Investigating Biodiversity in your schoolyard

LEARNING GOALS
This activity is designed to increase student's critical thinking skills.
This activity is designed to enhance student's observation skills.
This activity is designed to increase student's field techniques.

VOCABULARY
Biodiversity
Monoculture
Diversity
Ecosystem
Habitats
Biome
Sustainability
Ecosystem diversity → Species diversity → Genetic diversity
Ecological succession
Soil seed bank
Exotic species/Introduced species

KEY CONCEPTS
What is biodiversity?
How can developments be improved for biodiversity?
How do plant monocultures affect biodiversity of living organisms?

I believe this activity could be used as low as fifth grade. I will be using this with classes that range in numbers from 34-36, 11th and 12th grade students in a public high school. This will be used as a field lab followed up with a data collection and a PowerPoint presentation. I plan on spending four days with one additional day as a backup; one day on field work, two days on identification and digital photo downloading and PowerPoint design, and the last day on presentations. Students will need access to digital cameras and one hundred feet of rope with stakes to set out a transect line. The teacher may want to set this up ahead of time or if encouraging the students in using inquiry methods the students will select and set up their transect line. The teacher must be aware of any hazards on their school yard and I would recommend the teacher to walk the entire school grounds before hand so they can warn students of any hazards. The teacher should also inquire with the nurse as to any students with allergies (Bee Stings) and should let the office know of their whereabouts on that particular day. A portable radio or cell phone will aid in emergency contact if necessary. After the initial lab students will need access to a computer lab. I believe this activity could be modified to any location that has green space.

Prior to the lesson students need to know how to use a digital camera and PowerPoint software. The students will have previous lessons on biodiversity and monocultures. Prior to the day of the activity the students will be told they will be performing a biodiversity lab and should wear proper attire for going outside. They will also be assigned into groups of three by the teacher. Each group will be given a transect line which consists of one hundred feet of rope attached to two stakes, a digital camera, and each student will need to bring their science journal. The rope will have tape markers every two feet to serve as a distance reference for the students. Prior to going out the groups should be reminded that they should only document living things that are on their transect line. The students should be reminded to keep their collection methods consistent. The groups of students will then go outside, unwind and mark off their transect line. They should photograph all species encountered and if the know them, name them in their journal as well as document the distance from the stake using the markers. They do not need to duplicate a species once it is entered into their journal and photographed. They only need to concentrate on new individuals. If they cannot get a photograph of an animal they should try to name it if they know it or describe what it looked or sounded like and I we will try identify and find a picture of it at a later date. Once complete with the one hundred foot transect, the students will come back to the room and can start to ID or download the pictures. The following day the students will continue to ID, download pictures, and enter them into a PowerPoint presentation. The students will be presenting this information to their classmates on the final day. The final day students will also investigate how the study was done, how their observation skills changed and how their results compared to other groups. We will investigate how developments can be improved for biodiversity and how our school yard fits this model.

This activity was modified from the BioBlitz taught to us by Mink Link at the Secondary Biology/Environmental Science Teacher Institute at the Audubon Center of the North Woods in Sandstone MN.

I believe outdoor safety is the biggest issue.

Student log and journal entries
Digital photo presentation (Powerpoint or Keynote)
Lab report of the number of species found
Additional multiple hypotheses with proposed procedures for their completion

GRADE 9-12 / IV. LIFE SCIENCE / C. Interdependence of Life
GRADE 9-12 / IV. LIFE SCIENCE / F. Flow of Matter and Energy