Zoo Habitats PBL

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by Grace Mullery

PBL Project: Zoo Habitats

Our PBL project is about zoo habitats! A guest speaker, from the Indianapolis Zoo, is coming to our classroom to give the students an idea about how the zoo works and how the animals live. In preparation for their trip to the zoo, the students will do some research on different animals and their habitats that will see on their visit. After their trip, the students will prepare a presentation on the zoo habitats compared to their habitats in the wild. After their presentation, the students are going to make a book including what they learned and any improvements they have for the zoo. We will send that book to our guest speaker.


1) Driving Question 

Are zoos effective in creating healthy, suitable habitats for different animals? How?

  • Why do different animals have different habitats?

  • How do we determine the right habitats for these animals?

  • How do zoos create these habitats and what can they do to ensure they are right for the animals?


2) Grabber 

Guest Speaker: We would get a guest speaker from the local zoo that we are going on the field trip too. For us this would be the Indianapolis Zoo. Before the guest speaker comes we would explain the project and have the students think about the animals that they want to use for the project and write down some questions to ask the guest speaker. He/She would come in and tell a little bit about the zoo and the amazing things that they have there, both for the animals and the visitors. They would then go into answering some questions about specific animals as the students take notes and get engaged into the conversation. This would hopefully invoke curiosity into the students and what them to learn more about their animal and their habitat at the zoo.


Video: https://youtu.be/Gh75DaisnVs In this video we see “A Day with Tombi the Elephant”, one of the elephants and the Indianapolis Zoo. This video really gets at what we are trying to get at, looking at the life and habitats of the animals at the zoo. This video gives the students a look at the zoo and the people that work there and how they treat their animals. We would show this video after we gave the description of the project to show what we were looking for and how zoos can be a good place for animals. This video will hopefully get the students curious and excited to head to the zoo and look at all the other different animals and their habitats and how they are treated. This will hopefully also get the kids more excited about researching the animals outside of the zoo and how they live in their natural habitats.

3) Culminating Activity (65 points)


After introducing the project and the idea of animal habitats both in the zoo and outside of the zoo it’s time to do some research. The students will be put into groups of 3 or 4 and will need to decide what animal they want to focus on. You will need to provide the class with a list of animals that the zoo has and that you will be looking at to make sure that they can gather adequate information from the zoo about their animal.  

Once the students choose the animal that they are going to be focusing on they need to do some research. In their groups the students will take time researching through books and the internet, their animals habitat in the natural world. They will need to answer the questions:

  • What do my animals need to survive?

  • What does my animal eat?

  • What is the ideal climate/setting for my animal?

They will need to take notes on their findings and make sure they have the information available and that they understand it completely.


When they are at the zoo they are going to want to take similar notes. When they get to their animal of choice they will need to do these things:

  • Take notice of the animals habitat and record. Possibly taking a picture or drawing it out.

  • Look at the food they are eating at the zoo.

  • How many animals do you see in the enclosure?

  • Is there anything that sticks out to you?

  • Does the animal look happy?

The more in depth notes they can take the better.


When they get back to the classroom they will look at both sets of their notes and compare their findings. They may have to do some more research about their animal to answer some of their new questions. They will put all of their finding in presentation form, whether that be on a powerpoint or a poster board. The students will then take turns presenting their findings to the class, explaining the different habitats and answering the question “Did the zoo do a good job creating the right environment for my animal?” The students presentation and participation can be graded using this rubric: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lH6q2Eccj_aKtWr7K5xkR_mh6pAAfuvDr0Rfh9J0yZM/edit . This rubric looks at the content, preparedness, visual, and participation of the students and if they were efficient in all of these topics.


To end this project we are going to bring it back to the zoo, creating a book to inform the zoo of what we learned from them. This is important as it shows the kids that we can inform change from our research and that we have a voice that can be heard. This will also help to motivate the students knowing that their knowledge and research will be shared with other adults and authorities, hopefully pushing them to do their best work. This is a great way to give reason behind the students’ work and give them a purpose in their research. Here is the template for the pages of the book where students will put their findings: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rpE-Wcpw5AVVDbBgMEpDdWkKh5sUObvHPZ_1rTm5Uyo/edit


This project is designed to get students excited about research and making a difference in a local community. This project will bring students together as they work in groups towards a common goal, researching animals and applying their knowledge to the real world.

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