My students need field guides, spotting scopes, an audio recorder for birdsong, notebooks to record data, and digital cameras to study the birds in our urban area.
$1,126 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
"Science is hard." "There is no nature at school." "All birds do is steal my food." I aim to dispel these misconceptions by engaging students with nature in an urban setting, fostering a sense of habitat stewardship, and giving kids the necessary skills and tools to be citizen scientists.
Every August, 1550 children in 7th and 8th grade arrive on our sprawling campus for their junior high adventure.
I claim around 200 of them as mine. In class, I observe students who play with LEGO blocks and draw unicorns seated next to known gang members and drug users. Some have never left our city, and others have crossed many borders escaping violence and persecution. The majority of students speak Spanish and English, with Arabic and Vietnamese increasingly heard. My students face many challenges, including homelessness, poverty, language barriers, deportation, foster care, and jailed family members. For many, school is their safe haven. For 45 minutes a day, kids can step outside their problems and interact with the natural world. When I ask students to describe my class, the most common response is "fun!"
My Project
As a result of this bird awareness project, we will have used the processes of scientific inquiry to investigate and document the diversity of bird species on campus, and made recommendations to the district office concerning landscaping improvements to maximize avian benefits. Using the spotting scopes in conjunction with the nature field guides, students will learn to observe details to classify bird species. Using the notebooks, classes will collect and record data on species sightings and behaviors, as well as which campus plants attract the most birds. Students will use the audio recorder to record the bird songs, while taking pictures of the singing birds to match the song to the correct species using the digital cameras. We will practice diagramming birdsong in our notebooks using the recordings. This interdisciplinary experience will require diverse skills involving math, writing, teamwork, researching, source-evaluating, classifying, graphing and innovating.
Students become ecstatic about two things: going outside, and doing "real science".
This bird project will incorporate both things. Kids will go from thinking science is only done by men in lab coats to realizing that science is part of daily life; from assuming all large birds are eagles to distinguishing between turkey vultures and red-tailed hawks in flight; from thinking of campus as a space without nature to nurturing and protecting the biodiversity surrounding them.
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