Teachers Steal the Show at Spring Workshop

Schoolyard Ecology Teachers Took Center Stage at Our Spring Workshop for Teachers on March 31st at Harvard Forest

Beginning with introductions, teachers had so much to contribute and update on...we ran over well over the time I had allocated in the agenda.  I could have cut folks off sooner, but it was clear that the entire learning community of classroom teachers, environmental educators and scientists was all ears to hear what each teacher had to share.

Hemlock and Buds groups each met in breakout groups before heading outside.

Into the Woods

Teachers actively contributed to field discussions as well.  Scientists allowed the teachers to lead the focus of the discussion with their many questions and comments about field protocols, seasonal changes, physiology, etc.

   

Teacher Presentations

The afternoon was highlighted  by teachers and naturalists formally presenting the way they are engaging children in field ecology projects.

J.R. Briggs Elementary teacher, Katherine Bennett, and Austin Preparatory School teacher, Maria Blewitt each shared the ways they are deepening students' understanding of the science of Phenology.  Both teachers have contributed to the Buds, Leaves and Global Warming study over several years. Both also host web cameras called "Phenocams" on the roofs of their schools to track the greenup and green down of the tree canopy near their schools.  Kate shared some of the impressive array of educational resources that she has helped develop for the Project Budburst webpages. 

 Kate shared some of the impressive array of educational resources that
she helped to develop for the Project
BudBurst webpages.

Kate collaborated with Phenocam scientist, Andrew Richardson, along with Project Budburst coordinator, Sandra Henderson and team to develop these in depth, colorful activities and lesson plans that help students to understand the science of Phenology.





Maria Blewitt shared the step by step process she used in graphing the Phenocam data provided by the Phenocam at her school in Reading, Ma.    

Mass Audubon Educators, Sally Farrow and Erin Pitkin, then updated us on how they are helping students of all abilities engage in both the Vernal Pool and Phenology studies at Drumlin Farm and Lowell schools.  Sally showed us a variety of graphs she is sharing with students that tell the story of the hydrology of the vernal pools and ponds at Drumlin farm where over 5,000 students have participated in the the Harvard Forest Schoolyard vernal pool  study over 8 years.

 






Erin Pitkin, in her first year working with the Schoolyard Vernal Pool and phenology studies, shared a set of visual resources she developed to allow a diverse range of learners to access the scientific protocol.

A number of schools provide student "Eco Monitors" who regularly collect data for Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology projects sited at Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, Ma.  Erin showed how she is adapting and creating tools for students of diverse abilities to participate in this work.


Holyoke Catholic High School Teacher, Lise Letellier lead the charge with her impressive and comprehensive telling of her 5 year journey through Schoolyard Ecology.  See my previous blog entry for more on that presentation along with the related links below.

Survey Comments from Workshop Participants: 

• All of the presentations were well done! I am excited to take the great ideas and implement them into our program.

• all of the teacher presentations were excellent.

• teacher talk time was sooo helpful! Great discussion about what else to keep track of since yearly change is not significant enough to graph. So great to learn about phenology and phenocam resources,

•  All the presentations helpful and presented new information and inspiration which will benefit our programs.

• Kernals of gold nugget in each and all of them!

• Lise gives me hope that I, too, can have my students tackle data!

• The opportunity to meet and speak with the other teachers and hear the presentations gives me hope and inspiration and definitely renews my passion.
• both the walk and the teacher presentations definitely renewed my passion.  I hope to eventually get to the point where I can contribute to the discussions and presentation.

• Today's presentations were mostly applicable to all protocol and made new resources accessible and offered ways they can help us teach the standards. 

To see teacher presentation slides and hear audio on Adobe Connect, go to: 

http://harvardforest.adobeconnect.com/p99mf5gzwfg/

To access PDF documents of teacher presentations, go to:

Bennett,K.Taking Phenology Education to the Next Level.pdf

Blewitt,M.Using the Phenocam Website with Your Students.pdf

Letellier, L. Five Years of Data Presentation.pdf

Farrow,Pitkin. Eco. Monitoring for All Learners.pdf

To access the complete Survey Monkey Spring workshop evaluation, go to:

Spring Wksp surveymonkey.results

To follow up on any questions or comments about this Blog post or Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology, email:

 Pamela Snow


Or add your comment on this blog below... 

