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EE Week 2012 Greening STEM Planning Toolkit:

Schoolyard Bioblitz

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bioblitz

Students conduct a BioBlitz at Saguaro National Park.
A bioblitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of volunteer scientists, families, students, teachers and other community members work together to find and identify as many species of plants, animals, microbes, fungi and other organisms as possible.

A bioblitz gives adults, kids, and teens the opportunity to engage in project-based field research, right in their schoolyard or local park. It's a fun and exciting way to learn about the biological diversity of the local area and to better understand how to restore and protect it. A bioblitz event can easily be modified to fit segments of time as short as one class period, or as long as a full school term project that might happen each school year.

National Geographic is helping conduct a bioblitz in a different national park each year during the decade leading up to the U.S. National Park Service Centennial in 2016. In August of this year, the National Geographic BioBlitz program will take place in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Work alongside National Geographic and the National Park Service by conducting a schoolyard or local park bioblitz this year.

Below, we outline projects and activities organized by grade level as well as resources that engage students in STEM learning during a schoolyard or local bioblitz.


 
 

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Toolkit Menu
 

 

 
Projects & Activities 

 

 

All Grades

Schoolyard Biodiversity Investigation Educator Guide
Sci, Math, PBL
This Schoolyard Biodiversity Investigation guide, developed by the Pacific Education Institute for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' North American Conservation Education Strategy, provides students with the opportunity to learn about biodiversity in a tangible and available environment: their own schoolyard or local park. Whether the campus or park is a sea of cement and grass or contains a diverse garden or forest, the opportunity for students to investigate first-hand will deepen their understanding of biodiversity, ways to measure it and the impact people have on it.

Field Investigations: Using Outdoor Environments to Foster Student Learning of Scientific Processes
Sci, Math, PBL
This Field Investigations guide,developed by the Pacific Education Institute for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' North American Conservation Education Strategy, helps educators prepare students to conduct a field investigation in their schoolyard or local park by providing a set of questions that encourage systems thinking and scientific inquiry. The guide also includes assessments and teacher insights along with the learning standards addressed by the field investigations.

Join the BioBlitz Hoopla
Sci, Tech, CS
Student observe and record all life found within the circle of a hula hoop.

Bug BioBlitz
Sci, Tech, CS
Over a 24-hour period students gather, observe, and identify as many bugs as possible, using one or more suggested methods.

 

Grades K-5

Observing and Recording Habitats
Sci, PBL, CS
Students select a habitat, observe it and record their observations. Students are encouraged to use their five senses in the observation process.  A media gallery and illustration are used as examples for students.

Mapping Biodiversity
Sci, Tech, Math
Students select and map an area. They then practice finding direction, determining scale and identifying human and natural features.

 

 

Grades 6-12

Species Identification
Sci, Tech
Students consult expert resources to identify organisms observed during a plot study, and then use this research to complete student inventory cards that represent the biodiversity of the area studied. 

WildCam Observations
Sci, Tech, CS
Students imagine that they are working on a project to research animal behavior. As part of their research, they then analyze video and record observations.

Plot Study Observations
Sci, Math, CS
Students conduct a plot study to observe and record the presence of all living organisms in a selected  area.

One Small Drop of Water BioBlitz
Sci, Tech, CS
Students use a microscope to inventory organisms found within a drop of water.


 

Resources

Websites

BioBlitz Education
Sci, Tech, Math, CS
Whether participating in a National Geographic/National Park Service BioBlitz or a local schoolyard or park bioblitz, the bioblitz experience helps students study biodiversity firsthand with activities that support students to make observations, record data, understand classification and map their findings.

FieldScope
Sci, Tech, Math
National Geographic FieldScope is a web-based mapping, analysis, and collaboration tool designed to support geographic investigations and engage students as citizen scientists investigating real-world topics - both in the classroom and in outdoor education settings.

Project Noah
Sci, Tech, CS
Project Noah is a tool to explore and document wildlife and a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere. Schools, classrooms and students can launch missions to document local plants and animals identified during a schoolyard bioblitz.

Encyclopedia of Life
Sci, Tech, CS
Educators and students can work within the Encyclopedia of Life to create a collection of schoolyard bioblitz results, generate a field guide to share with the community, and listen to a collection of podcasts that will familiarize students with the diversity of life on Earth.



Books

 

Schoolyard-Enhanced Learning: Using the Outdoors as an Instructional Tool, K-8
Sci, Tech, Math
Schoolyard-Enhanced Learning shows how the school grounds-regardless of whether your school is in an urban, suburban or rural setting-can become an enriching extension of the classroom.

Discovering the Naturalist Intelligence: Science in the Schoolyard
Sci, Math
This teacher resource provides more than 30 outdoor lessons, each including a list of intelligences used, literature entry points, curriculum extensions, assessments that check for understanding, reflection prompts for journals and clear directions for teachers.

No Student Left Indoors: Creating a Field Guide to Your Schoolyard
Sci, Tech, PBL
This is a project for a class, grade, or entire school. It can be a long-term project based on inquiry, investigation, and hands-on learning. The multidisciplinary project connects science, language arts, history, creative arts, and technology.


 
 

Games & Apps

Project Noah
Sci, Tech, CS
Project Noah is a tool to explore and document wildlife and a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere. Available for iPhone and Android.

 

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