a day in the life of a horny toad, and then a year in the life of a horny toad. Next, we work on our reading. When you try to read a field guide, just about every word is hard, and every sentence is difficult. So we put notes in the margins, look up new words, and turn what we read into lists and tables. We compare what we read to what we first imagined about the animals, and, after we collect data, we compare our data to what we read. Later, students use their experience with the horny toads to practice various kinds of writing: instructions to capture a lizard, a persuasive paragraph on the same topic, a description of horny toads’ resemblance to a dirt clod, an explanation of how this ap- pearance benefits the lizards.
Trend Spotting
Each student works with one farmer. On a given day, the farmers come to the school with the data they’ve collected, help students find their fields on a series of maps, and arrange their data in tables. This information tells us where, when, and how many horny toads the farmers see. Then we see whether the data can answer ques- tions: Where are the horny toads the most com- mon? When are the horny toads most likely to be in their fields?
We plot each
sighting on a computer map, then put all the associated infor- mation on a large spreadsheet. From the spreadsheet, students select data
to answer a question they have and use the computer to make a graph of the information. They scrutinize graphs for clarity and then write an analysis of the results, thus demonstrating a state standard -- analyzing data through graphing. This year, for the first time, we were able to overlay aerial photos of the farmers’ lands onto the maps. Several farmers worked with students to plot very exact horny toad sightings. We also decide what information is useful and what isn’t,
and we design the data sheet that farmers will use to collect data for next year’s class. We also talk about the value of collecting the same data year after year to capture trends. NatureMapping also finds researchers who can help us plan studies to answer new questions as we think of them. Recent grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sup-
plied the classroom with computers and computer support so the students can use geographic information systems (GIS) to look at data over time and space, and overlay it onto aerial photographs. But even without these tools, NatureMapping would be possible. For example, one year, my students wanted to know what happened to our lizards during the winter. We started by con- sulting our field guide, which says they dig down about 2 inches and partially freeze. The soil-conservation agency, however, says that frost levels in our part of Washington reach an average of 18
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inches below the surface. Do the lizards dig deeper than the field guide says? Or do they have something that keeps them warm? Do some end up freezing to death? To answer these questions, the kids made an 18-inch-high pen of chicken wire with a wood floor and sank it into the ground. In October, we placed two lizards inside the pen. They immediately burrowed underground. When spring came, the students carefully dug out the pen with teaspoons. One horny toad had disap- peared, but the other was flattened on the floor of the pen, having dug far beyond 2 inches specified in the field guide; it looked like it had tried to go even lower, may- be beneath the frost layer. We learned we should have made the pen higher, and the students gained a better sense of what “average” really means. This year, we’re gluing radio transmitters onto a few lizards so we can track where they burrow for the winter. Then we’ll see how deep they go and how they survive. This project continually strengthens ties between the school and the community. I don’t really teach my students mapping; the farmers do. For these people who work the land, anything connected with it is interesting; they’ll sometimes call one an- other to find out how many lizards other farmers have seen.
Students practice using radio telemetry so they’ll be able to track short-horned lizards when the animals burrow underground for the winter. Credit: Edutopia
A highlight of the year comes when students present their findings to the farmers, who get to see an analysis of the data they’ve been collecting in their fields. This involvement makes the students take their work more seriously; they perform tasks considered beyond the abilities of children at their grade level, like mapping data to find trends over time, or going to scientific conferences, which has become so commonplace that we’ve developed a system to figure out who gets to go. In September, students often walk into the classroom asking, “Where are we go- ing to present this year?” Not a bad way to begin a school term.
Diane Petersen is a teacher at Waterville Elementary School.
Visit the NatureMapping website at
http://naturemappingfoundation.org/natmap/ www.clearingmagazine.org/online CLEARING 2011
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