Feel free to suggest more nerdy science tweeter for me to follow, since I am supposed to explore this resource.
https://twitter.com/JennaRaino
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Sketch of a project. A Natural History resource.
My favorite sub-discipline for biology has
always been natural history. Natural history is also incredibly important for
an environmental educator. Topics in natural history are taxonomic (mammology, herpetology,
botany) ecological (stream ecology, alpine ecology, forest ecology) and interdisciplinary
(geology, historical).
These concepts matter because they allow
people to understand how organisms and abiotic factors impact each other, as
well as set up a framework for being able to view and distinguish details in
the natural world. Knowledge of these subjects is useful to hikers,
backpackers, fishers, hunters, scientists, urban planners, farmers, and
numerous other people.
I think looking at specific ecosystems are
a great way to be interdisciplinary, as in one single ecosystem a person can
look at the human history, the geologic history, the animals, the plants, the
climate, and perhaps the literature that arose from it, or the art that was
inspired.
I would love to do a project with students
where we create a natural history database/reference for the local area.
Student could evaluate the knowledge already easily available, analyze what
would still be needed, and create media for public consumption. Off the top of
my head, I can imagine nature documentaries, field guides with pictures, dichotomous
keys, oral histories being recorded, and seasonal changes being recorded. There
might be articles written about fun facts, or radio interviews encouraging
people to become aware of an issue. I think for natural history, having it be
local will really engage students, once they start exploring, because they can
take ownership of it. Connection to the land is very important, and being able
to communicate all the different ways to connect will be inspiring and
meaningful.
I would like to encourage mastery over a
certain subject for each student, as well as a broad knowledge of the rest of
the subjects. I think having students cooperate with each other and share
knowledge is extremely powerful.
Starting out
I
joined the global education conference (http://www.globaleducationconference.com/)
because I like the idea of being able to talk to educators around the world
about the environmental and science issues they are facing in their own home
towns.
My
thoughts about PBL so far:
Technology
for me is something that can be very useful, but it is not something I enjoy in
and of itself. I appreciate the technology that gives me a wonderful digital
camera, so I can go out on a hike and take beautiful pictures of spring
flowers. I appreciate the technology that allows someone in Kentucky to share
their own spring flowers with me over the internet.
For
me, the three mediums that have me most excited are videos, blogs, and internet
databases that allow people from all over to come together to share
information.
I
spent a month and a half in Australia, and one of the projects I completed was
a nature documentary short. I think something like that would be a wonderful
project for students, as it combines audio, visual, and kinesthetic learning,
and, if done right, ensures the students know what they are talking about, and
gives them something they can show off at the end. As a class, we actually
produced 5 videos, and at the start of our student research conference we held a
film showing of all 5. It gave parents and friends something tangible that they
could understand about what we were doing over in Australia, and it made sure
all of us were doing the proper amount of research and exploring. To this day I
can still tell people a ridiculous amount of information about wallabies.
urls
to the videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vJ4I7ohO9I&list=PL01vH_Q_xyH4LYspRtZyDYWJg0ntP08Qm&index=57
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)