As a school enrichment activity, Pulaski County youth in fourth grade learned about food webs, owl digestive systems and their adaptations. This aligns with the standards that fourth grade students learn as a portion of their science classes. A part of this activity included dissecting owl pellets as a way for students to get hands-on learning related to owl diets. Students also used a provided bone chart to learn about different types of bones and to classify the bones found in their pellets. 

This is in partnership with our local schools who invite us in monthly to complete various science related school enrichment activities with fourth grade. 

Our target audience for this activity is fourth grade students in our local schools. Between both 4-H Agents we visit 11 elementary schools. In the schools I visit, there are 402 fourth graders involved in my enrichment activities. 

The initial outcome of this activity is an increased knowledge in food chains and food webs, as well as a better understanding of where owls fall within a food web and how their diet relates to those systems. But an intermediate outcome comes from my students who expressed a greater confidence in trying new things and facing fears when it comes to learning. At the beginning of my classes, several students will say that the activity is gross or they aren't participating because they are scared. After encouragement from myself and their teachers, we give them space to participate in the activity to their fullest ability and express how exciting hands-on learning is. The majority of the time, the young people that are the most hesitant will be the ones the most involved by the end of the lesson. One youth stated, "I was so scared this would be gross and scary, but it is so cool to be able to see what the owl actually ate. I am so glad we got to do this lesson!" After helping another student start the process of opening their owl pellet, that student later waved me over to their table and thanked me for encouraging them. They said "I didn't think I'd be able to dissect my owl pellet, but when you opened it for me, it made me realize it wasn't that scary after all." When asked as a class, the fourth graders expressed that they are more confident in their abilities to put on their 'science hats' and learn new things even when it's out of their comfort zones.