team to guess. The team that guesses correctly gets a point. Continue until all the papers have been used or for a set time limit. The team with the most points at the end wins.

– Opinion Poll

Instructions: Ask the students to form pairs. Give each pair a list of questions related to the article (e.g., “Do you think apps like HappyWhale and Merlin Bird ID are helpful for learning about animals? Why or why not?”). Each student will take turns asking their partner the questions and recording their responses. Afterward, have a class discussion where students share their partner’s opinions and discuss their own thoughts on the topic.

– Vocabulary Pictionary

Instructions: Divide the students into small groups. Give each group a set of vocabulary words related to the article (e.g., whale, bird, app, scientist, plant). One student from each group will pick a word and draw a picture to represent it, while the other group members try to guess the word. The student who guesses correctly gets a point for their group. Continue until all the words have been used or for a set time limit. The group with the most points at the end wins.

– Speed Summarizing

Instructions: Divide the students into pairs. Give each pair a set of sentence strips with key points from the article (e.g., “Ted Cheeseman made HappyWhale to identify whales through their tails”, “Merlin Bird ID helps identify birds through pictures and recordings”, “iNaturalist can identify animals and plants through photos”). Set a timer for a short amount of time (e.g., 2 minutes) and challenge the pairs to summarize the article using the sentence strips. After the time is up, have pairs take turns sharing their summaries with the class.

– Pros and Cons

Instructions: Divide the students into small groups. Assign each group a topic related to the article (e.g., “Pros and cons of using technology to identify animals”, “Pros and cons of citizen science apps”). Give the groups a few minutes to discuss and write down their ideas. Then, have each group present their pros and cons to the class, encouraging a class discussion and debate on the different viewpoints.

🤔 Comprehension Questions:

1. What is the name of the computer program that helps people know which whale they have seen?
2. How does the computer program HappyWhale identify which whale it is?
3. What can the computer program HappyWhale show about the whale?
4. What is the name of the special app for birds?
5. How does the app Merlin Bird ID identify what kind of bird it is?
6. What information does the app Merlin Bird ID ask you to share about the bird?
7. What is the name of the app that can tell you the name of different animals and plants from your photos?
Go to answers ⇩

🎧✍️ Listen and Fill in the Gaps:

A man named Ted Cheeseman made a computer program called HappyWhale that (1)______ people know which (2)______ they have seen. People can put pictures of (3)______ on the HappyWhale website, and the computer will tell them which whale it is by looking at the tail. The computer knows a lot about whales and can show where the whale has been before. HappyWhale helps scientists learn how (4)______ whales there are and where they go.

There is also a (5)______ app for birds called Merlin Bird ID made by the Cornell Lab of (6)______. With this app, you can take a picture of a bird or record its song, and the app will tell you what kind of bird it is. The app asks you to share more about the bird, like where you saw it and what it looks like. This information helps scientists (7)______ about birds, where they travel, and how many there are.

Another app called (8)______ can tell you the name of different (9)______ and plants from your (10)______. The app learned from many pictures and gets smarter with each new photo. It looks for patterns to guess what plant or animal is in the picture. A (11)______ who helped make the app, Grant Van Horn, thinks these apps are good because they help people learn and (12)______ more about animals and plants.
Go to answers ⇩

💬 Discussion Questions:

Students can ask a partner these questions, or discuss them as a group.

1. What is HappyWhale and how does it help people?
2. Have you ever seen a whale? How would you feel if you could use HappyWhale to know which whale you saw?
3. What is Merlin Bird ID and how does it help people identify birds?
4. Do you like birds? Why or why not?
5. Have you ever used an app to identify a bird? How did it make you feel?
6. What is iNaturalist and how does it help people identify animals and plants?
7. Do you like taking pictures of animals and plants? Why or why not?
8. Have you ever used iNaturalist to identify an animal or plant? How did it make you feel?
9. How do you think these apps can help scientists learn more about animals and plants?
10. Do you think it’s important to learn about animals and plants? Why or why not?
11. What other ways can technology help us learn about animals and plants?
12. Why do you think it’s good for people to care more about animals and plants?

Individual Activities

📖💭 Vocabulary Meanings:

Match each word to its meaning.

Words:
1. program
2. identify
3. patterns
4. scientists
5. species
6. ornithology
7. record
8. app
9. information
10. iNaturalist
11. smarter
12. care

Meanings:
(A) To keep sounds or pictures so you can see or hear them again later
(B) The study of birds
(C) Facts or details about something
(D) To think something is important and to look after it
(E) A set of instructions that a computer uses to do different tasks
(F) An app that helps you learn the names of animals and plants
(G) A group of animals or plants that are similar and can have babies together
(H) A small program on a phone or computer that does a special job
(I) To find out what something is or who someone is
(J) Getting better at doing something
(K) People who study things in nature to learn more about them
(L) Designs or sequences that repeat
Go to answers ⇩

🔡 Multiple Choice Questions:

1. What is the name of the computer program that helps people identify whales?
(a) WhaleFinder
(b) WhaleTracker
(c) OceanExplorer
(d) HappyWhale

2. How does HappyWhale identify whales?
(a) By listening to their song
(b) By looking at their tail
(c) By analyzing their size
(d) By examining their color

3. What does HappyWhale help scientists learn about whales?
(a) What they eat and how they swim
(b) How old they are and where they sleep
(c) How many there are and where they go
(d) What sounds they make and how they communicate

4. Who made the Merlin Bird ID app?
(a) The HappyWhale team
(b) The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
(c) Grant Van Horn
(d) Ted Cheeseman

