How are both natural and human forces shaping the land where we live? Using a combination of field ecology in the Schoolyard and land cover change map based activities in the classroom, Teacher Emilie Cushing, will share how she is structuring an exploration into student analysis of how the landscape around her school and town is changing over time. Her students are collecting, recording project data and contributing that information to a region-wide network of Schoolyard field sites based at Harvard Forest. Schoolyard Ecology Program Coordinator, Pamela Snow, will share how teachers in grades 6-12 can participate in the "Our Changing Forest" project or similar work in getting students actively involved in Citizen Science projects led by professional Ecologists and supported year round by education and science staff at an internationally recognized ecological research institution.
Workshop participants will participate in a hands-on activity that involves calculating approximately how much carbon is being stored in the forests in several Massachusetts' towns. Teacher Emilie Cushing developed this activity for use in her classroom and will offer workshop participants the chance to be the students during this workshop. Land Cover Change maps used in this workshop are all available as free downloads online. Many other related free online resources will also be referenced.
