WELCOME NEW SCHOOLYARD TEACHERS!  

Thanks to our Mentor Teachers and Project Scientists

27 Teachers participated in the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Summer Institute for Teachers in August. Twenty of those are beginning Schoolyard projects for the first time.   Four of our experienced teachers served as official Mentor Teachers to support new teachers along with our 3 project Scientists, and 2 Harvard Forest education staff.

Photos by Clarisse Hart

Project Ecologist David Orwig and Mentor Teacher, Kate Bennett, introducing new Schoolyard Teachers to the Woolly Bully project

Teachers from the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid group said this about what they gained from the Summer Institute: 

• My students will be excited to participate and be responsible for a real-life scientific project (at least I hope they will be!) :) I learned a lot more about the HWA than I previously knew, and I am excited also about helping to contribute to the body of knowledge to control the pest.

• I'm in the woolly bully group and I really enjoyed the presentation on how to do the field study. I thought it was very helpful and David was very thorough in his explanation. I feel more confidant executing this project.
• Learning about the life cycle of the HWA, and how to identify at various life stages. How to read the forest and generally assess forest health/presence of HWA. (In response to question about the most valuable aspect of Summer Inst.)  

 
Project Ecologist, John O'Keefe and Mentor Teacher, Maria Blewitt showing new Schoolyard teachers how to identify trees for the Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming project.

Mentor Teacher, Lise Letellier and John O'Keefe help teachers practice labelling trees for Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming study

Teachers from the Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming group said this about what they gained from the Summer Institute: 

• Specific modeling of how to flag branches, how to use database and graphing
• Identifying the leaves and learning how to mark the trees so students can successfully begin collecting data.
• Lise (mentor teacher) was great. Having the experienced teachers talking about their experience implementing the project was super helpful.

Research Forester, Emily Silver, teaches how to lay out a plot

for the Our Changing Forests project. (left)

Mentor Teacher, Melanie McCracken, helps teachers practice laying out a plot. (below)

Teachers from the Changing Forests group said this about what they gained from Summer Institute: 

• Confidence in taking a more rigorous approach to field data collection (tree ID not just DBH measurements, site orientation); sense of connection to & importance in larger project.
• How to begin the process of choosing the plots that my students will use for this study. THe materials that have been supplied are very valuable as well.
• very helpful, and not overwhelming. Seems very doable in my class
• It was very helpful having the mentor teacher (Melanie McCracken) in the field with us, giving us suggestions for what worked with her class.

 Data Manager, Emery Boose, previews the Online Database

Teachers said this about what they gained from the Data presentation:

• Great ideas, and a great support system to implement this project right away in the classroom. I am especially excited about the graphing capabilities of the database and the tremendous resources available on the website.
• The value of long term data collection (in response to what was most valuable aspect of the Summer Institute)

What is the most valuable thing you will take away from today's workshop?

• Confidence that I can translate the protocol to success for my students
• That this is very doable in my curriculum and does not require an immense amount of background. I did expect it to be more overwhelming. Now, I'm just excited!
• Dedicated time to learn from others about how to setup and implement this study on our field site and in the classroom
• Knowing how to do the set up will be very valuable!
• Project is achievable without the necessity of lots of forestry experience. There are also many people who can support my efforts as I move through the project.
• A new science project students in our schoolyard habitat program can participate in as citizen scientists.
• Fits nicely with AP Environmental Science
• Fantastic program!!!

• • Thanks All! 

We are serious about your data!  

Harvard Forest LTER Schoolyard Ecology recognizes that without data, the scientific process in not complete.

So your students have gone outside to collect data at or near your schoolyard-Wonderful!!!  We are thrilled that you were able to set up your field site and do the extra organizational work of getting your kids outside!  We know that that alone is further than most teachers get in engaging their students in real science in their local environment. Congratulations!  You have succeeded in a crucial part of your Schoolyard Ecology study.  

Now, we want you to make sure that you and your students are able to make meaning out of what you have done in the field.   We need you to submit your data onto our online database in order to understand what the field data is saying.   While the data is fresh, enter it on our simple  online database.

We will post the data on our website so it is available to you and your students over time. It will also be available to other sites who may want to compare their field site data to diversity of locations to make even more meaning of their study. 

Once your data is on our database, you and your students can begin to represent your data in tables and graphs so that it can be more easily interpreted.  You may want to lead your students in hand graphing, or try a computer-based graphing system such as Excel.  Perhaps the quickest approach is to try out our 
online graphing tool. 

 We recommend that you do take the time to have students hand graph, and/or create graphs using a software system that requires them to think about how to organize the data, label axis, and other graphing skills.  Our online graphing tool is designed to add to these other more time and thought intensive ways of representing student data.  

Teachers- We invite 1st year teachers who would like to get started on learning how to manage project data to come to our: 

Level 1 Data Workshop for Teachers on November 5th at Harvard Forest. 

Information Manager, Emery Boose, will briefly show teachers how professional ecological data is stored and managed at Harvard Forests. He will then focus on how Schoolyard data is stored and managed;how to input data using our online data base; and how to create instant graphs 

using the online graphing tool. Break out project groups will meet with ecologists to talk over any field issues, questions, and data related issues and questions.  Teachers will go away from the workshop understanding how to input project data onto the database; how to graph project data on the online graphing tools: and how to engage their students in better understanding what their data is saying.  

Teachers who have already successfully mastered the online data input process, are invited to attend our more advanced data workshop called, LOOKING AT DATA:  Organizing, representing, interpreting your students’ data.


See Advanced Data Workshop Highlights to get a peak at how this workshop went last year. Teachers at this workshop choose to work at level 2 or 3 on this day.  Level 2 teachers  work on structured graphing exercises that help provide experience using Excel to graph project data. See the  Graphing Manual   and Graphing Exercises that form the basis of this workshop developed by ecologist, Betsy Colburn.  At the end of level 2, teachers go away having created a series of data tables and graphs from real Schoolyard data sets that are preselected by Harvard Forest staff.    

Those teachers who have completed level 2 previously, are encouraged to work on graphing their own project data, in ways that tell a story that will be meaningful to their own students. For that reason, teachers in level 3 decide on their own focus prior to attending the workshop. 

 Harvard Forest provides mentors that support teachers in determining  how to organize their data, and helps trouble shoot throughout the graphing process. Usually level 3 folks go away having created one or more graphs of their students' data that is specifically tailored to their learning goals.  To see examples of graphs and datatables that level 3 teachers have created in the past, go to: Data Level 3 graphs and tables

So join us for a data workshop this fall and ...

SHOW US YOUR DATA!