Biodiversity: Organisms as Tools for Discovery

Thank you for an outstanding field day!

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The W.K. Kellogg Biological Station K-12 Partnership presents our spring workshop, Biodiversity and Organisms as Tools for Discovery, in two parts!

1. Plenary with Dr. Alisha Shah, hosted via Zoom, April 11, 4:30-6 pm
2. Field Day, IN-PERSON at Kellogg Bird Sanctuary on Saturday, April 23 from 10 am – 3pm.

DRAFT Agenda – April 23 Field Day

9:45-10am Arrival at Kellogg Bird Sanctuary

10:00 am Opening Session

Setting Group Norms and Expectations (Auditorium, Kara)
Movement activity: What is a Wildlife corridor?
Research spotlight 1; Kyle Jaynes, Share with us how biodiversity intersects with your research on endangered frog populations

10:15-11:15 Bird Adaptation Walk, aka Kellogg Bird Sanctuary Intro Hike

Observing an organism’s characteristics is a great way to learn about how it lives and are used by scientists for categorization. In small groups we’ll take a walk to observe the birds of the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, including waterfowl, birds of prey and upland game. We’ll look closely at the birds feet and beaks give us clues to what they eat!!

11:15am BREAK

11:30- Noon Implications for Teaching (Kara): In small grade-level groups, we’ll discuss and debrief the implications of field ecology for learners and three-dimensional, Next Generation Science Standards aligned learning

Noon-12:30 Lunch

12:30-2 Measuring Biodiversity Rotations: In small groups we’ll spend 30 minutes participating in collecting data with the techniques and tools listed:

Plants (Robin): measuring floral diversity with two types of sampling: Quadrat and Transects
Insects (Kyle): measuring insect diversity with sweep nets and pitfall traps
Birds (Elizeth): measuring bird diversity via point counts

2-2:30 Research spotlight 2 & 3; Elizeth Cinto Mejia and Robin Waterman will share with us how biodiversity intersects with their research

2:30-3 Networking and Evaluation: Whole group and small group networking activities to support participants in thinking about applying what they have experienced in their classrooms

3 pm Adjourn

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Send questions to the KBS K-12 Partnership team! k12partnership (at) kbs.msu.edu

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KBS K-12 Partnership offers professional development in science teaching! Learn more about the KBS K-12 Partnership.

The KBS K-12 Partnership is funded through the KBS Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) and the Michigan State University Graduate School

New to the Partnership? Learn more here.