Give the children a short introduction to beaver ecology – how a beaver dam creates a “Neighborhood” and other wildlife moves in! Then have several pieces of paper with questions about beaver impact on the habitat. “How do beaver help fish?” or “How do beavers help birds?” for example. Have the children draw them out of a hat or something. Have enough copies of each question so that there’s a small group of children who get the same one (2-5). No one knows who gets what. Then tell the children to go find the people who have the same ‘research question’ and talk together to figure out the answer. Ask them to sit down and raise their hands when they’re done. Then share everyone’s ‘research’ with the group! Make sure to applaud everyone’s contribution to the scientific research understanding beavers! If you’re in the classroom why not write up everyone’s answers as a joint paper? Or film them to show other classes?
