I think I can

Mission Creek, the riparian habitat most of my students researched and presented.

The Marine biology station about which I thought they would make their presentation.

Sea kayaking from Friday Harbor. This was another chance to research about intertidal zones.


The desert center in Osoyoos. Two students made presentations about this habitat.


Snowshoeing at Crystal mountain. None of my students made presentations about this habitat either.

I decided this week that I really can use online data in my grade 11 classes. I have been meaning to include stream ecology as part of my grade 11 biology class, but knew that the provincially mandated curriculum really does not include water quality in any of the courses I teach. The concept of making room for something I really enjoy has been germinating for two years - since I took Streamside Science in the summer of 2007. Last summer I took Teaching Ecology, and renewed my conviction to include a more hands-on ecology unit, so I made plans to include a student-generated habitat presentation this spring as a culminating activity. Since I take my grade 11 students to Rosario beach each year, I rather expected that several students would choose to present information about the inter-tidal zone. No one did. Two looked at the desert habitat near Osoyoos which we toured, but most explored the riparian habitat surrounding the river near our school.

Each year I try to improve each of my courses, so this upcoming year I'm going to make a few changes to the major field trip I plan with the class. First, I will tell them about their presentation, complete with the grading rubric, at the beginning of the course. Second, I will remind them as we snowshoe through the alpine habitat that they could use pictures they take, and information both from their textbooks and from other sources to make a presentation on the alpine habitat near our school.

Third, I will add one day (a Sunday) to our four day ecology field trip. This will allow us to continue to include the Osoyoos desert center in our trip, to include a stop in the alpine portion of the north Cascades highway, and to include a little more down time at Rosario marine biology station.


Then, since students are already interested in the riparian habitat, I will include short trips to the water (less than a 5 minute walk from school) during our Terry Fox run in September and during PE training runs once in the winter and once in the spring (assuming that teacher does not object too strenuously). I will be able to have my students work on this project over the course of a year since I teach chemistry as well as math to this same group of students.

Luckily for me I found that the province has a water monitoring station approximately 1km downstream from our collection point, so we should be able to compare our data to the data from the ministry of environment's. I've also found a water monitoring site (World Water Monitoring Day) where my students can share their data with others.

I have been uncomfortable making major changes to a successful program (which our former principal taught for years), but I think a series of small improvements is well within my capabilities. This project will allow me to integrate things I've learned in several of my own classes, and will be a way to help my students make cross-curricular connections as well. I'll adapt and improve my ideas next summer, but this seems like a good start to me.