We ended our workshop with a whopping 1,528 observations and our ratio of research grade: non research grade observations improved significantly from the start of the week to the end. That's a great measure of our success!
Our teachers had such a great time "blitzing" and wanted to continue the fun, so we've extended the closing date for our project through the end of the summer- until August 31st.
We're all looking forward to continuing to learn and explore together.
Today we learned to appreciate the world of mushrooms and lichens. These often-overlooked organisms are a critically important part of every ecosystem and represent a huge amount of biodiversity. They can be found in every color of the rainbow and growing on almost any substrate. This makes them perfect subjects for our continued study of photography and the natural world.
A mushroom is the fruiting body of the fungus and a lichen is a fungus and an algae living in a symbiotic relationship. We learned that new research has discovered fungal yeast may be an additional partner in this cool relationship.
Today's hunting and photographing tips included:
Today's challenge:
Add one (or more) observations of a mushroom and a lichen. Consider the substrate that the specimen is growing on and note this in the comments of your observation.
Classroom activity: "Paint Chip Color Hunt" Send students in the field with a paper paint chip sample (from a hardware store) in any color and challenge them to find that exact color in nature. This is a great way to bring attention to mushrooms and lichen.
Our focus on birds encouraged teachers to explore various habitats around NJ! Smartphone photography of birds can be a challenge so a few strategies we learned were to:
Audio recording are also an excellent way to document evidence of a bird (or frog or insect) and so teachers were challenged to record a call or song and upload it to the project.
Data crunching is an excellent way to engage students in the species they encounter in their local community (or beyond). We explored the utility of the search functions in iNaturalist and teachers created queries to answer a question of their choosing,
Our teachers were challenged to find insects and spiders! These arthropods are found in every nook and cranny of the world and are accessible subjects as we practice our smartphone photography skills.
A few photo techniques that we practiced:
We're seeing a whole new world!
Our teachers are out in force! The tally thus far is 712 observations of 373 different species. Our most common sightings are cottontail rabbit (11) and common milkweed (8). The race for the lead observer continues to be between @alisongillen, @scienceteacher1 and @prosenteach. The final test will be to see who ends this week with the greatest number of Research Grade observations.
Yesterday our teachers were challenged to find representatives from subgroups of the Plant Kingdom and observations of mosses, ferns and gymnosperms and angiosperms took off. We like to remember that all of the tiniest and most overlooked organisms are important components of our ecosystems.
Keep exploring!
Hello Teacher Scholars-
We're thrilled to begin this exploration of the biodiversity of New Jersey (and Vermont!) with you.
We hope that this project will equip you with new skills, resources and inspiration to get you and your students outdoors and exploring in September whether school continues to be virtual or if you're back in your classroom.
It's going to be a fun time! Let's see what we find......
