Time Background One of the most important skills of a migratory animal is its ability to tell time. As you will see during the migrations this spring, there are countless cases where an animal's very survival depends on being at the right place at the right time. While the underlying science of biological clocks is complicated and not fully understood, we do know that animals set their master clocks according to the world's most dependable time keeper-the sun. The annual cyclical changes in photoperiod provide a dependable measure of time.
People enjoy discovering examples of their own biological clocks.
These clocks control sleep and energy cycles in interesting ways. In this lesson students will explore the concept of time and their own ability to keep time. Then they'll consider the importance of biological clocks to migratory species. Activity A. Cover the classroom clock and ask students who wear watches to take them off for the day. Have students write the numbers 1-10 on a piece of paper.