Digital Biology - All About Your Environment

Step 1: Choose Your Organism

Students need to choose a plant or animal to research. Begin by introducing unique characteristics of your local environment. Have the class research the following:

What is the local weather like? Is it hot, cold, dry, wet?
What type of biome is it? Desert, ocean, mountains, plains
What challenges do plants or animals have to overcome to survive in the environment?
What adaptations or traits do those organisms have to help them survive?

Have the students explore and observe the environment - this can be done through nature walks, trips to parks, zoos, or gardens that highlight local species (take your Flip along with you for footage you may use later).

Have students select a plant or animal to research.

Step 2: Research & Pre-production

Use information literacy skills to help the students locate the organism's range, traits, adaptations, and ethnobiology (how humans interact with the species). Possible research sources should come from a variety of areas including print, electronic, interviews with experts, first hand observation, etc. Whenever possible use the Flip cameras to document the research. Create a storyboard that includes the following components:

- Introduction to the species (lifespan, physical traits, appearance, diet)
- Habitat - Range and other specific living area needs
- Explanation of adaptions (including anatomic structure, reproduction, defenses from other organisms, etc)
- Ethnobiology - How humans interact with the species (do we eat it, use its parts for other reasons, avoid it, include it in our culture, etc)

Step 3: Production

Use the Flip camera to film the various components in the storyboard. Use a video editing program if desired to "polish" the final project.

Step 4: Publishing

This is one of the most important steps. Find a way to publish their work whether it be online through a class webpage or a program such as TeacherTube, or even locally by burning a copy of the video or showing it to the class or school. Allow your students to be broadcast so that they can share their new found knowledge with their classmates, their families, and perhaps our entire global community.