Dissecting Owl Pellets

To celebrate finishing their first Science project, one class of year 7 students were recently offered the unique opportunity to dissect some owl pellets that a parent had found and kindly offered to the school.

The practical dissection session fitted in nicely to the ‘food’ project that the class were finishing that week and gave them opportunity to put into practice their learnt knowledge about food chains & ecosystems.

Our students were not squeamish at all and enjoyed the opportunity to become poo Scientists for the hour! They found it both fascinating and challenging to try and identify what the owl had eaten from the fragments they found. Benjamin Shaw, Science teacher said, “It was really great to see the students getting stuck in to the challenge of identifying the owl’s diet from it pellets. It gave them the chance to practice their practical skills and they were able to find quite a lot in their pellets: beetles, bones, fur & even a beak! I now know that I have some excellent poo Scientists in my class! I’m really thankful to the parent who volunteered the owl pellets for the class to use – it provided a great authentic learning experience for the students to enjoy.”