Animal Communication – Teachers’ Notes

Who is it for? 14-16 year olds

How long will it take? This activity is designed to be a 1 hour session. The narration script
writing activity could be completed as a homework task, and then
performed to the class in the following session.

Learning outcomes: Students will learn why animals communicate with one another and the
different methods used. Students will also learn how to carry out
research on a species and select the relevant information to write a video
narration.

What do you need?

 Interactive whiteboard or projector

 Computer to connect to whiteboard or projector
 ARKive’s Communication Classroom Presentation (PowerPoint)
 ARKive’s Narration Video Clips
 ARKive’s Student Narration Guidelines handout (one per group)
 ARKive’s Species Summary sheet (each group will only need the information on the
specific species they are working on)
 Laptops – enough for the students to work in pairs or small groups

Summary:

This activity is designed to teach 14-16 year olds about animal communication – the processes
by which animals communicate with other members of their own species and also between
different species, and the reasons for doing so.

In groups, students are given the opportunity to explore the reasons and methods animals use
communication as part of the narration activity. Students research a single species and write a
narration for a video featuring the species. They then perform their narration to the rest of the
group at the end of the session or at the start of the following session.

Activity: Narration

Working together in small groups, students are allocated a video of a species showing an
example of a type of animal communication. The students research the species using the ARKive
website www.arkive.org. Using this research, the students write a 1-2 minute narration for their
clip. The finished narrations can be performed in class at the end of the session or completed as
homework.

Preparation guidelines:
 1. Download the ARKive Communication Classroom Presentation (PowerPoint)
2. Download and print the Student Narration Guidelines.
3. Download, print and cut up the Species Summary sheets.
4. The Narration Video Clips can be found on the individual species pages. They are
captioned as Animal Communication and should be the last video to appear when you
scroll through all the videos.
5. You can either provide the students with the direct link to the videos, or you can download
each of the videos in advance of the session and provide them to the students
individually.
6. If you chose to download the video clips in advance, make sure they play correctly, with
sound, in your chosen media player.

How to run the session:

1. Begin by introducing the concept of animal communication using the ARKive Animal
Communication PowerPoint classroom presentation.
2. At the end of the presentation introduce and explain the narration activity.
3. Divide the class into small groups and allocate each group a species (provide them with
the video clip and summary sheet for their species).
4. Each group then needs to watch their video clip and read the Student Narration
guidelines.
5. Groups then research their species using the ARKive website and other reputable
sources.
6. Using the information found during their research, students spend the remainder of the
session composing a script for the narration to their allocated video clip.
7. Once groups have finished writing their script each group can perform their narration to
the rest of the group.

Suggestions for extension activities:

 If you have a media suite available you could record the audio for each group’s narration
and play it back alongside the video for a more professional result.
 Explore the ARKive website (www.arkive.org) to find further examples of animal
communication.

Animal Communication Species and Video Clips:

Chimpanzee
Emperor penguin
Giant cuttlefish
Giant otter
Hooded seal
Japanese macaque
Meerkat
Panther chameleon
Ring-tailed lemur
Superb bird of paradise
Temminck’s tragopan
Western diamond-backed rattlesnake
Examples of video clips with narration:
Blue whale
Deep sea fish