Teachers Share Ways of Extending the Learning From Field to Classroom

                                      

Here are ways some of the school groups who visited Harvard Forest this year integrated science themes between forest and school.

Hilltop  Montessori School

Harvard Forest Ecologist, David Orwig showed Hilltop Montessori students how scientists look at the forest, looking close up at the tiny Hemlock Woolly Adelgid using hand lenses.  Students were able to  try their hands at coring a tree  in order to determine its age with out cutting it down.

Right: Students were able to see how artist, David Buckley Borden, interpreted the impact of the Adelgid as they interacted with this art installation based in Harvard Forest this year.

  

 Students created projects that reflect their thoughts and feelings about how humans and climate are in conflict at this time.  See the assignment by teacher Nora Gordon, in our field trip resources at: Humans and Climate in Conflict-Gordon.pdf

St Mary's Parish School

 Teacher, Mary Reed, sent me the following photos from their  Schoolyard Field site where they monitor the growing season of their trees.  Students visited Harvard Forest to meet the project Ecologist, John O'Keefe, who leads their Schoolyard study.  Students prepared questions for the scientist in advance and were able to get them answered in person.

Students from Saint Mary's  Parish School
Collecting data for the Buds, Leaves and Global
Warming Schoolyard Ecology study.

 
 

St. Mary's students also participated in a "treasure hunt" outside in the forest seeking leaves and seeds from a variety of trees, as well as an inside scavenger hunt using the forest dioramas in the Fisher Museum.

In bringing the learning back to the classroom,  Mary shared notes on followup below:

 I gave each student credit for working on the scavenger hunt and then had them answer simple questions based on the hunt.  The students then chose one or two items from their bag to draw, color and identify if they could.

 

See : 5th Grade Diorama Followup Assignment.pdf to access Mary's Diorama reflection sheet. 

Leominster High School

Teacher, Danielle Montaruli shared the Field Trip review assignment she created for her High School level students.  See her assignment sheet at: 

High School HF field trip review assignment-Montaruli-2018.docx

Norfolk County Agricultural  High School

Teacher, Nicole Forsyth immersed her students in plant science before and after the field trip to Harvard Forest. She is kindly sharing with us 3 related labs she has successfully used with her students.  See her the write up for her labs at:  3 Labs _Forsythe-2017.pdf

Belchertown High School 

Belchertown High School students created these comic strips in response to teacher, Louise Levy's assignment to create either a 20 line dialog or 6 panel comic strip in order to communicate Mass. Forest History to a 10 year old.   See  Comic Strip Lesson andSamples-Levy-2018.pptx  for more on this assignment. 

Blackstone  Academy and Greenfield High School  

Field Trip Scholarship Participants

As part of the Our Changing Forests Field Trip Scholarship, students from Greenfield High School and Blackstone Academy participated in a field study using a series of demonstration plots in Harvard Forest.

After receiving a brief introduction to tree identification and measurement techniques,  students used field equipment to measure diameter at breast height (DBH) of study trees and record the data on a field sheet.  Students worked together using field guides to try to identify the species of each tree they measured as well.

                            Completed Field Data Sheet

Data in Online Database

                   

Students worked together to complete a site survey of each plot in which they worked in order to describe the characteristics of the area.  To see the  complete field data for these plots  on our online  database, go to:  HF demonstrationplot data

Completed site surveys of Plot 1

 To see site survey data from these field trips  in our online database, go to:

HarvardForestdemonstrationplot Site Survey Data

Using the  Harvard Forest online graphing tool, one can make sense of what the data is saying visually.

Graphs of  Density of Stems by Species Data Collected by Field Trip Scholarship Groups

Graphs of  Carbon Biomass by Species Data Collected by Field Trip Scholarship Groups

To try graphing this data using these tools, go to graphing tool for HFR Our Changing Forests project

Thanks to the Highstead Foundation for providing these groups access to Harvard Forest.  

For more information about Field Trip Scholarships go to:

Harvard Forest Scholarship Information.pdf

Applewild School :

Thank you so much for a wonderful field trip last week. Students returned to school full of knowledge and excited to learn more about the forest. We spent an entire class period the following day discussing and sharing what students had learned. They really valued, learned from, and enjoyed the trip.

Some highlights according to students :

"I learned about how to identify many new tree species and more ways in which climate change affects forests".

"I learned that the growing season in New England is increasing (by one month in the past twenty five years)"-  (Note that various studies at HF are showing a wide range of responses-this student was referring to data from Eddy Flux measurements).

"I learned why the colors of foliage change and why some falls are more colorful than others (because important elements are going to seeds and acorns)"

"I learned that space between branches of white pines shows how much they grew that year"

"I saw a striped maple tree, that undergoes photosynthesis in its bark and its leaves"

"I learned about the wooly adelgid and how they are affecting hemlock trees"

"I learned that one type of coniferous tree loses its needles every year"

"I learned about how the landscape in New England changed and that white pines dominated the land for about 40 years"

"I learned that needles are considered leaves"

"I learned about Neon and how they measure trees and forest health around the country"

"I learned how wildlife is observed through motion activated cameras "

"I learned what different types of rock walls tell you about the past landscape"

Clearly, they learned so much! We have a lot to talk about and connect all of this with our ecology and forest study.

Emily Chamas, Tally Lent, and the Applewild 8th Graders

Art from St. Mary's Parish School