Alana

In terms of assessment, it's always a challenging one, as comprehension is sometimes hard to gauge. The rubrics presented are wonderful. I thought having the other students provide feedback was also a good idea. It would be interesting to have a "speciliast" come in an provide an outside opinion/advice as well.

eBird has always been intriguing to me and it was lovely to spend a bit of time becoming familiar with all the various options. I found the website user friendly and the data "approachable" and well laid out. It appears as though anyone with an account can access the information with ease. All the species information was compiled in an easy to find format and the photographs are a phenomenal advantage. The addition of maps and bar charts helps with visualization and understanding of the data and it's processing.

I have been using Seek by iNaturalist since last week's introductory meeting and am really enjoying it. I like how it will bring up suggestions for where you are and what else to look for. So far, I have no complaints about its ease of use. I can see how the various badges that are acquired could help to motivate students to keep looking. It helps to introduce Kingdom Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus & Species to budding naturalists. I am a bit old fashioned and love a really good guide book, but I feel like the app and a guide book could compliment each other, with the photo being used for identification and the guide book helping to supplement information about the finding. I do think that its use is limited in lower income schools, as you need access to the app and a phone/camera.

We need to be non-judgmental and opening to all observations. We need to encourage that not knowing the answer is a good thing. One of my favourite things to say is "I don't know", why don't we try to figure that out together! We need to help students to think in terms of theories and hypothesis vs only right and wrong. We need to expose them to the wonders of nature (as cheesy as that sounds! ;-)).

Such a beneficial project to have the students share their new found knowledge with the public and be able to actually make a difference and raise awareness!

I believe that all three practises are important for different reasons. Having the students know that they are doing science and that their findings are actually getting used, gives them a wonderful sense of empowerment. It's amazing what kids can come up with if we give them the independence. Framing the work globally and locally helps them see how they can make a difference as an individual. Attending to the unexpected can be a challenging mindset to get across, but an important one to learn early on. I really like the philosophy of "there is no right answer" and "we don't know what we will find", to me, that is the excitement of science!

What a wonderful way for young children to explore the association between bill shape and diet, all the while approaching it as a fun game!

I help co-lead an extracurricular lunchtime class for the grade twos in an elementary school in Canada. We did a Roots & Shoots program (Jane Goodall Institute) and had the kids brainstorm a variety of ways that as individuals and groups they could help locally, having a positive impact on the environment, the flora & fauna within and the people. The kids noted that there was a lot of cement around the school and not too many places that were wildlife friendly. They were primarily concerned about the lack of shelters for wildlife. We were in the process of observing the environment around school and noting which bird species frequented the area. They were also beginning to notice if they saw the same birds at home as they did around the school (lots of magpies were noted around the school ;-). The students were going to research which of the birds they had seen (native vs introduced) and were hoping to build bird shelters for the species that required the most help. Covid hit and schools have been closed since March. Fingers crossed we can continue this project when/if they re-open.