The students at Opeongo High School have an opportunity to experience an outdoors course called OSPREY in their Grade 11 or 12 year. OSPREY is an all-day program that focuses on field research techniques in ecology including data collection and analysis, specifically pond and bird identification studies. There are also a number of outdoor excursions, including daily excursions to the Opeongo High School woodlot, wilderness canoe tripping, forest management and survey techniques. In the past, the program has been bundled in a three-credit or four-credit combination. We would like to develop our own locally developed course that could replace one of the bundled credits, and that focuses on wildlife and research skills. In addition, we would like to enhance the student data collection techniques by using new technologies that improve collection and data analysis.
Team Members
Tim Demmons
Renfrew County District School Board
Cheryl Welbanks
Renfrew County District School Board
Professional Learning Goals
- Used information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance teaching and learning
- Enhanced student data collection with technology
- Increased student engagement
- Developed a rich course content based on wildlife identification techniques
- Developed authentic research skills in students that will support their secondary and post-secondary education
Activities and Resources
The equipment purchased through our TLC grant has allowed us to meet all of the learning goals outlined in our project proposal.
After contacting our liaison (Peter Beens), we were able to change some of our proposed purchases, allowing us to outfit the students with whistles and batteries for our walkie-talkies (for safety whenever we were collecting data in our woodlot) and waterproof field notebooks for data recording. The digital camera and batteries (purchased in lieu of camera-binoculars on the recommendation of a researcher) have allowed students to document their research and activities, and use their photos in project presentations, as well as send some photos to our local newspaper. The digital microscopes allowed students (and me!), for the first time, to easily electronically share their images of aquatic insects, for example, in order to develop resources and presentations in order to teach their peers about the identification of particular species. Remote game cameras have been in constant use since their purchase and we have photos of rabbits, foxes, a coyote, ravens and raccoons that visited the trails behind the school at night.
In working on this project, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a number of excellent people who shared their knowledge with me. Foremost among these folks was Shandy Labine, an instructor at the Algonquin College campus in Pembroke. Shandy teaches a course entitled “Wildlife for Naturalists,” and she was happy to share her knowledge and resources with me. From her course materials involving the diversity of mammal, fish, reptile and amphibian life in Ontario, to her ideas for resources to purchase for the project, her contribution was invaluable.
Unexpected Challenges
N/A
Enhancing Student Learning and Development
In short, all of the equipment purchased by the TLC grant was used to enhance student engagement in outdoor data collection and research. As well, equipment such as the game cameras allowed students to view animals visiting our school at night. It was exciting every morning to collect the SD cards from the cameras and see what wildlife was on the school property the night before.
Students have really enjoyed being able to share their own digital photographs and digital microscope images with other students, and have been able to use them to enhance presentations and reports.
In my experience, students prefer to learn about biology in the outdoors instead of in the classroom. The equipment purchased with this grant has provided students with the ability to perform outdoor research in a safe manner, and collect data which would have previously been impossible to obtain.
Sharing
In our school, I have shared our idea for the creation of a wildlife and research course with administration and staff at staff meetings. As our pilot project this year was (I believe!) very successful, we are working on a formal proposal to be submitted to the Ministry of Education to allow us to offer the wildlife and research course as an interdisciplinary studies course.
Project Evaluation
I believe that we have demonstrated convincingly the benefits to students of learning in an outdoor environment, and have developed safety standards and program ideas sufficient to move to the next step of formalizing our wildlife and research course by applying to the Ministry of Education to have it recognized as an interdisciplinary course.
Resources Used
Using the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s excellent website (link below), students learned the songs of all of the bird species that breed in the area. Students conducted early morning “point counts” to measure bird diversity and density on the school property. In total, students learned the songs of 70 species of birds.