North Cedar Elementary, Cedar Falls IA
Collaborate with scientists at the Amazon Research Initiative for Educators in the Peruvian Amazon to experience field research that fits will within the context of developing global perspectives, understanding biodiversity and ecological systems, and inquiry-based learning for gifted learners.
I was able to spend 10 days in the Peruvian Amazon at a remote field station. This gave me a close up view of the amazing Amazon Rainforest. There is a canopy walkway system that allows scientists to climb up to 118 feet above the forest floor.
Once I got into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, the only way around is by foot or in a boat. I traveled on four different rivers and one un named creek to arrive at the ACTS Field Station - the Itaya, the Amazon, the Napo, and the Sucasari.
During this time, I was able to work along side field researchers to conduct an orchid bee diversity study. We worked to attract and capture orchid bees, tracking which scent preferences they showed. I collected about 70ft up in the canopy.
At the end of the study, we had collected and identified 101 orchid bees from the forest floor and the canopy. Three of five expected genuses were present. This collection will end up at the National Museum in Lima, Peru.
We also had a chance to visit a village of the indigenous Maijuna people. We learned about their stingless bee honey productions and how they use the fibers from chambira palms to create a number of useful and craft items.
The Amazon rainforest is an amazing place and its beauty is evident at sunrise, sunset, and all the time in between. It's a place that needs to be understood and protected.
One main reason I wanted to participate in this experience was to directly participate in field research in an effort to really understand what that process looks and feels like. I want to take that and help me help my students participate in authentic research experiences themselves. The chance to work with experienced tropical researchers from study design all the way to the writing of the field report was truly the biggest learning I got. My knowledge has grown tremendously in this area.
I learned that I am a scientist. Obviously, I am a teacher, and one that enjoys challenging my students to make sense of the world. However, it's not often that I get to step completely into the role of scientist - to plan a field investigation, carry it out, then write a field report for publication. This has given me a whole new perspective on how to investigate and make sense of our world. I have a new confidence in leading my students to think critically and seek understanding.
One amazing thing that came out of this experience was the fact that I left the jungle with a solid framework for a unit that would tie directly to this experience that I plan to use with my students this school year. One of the main outcomes of this PD was to get to work side by side with field researchers to learn what that work really entails. I got to do that to its fullest, but I didn't know how much emphasis there would be on leveraging the experience to create lessons while on site.
Now that I have spent the time in the Amazon and worked with field reserachers, I have a better handle on what that type of work is like. Now, my plan is to collaborate with sixth grade teachers as they plan their authentic learning units through the year. I would plan to present to students the work I did with orchid bees, stressing that we were really working to better understand the local environment. I then want to use this example to help students plan and carry out their own research.
As stated above, I hope to use this experience as a solid example of what field research looks like. I will then guide students into asking questions about natural world that exists outside our school. From there, I hope students can use my example to plan and carry out a field research project that answers one of the questions they came up with. In order to make it authentic, we'll also work to determine a real audience for the results of their research and implications of the findings.
Through this experience, I've made connections with researchers who use camera traps to inventory species diversity in a certain area. I am working on a plan to do a similar, yet much smaller scale, project with students at my school. This would take place in a natural resources area that is adjacent to the school building and is managed by a local agency. My plan is to partner with this agency and seek funding to purchase camera traps to begin to inventory the wildlife that lives nearby.