Give this Woman a Presidential Award Please!

 Holyoke Catholic High School Teacher, Lise Letellier wowed us with her 5 year journey with the Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming study at the Spring Workshop for Teachers last week! 

 Lise took us through her experience engaging High School students at all levels in collecting field data, representing and understanding  project data.  She showed what she was able to do with students , year by year for her first 5 years of leading this project.  

 Throughout this presentation, we could see the importance and relevance of Lise's educational goals for her students, and recognized the complexities of school life and ecological studies that provided challenges along the way to fully reaching those goals.  

Lise -We celebrate your success this year even more now that you laid out the 5 year process for us! 

Comments from other Schoolyard teachers included: 

• The introduction of more teacher presentations and especially Lise's presentation was informative, useful, and totally motivating. 

• Lise gives me hope that I, too, can have my students tackle data! 

Lise has passed the state level screening for a Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST)

Awaiting word at the national level...

To see Lise's slides and audio from her Spring Workshop presentation, go to the 1st presentation at:

http://harvardforest.adobeconnect.com/p99mf5gzwfg/

To see samples of student work and associated overview, directions, and rubric  related to this presentation,find these 9 documents under Buds, Leaves and Global Warming heading beginning with Letellier. 2016.

http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/schoolyard/lesson-plans

Related Blog Post:  student graphs blog

To see Lise's  lesson plan on the national LTER Digital Library, go to:  

http://educationlibrary.lternet.edu/node/13

 A Tale of Two Teachers 

From Collecting Data in the Field to Inputting Data Online to Graphing Data, Janet Gordon and Elaine Senechal have done it all!

Spring Workshop for Teachers-2014

  

  Spring Workshop

Sights and Insights 

 

                      

• Being able to hear from other teachers about what is working for them and what they plan on doing in the future - Thank you to JoAnn Mossman for all her ideas and help!!

Jane and JoAnn's presentations were full of ideas and activities that I will be able to immediately use with my students ... they certainly got me thinking about how to use middle school tactics to reach my reluctant students
•  Jane's activities for the database look great
• 
• ! I can't wait to try them.
• I would like to show the students the HF data and give them the opportunity to interpret it

 More comments about teacher presentations:

• Vernal pool walk and Jud's presentation Both great
• I was impressed by the High School field guide that was shown. I'm planning to follow the idea and do something for the younger students.
• Teachers sharing how they do things in the classroom and outdoors is sooo helpful and encouraging.
• Hearing all the other teachers and their approaches to similar problems was really useful.
• I also find the presentations are a super way to learn from experienced teachers. I wish I could have heard every presentation
• Teacher presentations are great. You learn so much from all levels. The idea sharing is great.
• By seeing how others tackle similar tasks gives me ideas to try and expand upon.

Comments about field walk with Project Ecologists:





Photo by Karen Murphy

• I especially appreciated being able to spend time in the field with Dr. Orwig and a small number of like-minded HWA fans. I got a lot of details cleared up about the protocol and was able to discuss research questions concerning possible ways to combat these bugs. I also found a new way to document our findings on the egg sacs





Photo by Clarisse Hart

 The forest walk was excellent. Such a great opportunity to view the forest site and have an opportunity to speak and share with everyone

• I always appreciate time with Betsy! This time we also got to spend time in the lab with her looking at invertebrates under the microscope. this was very interesting and it would be most useful to have the opportunity to spend longer doing this in the future. In addition I also very much enjoyed hearing from teachers doing the other ecology projects. I would love at some point to be able to do some of these or take bits to use with my students

Photo by Maryanne Rotelli

• Always the session with Dr. O'keefe- new information in the ppt presentation and great to walk outdoors with him. Teachers sharing how they do things in the classroom and outdoors is sooo helpful and encouraging.
• John's explanations on what to look for when collecting information on the bud burst was wonderful, especially since it is the first time doing it.
• Dr. O;Keefe's explanation of how trees and forests impact water flow and cloud cover- a great bigger picture!