5. How does the Merlin Bird ID app identify birds?
(a) By analyzing pictures or recordings
(b) By tracking their flight patterns
(c) By studying their nests
(d) By listening to their calls

6. What information does the Merlin Bird ID app ask users to share?
(a) Where they saw the bird and what it looks like
(b) How fast the bird can fly and how high it can soar
(c) What the bird eats and where it sleeps
(d) How many eggs the bird lays and how long they hatch

7. What does the iNaturalist app do?
(a) Tracks the migration patterns of animals
(b) Records the sounds of different animals
(c) Identifies animals and plants from photos
(d) Measures the height of trees and plants

8. How does the iNaturalist app learn to identify different animals and plants?
(a) By studying books and scientific journals
(b) By listening to experts in the field
(c) By analyzing DNA samples from different species
(d) From many pictures and gets smarter with each new photo

Go to answers ⇩

🕵️ True or False Questions:

1. HappyWhale uses pictures of whale tails to determine which whale it is.
2. Ted Cheeseman created a computer program called HappyWhale that helps people identify whales.
3. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology did not create an app called Merlin Bird ID for identifying birds.
4. iNaturalist is not an app that can identify different animals and plants from photos and learns from each new photo.
5. HappyWhale helps scientists learn about the number of whales and their migration patterns.
6. Merlin Bird ID cannot identify birds based on pictures or recordings of their songs.
7. The computer program cannot show where the whale has been before.
8. The app asks for additional information about the bird, such as where it was seen and its appearance.
Go to answers ⇩

📝 Write a Summary:

Write a summary of this news article in two sentences.

Writing Questions:

Answer the following questions. Write as much as you can for each answer.

1. What is HappyWhale?
2. How does HappyWhale help people know which whale they have seen?
3. What is Merlin Bird ID?
4. How does Merlin Bird ID help people identify birds?
5. What is iNaturalist?

✅ Answers

🤔✅ Comprehension Question Answers:

1. What is the name of the computer program that helps people know which whale they have seen?
The computer program is called HappyWhale.

2. How does the computer program HappyWhale identify which whale it is?
HappyWhale identifies the whale by looking at its tail.

3. What can the computer program HappyWhale show about the whale?
HappyWhale can show where the whale has been before.

4. What is the name of the special app for birds?
The special app for birds is called Merlin Bird ID.

5. How does the app Merlin Bird ID identify what kind of bird it is?
Merlin Bird ID identifies the bird by analyzing the picture or recording of its song.

6. What information does the app Merlin Bird ID ask you to share about the bird?
Merlin Bird ID asks you to share where you saw the bird and what it looks like.

7. What is the name of the app that can tell you the name of different animals and plants from your photos?
The app is called iNaturalist.
Go back to questions ⇧

🎧✍️✅ Listen and Fill in the Gaps Answers:

(1) helps
(2) whale
(3) whales
(4) many
(5) special
(6) Ornithology
(7) know
(8) iNaturalist
(9) animals
(10) photos
(11) person
(12) care
Go back to questions ⇧

📖💭✅ Vocabulary Meanings Answers:

1. program
Answer: (E) A set of instructions that a computer uses to do different tasks

2. identify
Answer: (I) To find out what something is or who someone is

3. patterns
Answer: (L) Designs or sequences that repeat

4. scientists
Answer: (K) People who study things in nature to learn more about them

5. species
Answer: (G) A group of animals or plants that are similar and can have babies together

6. ornithology
Answer: (B) The study of birds

7. record
Answer: (A) To keep sounds or pictures so you can see or hear them again later

8. app
Answer: (H) A small program on a phone or computer that does a special job

9. information
Answer: (C) Facts or details about something

10. iNaturalist
Answer: (F) An app that helps you learn the names of animals and plants

11. smarter
Answer: (J) Getting better at doing something

12. care
Answer: (D) To think something is important and to look after it
Go back to questions ⇧

🔡✅ Multiple Choice Answers:

1. What is the name of the computer program that helps people identify whales?
Answer: (d) HappyWhale

2. How does HappyWhale identify whales?
Answer: (b) By looking at their tail

3. What does HappyWhale help scientists learn about whales?
Answer: (c) How many there are and where they go

4. Who made the Merlin Bird ID app?
Answer: (b) The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

5. How does the Merlin Bird ID app identify birds?
Answer: (a) By analyzing pictures or recordings

6. What information does the Merlin Bird ID app ask users to share?
Answer: (a) Where they saw the bird and what it looks like

7. What does the iNaturalist app do?
Answer: (c) Identifies animals and plants from photos

8. How does the iNaturalist app learn to identify different animals and plants?
Answer: (d) From many pictures and gets smarter with each new photo
Go back to questions ⇧

🕵️✅ True or False Answers:

1. HappyWhale uses pictures of whale tails to determine which whale it is. (Answer: True)
2. Ted Cheeseman created a computer program called HappyWhale that helps people identify whales. (Answer: True)
3. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology did not create an app called Merlin Bird ID for identifying birds. (Answer: False)
4. iNaturalist is not an app that can identify different animals and plants from photos and learns from each new photo. (Answer: False)
5. HappyWhale helps scientists learn about the number of whales and their migration patterns. (Answer: True)
6. Merlin Bird ID cannot identify birds based on pictures or recordings of their songs. (Answer: False)
7. The computer program cannot show where the whale has been before. (Answer: False)
8. The app asks for additional information about the bird, such as where it was seen and its appearance. (Answer: True)
Go back to questions ⇧