VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – This winter the Valley City High School Sophomore Biology class learned 10 common Barnes County bird species per week. They continued for eight weeks, learning basic avian family characteristics and how to identify 80 bird species.
Teacher Randy Toppen said weekly practice quizzes were given, and on March 17th, students completed a cumulative identification exam. The top 16 scoring students received a special award for their dedication to this project. The top scorers (two this year) had their names added to the Ove Knudsen Memorial Bird Trophy. See the photos attached below.
2022 Award Winners:
Ove Knudsen Award Winners – these students scored perfectly on all eight weekly practice exams and recorded perfect identification scores on the final exam: Hadley Thoreson and Savannah Huffstutler.
Toppen said the project continues during the fourth quarter with a field research project involving students’ choice of research methods, but all projects involve identifying and studying birds in the field.