Suggestions Anyone?

•  more time with Betsy and her specimens. Also visiting other vernal pools with her. She spoke of some really good ones in Leominster. Maybe it would be possible to organize a trip there with her so we can see different types of pools including ones with fairy shrimps.
• Give each presenter a set amount of time that includes Q + A.
• It would be great to have a workshop on pond creature ID.
• Time is always an issue, but trying not to overlap presentations would be the only improvement. It's hard!
• My colleagues may not like this suggestion, but I'd love to do a workshop during April break ... so that I don't have to miss school (which is always 120% as much work as being there)
•  maybe a little longer lunch time to informally connect with teachers, but not a great deal longer. I do not want to lose the other parts either!
• Keep the teacher presentations, maybe add some specific meeting time for each group to chat quickly.
• I know the weather is a challenge but I was hoping to do more outside but appreciate that we got so much information from one tree.
• Perhaps a trouble-shooting session where veteran and new teachers exchange concerns, offer practical advice, etc. outside of the formal presentations.
• Add another time for VP to look at critters under the microscope
• Possibly separating the teacher presentations but all were very interesting even if it was not about our section

What will teachers bring with them back to their Schools?

• I can now clearly find and identify the scale insects and talk about their relevance to the HWA's and pretty generally discuss just about everything involving the life cycle o these creatures.

I am looking forward to trying out my idea of using the student cell phone in order to easily document the egg sac hunt and then to count them by marking their presence on the photo of the branch.

• I have some samples of lesson plans I may adapt for my classes and more resources. I have more background knowledge on vernal pools which will be helpful in answering student questions and designing lessons. I also got useful feedback for my question for my presentation about incorporating the Next generation science standards

• We are already incorporating our vernal pool studies into our pond ecology programs but I am looking forward to including the Changing Forest and including the effects of farming on our water.
• Joann and Jane's and John's pointers have given me confidence to move forward with this project.
• Need to get those kids in the woods!

Want to see and hear more?

Here is the link to all the presentations' slides and audio per Clarisse Hart:

http://harvardforest.adobeconnect.com/p6ljgqx3ekn/

Watch and listen to them all at once or you can easily navigate to individual talks within this one file. Once the program loads, look on the left hand side of the page and click the little triangle next to “Lobby.” You’ll get a drop down menu of all the individual talks, and clicking one will take you directly to that talk.


We now have the individual talks split out as individual PDF files at: http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/schoolyard/lesson-plans  
Look for them by project theme, teacher name and year. 

 

NSTA 2014 Boston Conference

 

Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology will be in the house!

Creating Student Video for Climate Education

Friday, April 4 9:30–10:30 AM

Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, 251

Students use the NGSS and combine climate science, systems thinking, and science communications skills through media production. Using the Climate Education in an Age of Media (CAM) project at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Harvard Forest LTER Schoolyard Program, Buds, Leaves & Global Warming, students learn to collect data on important long-term ecological issues and processes. They report what they have learned through media.

Presenter(s): Donna Cochrane (North Attleboro High School: North Attleboro, MA) 

GRADE LEVEL: High School

Being Scientists: Involving Fifth-Graders in Real Science

Saturday, April 5 2:00–3:00 PM

The Westin Boston Waterfront, Alcott

Elementary teacher Kate Bennett has been involving her grades 5–6 students in authentic field research for the past seven years in collaboration with Harvard Forest, an ecological research center affiliated with Harvard University. Join us as we share very accessible resources and stories about making science come to life in the classroom.

Presenter(s): Pamela Snow (Harvard Forest: Petersham, MA); Kate Bennett (John R. Briggs Elementary School: Ashburnham, MA)      

GRADE LEVEL: Elementary-High School