Dossier of Discovery: Eagle Hunters of Mongolia

Learning intentions:

I am learning to compare sources on a topic so that I can build a comprehensive body of research.

 

Success criteria:

• I can answer comprehension questions about a text.
• I can conduct further research about the topic of a text.
• I can create questions based on my research.
• I can identify and discuss the value of using a variety of sources to research a topic.

 

Essential knowledge:

For more information about different ways that we have authority over texts when collating factual information, watch the English Textual Concepts video Authority.

After reading the text, have students close their magazines and pose the following questions to them:

• Who are the tribespeople that practice the tradition of hunting with eagles? (The Kazakhs)
• What do they wear to keep warm? (Animal skins)
• What are some examples of the animals they hunt? (Foxes, hares, wild cats)
• How long are the eagles trained for? (Three to four years)
• How long do the hunters keep the eagles for? (Ten years)

Split the class into five groups and allocate one of the following online sources to each group:

Mongolian Eagle Hunters and Eagle Hunting

Eagle Hunting in West Mongolia

Is This Teenage Girl One of the Last Eagle Hunters - or the First of a New Breed?

Mongolia’s 6000 Year Tradition

Capturing the Last of Mongolia’s Eagle Hunting Tribe

 

Inform students that there will be a class trivia game and their goal as a group is to stump the other teams. To do this, they are to use their source to come up with five questions relating to Mongolian Eagle Hunters that they think have the best chance of not being in the other sources.

Explain, when they have their five questions, they should come together as a whole class and each group will take a turn to ask their questions. If nobody from the other groups is able to answer, the group asking the questions will be awarded a point, however, if somebody is able to answer correctly, the point will instead go to their group.

After the trivia game, assess the outcome of using different sources by asking for examples from the texts through leading questions such as:

• Did the sources have different information?
• Was some information unique to just one source?
• Was there a cross over of information between the sources?
• Did some sources have more information than others?
• Were some sources more focused on one aspect of the topic than others?

Discuss how different sources help us cross-check information as well as find new information and why this is important when we are conducting research.