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KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- It's the age old question, why did the chicken cross the road? Well in this case, to get to science class!

You heard right, they are part of a month long project taking place in Lisa Findling's 8th grade science class at Kirksville Middle School.

The kids are testing the intelligence of five different kinds of birds: chicken, geese, turkey, ducks and pheasants.

Findling along with another teacher started up this interesting project last year. During class the students team up, build a maze and then log their observation with watching each bird try and go through the maze.

"We just thought what better way to keep the kids active at the end of the school year, not only are they learning but they're having fun too," Findling said. "It's a hands on project, the students can actively build something and see the result of something that they put their own hard work into."

And student's seem to agree.

"I think every teacher should do this because it really is fun for the kids and we learn stuff and it keeps us active so that kind of works best," said eighth grader Tori Stevens.

The project started the first week of May and will continue until the end of the school year and so far according to Findling, the birds are the center of attention for her students.

"They want to make sure the birds are ok, that's their number one priority they just love it," said Findling.

and students say they can't get enough of them.

"I definitely like handling the chickens and the other birds," said eighth grader Matthew Tenpenny.

"The chickens and the birds are so cute because they are so small and tiny and we get to see how they interact with other people and so far they are very squeamish and they don't want to be around us," Stevens said.

And just in case you were wondering, the chicken was able to cross the road because its the most intelligent out of the five birds in the experiment.