Ecological Field Study

Task

The study is designed so that students uncover relationships between biomes, energy and climate. Their question was: “Knowing that going up 300 meters is like going 950 Kilometers north, can we learn anything about northern biomes by making observations as we walk up a slope?”

This High School Science study was collaboratively designed by:

• High School science teachers
• Environmental educator with the Biogeoscience Institute University of Calgary Field Station at Kananaskis
• Biologist
• Galileo Educational Network

The following characteristics of Discipline-based inquiry in a high school study are an intentional part of the study design. These are captured in the video below.

• Authenticity
  • Study topic originates with the issues, problems and questions that ecological scientists engage in regularly
  • Students work in the environment under study
  • Students are required to present their research findings and conclusions to contribute to scientific knowledge
• Academic Rigor
  • Time to observe and question an expert in climate research
  • Designing student tasks that require multiple perspectives and plan for multiple ways to engage with content and multiple ways to express understandings
  • Risk taking and exploration of new ideas, as do ecological scientists
  • Students use the scientific process to pose and test hypotheses
• Assessment
  • Examining criteria of expert work, to develop their own criteria for assessment
  • Ongoing descriptive feedback through teacher observations and peer feedback to weave assessment throughout the inquiry process
• Beyond the school
  • Study requires students to develop and enact organizational and self management skills including designing for their data collection and analysis
  • Teamwork and collaboration are required to complete their tasks
• Appropriate uses of technology
  • Students use the same technologies used by the field station scientists including humidity and temperature instruments
  • Spreadsheets and data management software are required to organize and analyze date
• Active Exploration
  • Field work is required
  • Students’ contributing their own data into the provincial data base for use by scientists
  • Intentional planning for increased student engagement
• Connecting with expertise
  • Students were required to observe and interact with working scientists
  • The experts were integrally involved in the study design and implementation
• Elaborated Communication
  • Students’ own ideas matter
  • Student and teacher reflections and feedback informs the study design and assessment
  • Student and teacher work is more transparent through documenting the study and data collection and presentation
  • Students design, test and adjust their own hypotheses