Enhancing Our Outdoor Classroom Studies through Technology

1) Teacher will need to assess students' prior knowledge of elements included in an ecosystem or biome, both biotic (living) and abiotic(non-living) and how they interact within this ecosystem or biome. This can be done through class discussion ( recorded on chart or as a journal reflection), KWL chart (What I Know, What I Want to Know and What I Learned) , a KLEWW chart (What I think I Know, What I Learned, Evidence I collected and What I am still curious about) or any other graphic organizer that will alert teacher to level of understanding of students.
2) Teacher presents the following problem for the students: How can we teach students from another area of our state about the plants, animals and other elements of our schoolyard community ecosystem without them visiting us?
3) Students' responses will vary by experience and understanding. Teacher should share resources available as examples of how we learn about areas we do not personally experience; e.g. books, videos, field guides, hard copies and online.
4) Students brainstorm what they could do...write letters, take photographs, record a video tour, produce a power point, create a schoolyard field guide.
5) Teacher will take students on a brief tour of the schoolyard pointing out primary features such as vegetable gardens, natural areas (woods, scrub, wetlands, plains, fields, etc.) Students are encouraged to share the types of plants and animals they observe on the tour.
6) Students begin research on the plants and animals located in their schoolyard using photographs they take and/or available field guides. Class can be divided into teams of 3-5 members, each conducting research on one area if multiple areas exist, or each team conducts research on the entire ecosystem.
7) Once identified, they should continue research, facilitated by the teacher, to learn how species are interconnected within the ecosystem. Special note should be taken of any migratory species of animals.
8) Once students are familiar with the particulars of the schoolyard ecosystem, they can begin planning their project presentation for their assigned area, including:
a) descriptive name and features, b) Plants and animals found in their designated area, c) Abiotic (non-living) elements in the ecosystem (rocks, fences, bodies of water, etc.)
9) Having determined all of the elements in the ecosystem, students will now begin to plan how they use the cameras to record and/or photograph those identified elements and write scripts to coincide with their visuals.
10) Students will create their culminating project using the chosen format.
11) Final creations will be shared with peers and emailed or posted for the students identified at the outset of the project.
12) Students and teacher revisit the KWL, KLEWW charts, or however background knowledge was recorded, and add the new information as what was learned.