PD: Citizen Based Monitoring in the Classroom

Within a visit to the UW-Waukesha Field Station (the location where I am planning on hosting student field work) I learned of an opportunity for a class presented by the DNR on citizen based monitoring.  I hadn't encountered citizen based monitoring in any of my educational training, so I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to learn (and even better in our backyard).  I hadn't realized that a significant amount of species data collection in the state of Wisconsin (like other states) was done by citizens like you and me.  What a great idea to get students outside, interested, and involved!

This opportunity provided me with the confidence to take my students on field trips.  Our week long course served as my "dry run" for these trips.  Logistics are going to be difficult next year because I have the problem that all teachers want to have....the amount of students taking the AP Environmental Science course DOUBLED between last year and this year.  I am very excited about the relationship that's forming between the UW-Waukesha Field Station and our school district.  It has been a fantastic opportunity serving on the Strategic Planning Committee for the field station alongside UW-Waukesha Administration, Faculty, and UW-Extension staff.  Having spent a week at the field station I was able to provide ample feedback for future events held at the field station.

At this week long professional development we were introduced to NUMEROUS citizen science projects that occur throughout the state ranging from rivers/streams to lakes, turtles, frogs, snakes, birds, invasive plants, mussles, dragonfly, damselfy, and bats (I'm sure I'm missing a few).  I was able to walk away with Project Wet/Project Wild/Project Aquatic training, a tremendous amount of curricular materials, and the confidence to open up my students eyes to the world around them.  I have access to a wealth of knowledge from both written publications along with DNR staff that are a phone call away.  Part of the course (to receive 2cr) was to create a lesson plan and a presentation on how we were going to use these materials in our classroom.  I have included the link to the presentation which includes the link to my lesson plan.   I look forward to sharing our experiences throughout the school year. http://goo.gl/1YcpLC






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