Schoolyard Teacher Donna Cochrane Honored at State House
“Investigating and Protecting Our Water and Woods”
North Attleboro H.S. teacher, Donna Cochrane has engaged her students in active field research,
data collection, and analysis of the local watershed and woodlands for over 6
years. Donna has a strong motivation to
connect her students to the natural world around them; to help them to
investigate and come to know the trees and waterways in ways they have never
known before. Donna has partnered with the
Watershed Access Lab at Bridgewater State University for 8 years and with
Harvard Forest for 6 years. Through these partnerships, Donna is able to
leverage the expertise of professional scientists for the benefit of her
students’ education
As active
participants in the Harvard
Forest Schoolyard Ecology Program and the Phenocam Network, Donna’s
students are able to participate in an authentic field ecology study that
provides them direct experience in important science skills including data
collection, measurement, observation, data analysis. As questions or issues
arise in these school-based studies, backup support is available from Harvard
staff. Another kind of partnership is at work here as well; Donna and her
students are part of a larger network of over 1,400 students, who are all
contributing to the same scientific study; Buds, Leaves and Global Warming, led by researcher, John O'Keefe. Together this network of students and teachers form a learning community.
Teachers are able to bounce ideas off of each other, and share resources
in person at Harvard Forest workshops and larger science teacher
conferences. Teachers also share
activities and lesson plans on the HF website. Donna has participated in every level of Harvard Forest workshops and this year, presented at the National Science Teachers Association Conference.
Donna is one of only four K-12 teachers participating in an
international Phenocam
network. This study, led by Harvard
University researcher, Andrew Richardson, uses web cams, which allow for automated, near-surface remote
sensing of canopy phenology across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Both
the field study and the Phenocam study help students monitor the length of the
growing season over time, in order to best analyze how climate change is
impacting the timing of leaf out and leaf drop of local trees. By comparing
images of their canopy to others throughout the world, students can learn a lot
about how the timing of leaf out in their local area compares to the timing and
rate of change in other places.
