Dogs and seagulls are not the only animals studied to determine their intelligence. You’ve probably heard about some famous smart animals: dolphins and chimpanzees are well-known for their smarts.
Explore the study of animal intelligence. Spend some time visiting the websites provided on the next screen, or consult your own sources to answer the questions. This process will help give you more ideas for topics for your research.
1. Are there differing views on animal intelligence? What are they?
2. What are some of the animals that are currently important subjects in the testing of animal intelligence?
3. What are scientists discovering?
Applying What You’ve Learned
Your next step is to narrow your focus. You will be writing your research report on the broad topic of animal intelligence, but you are going to need to select a more narrow focus or you’ll be writing an encyclopedia. Follow these steps:
Think about everything you’ve learned about animal intelligence so far.
• Write down several items that interest you that are related to the broad topic of animal intelligence. Perhaps you have a favorite animal (a panda, a chimp, a snake) and would like to narrow your focus to that animal. Maybe you’re interested in certain animal abilities (remember that dogs can locate treats under blocks, and seagulls can recognize human faces). Maybe you’re interested in how baby animals learn to do certain things from their mothers. Brainstorm.
• Turn your area of interest into a research question. For example,
1. How do geese know where to fly south for the winter?
2. How do polar bear cubs learn to hunt?
3. How do tigers work together to attack gazelles?
4. How are therapy ponies trained?
• Write your new, narrowed-down research focus.
At the end of this lesson, you will be following these steps in your assignment.

At the end of this lesson, you will be writing research questions for your assignment.
Example: Tyler writes a research question in his notebook: How do whales use sonar to communicate? Is this a good research question?
This is an excellent research question because it is very open-ended.
Example: Khianna writes a research question in her notebook: Which breed of dog is considered the smartest and why? Is this a good research question?
This is a pretty good research question. The first part of the question can be answered quickly, but answering why a certain type of dog is considered smarter than others is a question that will require research to answer.
Assignment: Research Question and Plan
Now it’s time for you to create your own research plan. Complete the assignment to follow the process you learned about in this lesson. If you need help with any of the steps, you can always go back and review.
Save your research plan so you can refer to it as you conduct your research. It will help you stay focused on your topic.
Review the rubric to ensure you’re submitting your best work.

Dear ProfDee, we would like to write about Koko the Gorilla.