        
|
|
Supplemental Resources:
Integrating the Young Naturalist Awards into Your Science Curriculum
We've spoken with teachers throughout the country to learn how they integrate the Young Naturalist Awards competition into their science curriculum. Some teachers make it a semester or year-long project and require each student in their class to participate. Others suggest the contest to students in their science clubs or present it as an extra credit project. Engaging your students in independent research in the natural world might seem daunting. Dividing the entire project into smaller tasks that students can complete over the course of the school year or even just one single semester makes it much more doable. See Sample Schedule...
Below is a step-by-step guide for conducting the YNA competition with your students.
Step 1: Introduce the contest to students
Additional Tips
Collaborate with other teachers or with environmental groups
You can maximize the impact of the project by inviting teachers in other disciplines to work with you and your students. Consider collaborating with English, math, computer technology or art teachers. Members of local environmental groups are often more than happy to offer their services. They can do class presentations, conduct field trips and/or provide expert knowledge in specific areas.
Have students keep a nature journal
Journaling is a good way for students to begin to connect to the natural world, to learn its patterns and to keep accurate data important to their research project. Discuss the purpose of a nature journal with students. Show them sample journal pages and have them identify the different kinds of information found in them and how that information might be useful. Conduct several journaling expeditions to a local park or the school's backyard. This should be an opportunity for students to observe, write down their observations, and perhaps sketch what they see.
Note: A good journaling resource is Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You by Clare Walker Leslie, Charles E. Roth
Sketching or Photography
Using photos and sketches will help bring students' research to life. Point out to students that sketches and photographs serve multiple purposes. They may be observational data, they may reveal interpretation of evidence collected and serve to provide the reader with a visual that will help him or her understand the topic and point of view more fully. Through sketching an object or animal, students become more aware of details that they would otherwise miss if they were simply observing. You might consider partnering with your school's art teacher for a lesson on sketching natural objects. Or you might conduct an activity in class. Bring in small items: rocks, leaves, twigs, seed pods, etc. (one per student) Call on students to sketch the object in detail. Then, invite several volunteers to display their illustrations. Discuss with the class whether sketching the object made them more aware of its details and whether they learned anything new about their objects. Refer students to the artwork pictured in the essays of the Young Naturalist winners.
If possible, have a photographer visit your class to give tips on how to take meaningful photographs. If that is not possible, go over some points with the students yourself.
This may be the first time students in 7th or 8th grade will conduct research in the natural world. Many teachers like to engage students' families in this activity in order to help students along. This can be accomplished by sending a letter home outlining the project and inviting parents to be of assistance. See Family Letter...
We've spoken with teachers throughout the country to learn how they integrate the Young Naturalist Awards competition into their science curriculum. Some teachers make it a semester or year-long project and require each student in their class to participate. Others suggest the contest to students in their science clubs or present it as an extra credit project. Engaging your students in independent research in the natural world might seem daunting. Dividing the entire project into smaller tasks that students can complete over the course of the school year or even just one single semester makes it much more doable. See Sample Schedule...
Below is a step-by-step guide for conducting the YNA competition with your students.
Step 1: Introduce the contest to students
- Introduce the Young Naturalist Awards Contest. Display the 2009 YNA poster (available on our website or from the YNA administrator, yna@amnh.org). Review the key steps of scientific inquiry. If you choose, send a letter home to families. See Family Letter...
- Choose one or two essays (at near the grade level you teach) of past winners for students to read. Discuss the essays and have students identify the steps each winner took in conducting his or her investigation. Ask students to describe strengths and weaknesses of the essays.
- Take a class outing to a local natural setting (park, school yard, etc.) Have students spend 15-20 minutes simply observing. Have them take notes and make drawings, documenting what they see, hear, smell, and feel. Have them write down any questions that arise.
- Back in the classroom discuss with students what they observed. Discuss what questions came up.
- As a homework assignment, have students spend 15-20 minutes in a natural setting of their choice. Have them observe, take notes and make drawings documenting what they see, hear, smell and feel. Have them write down any questions that arise.
Have students share their observations and any questions that came up. Discuss what makes a good scientific question. Write the following statements on the board:
1. A good scientific question is one that can be answered.
For example, a bad question might be: Why is there air? This is not a question that you would be able to answer. A good question might be: Is air near busy streets polluted? Have students suggest some scientific questions that they could answer.
2. A good scientific question can be tested by experimenting, observing, measuring, or by obtaining data from a scientific model.
"How big is the Universe?" is not a good question, because you cannot observe or measure it. "Is Stone Creek polluted?" is a good question because you can test the water for pollution. Ask students to identify ways some of the questions suggested for #1 can be tested.
3. A good scientific question builds on what you already know.
Point out that knowing something about the topic you intend to investigate will help you formulate a good scientific question and a hypothesis to investigate.
4. A good scientific question, when answered, leads to other good questions.
If you chose a good question to investigate, other good questions will come up during your research. Distribute What Makes a Good Scientific Question? to students.
- With students, read, "Selecting a Project" in the guidelines section. Call on them to brainstorm topics that might be suitable for the Young Naturalist Awards competition. When students are done, review each topic and have them think of a question about the topic that they might want to answer. Discuss whether or not each question is a good scientific question.
- Have each student choose a topic to investigate and formulate a question they want to find the answer to. Encourage students to look beyond the typical project (i.e., why leaves turn color in the fall, why mushrooms grow in my backyard) unless it is one that really interests and motivates them and one to which they can add their own personal insights and voice. Review students' questions and help them refine them if necessary. Distribute Researching a Question to students. Have students begin filling it out.
- Have students do some preliminary research on their topic at home, in school or at the local library. Remind them that they should consult a variety of sources. They should utilize websites, scientific books, and journals. They may also find an expert on the subject to interview. The research provides the necessary background information that students need. It will help them refine the question they want answered and formulate a strong hypothesis that will be the focus of their investigation. Remind students to keep records of the books, journals, and websites they consult. They will need them for their bibliography.
- With students, read "What is a hypothesis?" in the guidelines section. Discuss with students how the hypotheses they formulate are testable answers to their scientific questions. Tell students when they formulate a hypothesis they should think about the kinds of answers they could expect and what experiments, observations, or measurements they would need to do to get those answers. Have them consider whether they have the needed time, materials and data to support or disprove their hypotheses. Students should formulate their hypotheses and record them on the Researching a Question sheet.
- Call on a volunteer to share his or her question and hypothesis. Write them on the board. Explain that the next step will be to begin collecting evidence that will help prove the hypothesis. Ask students what evidence they would need to collect to prove the hypothesis that was presented. Have them identify the evidence needed (data), the equipment needed to collect the data, and where, when and over what time period the data will need to be collected. Write responses on the board and discuss them.
Then have students identify the information each needs to prove his/her hypothesis, the equipment needed to collect the data, and where, when, and over what time period the data will be collected. Remind students of the various strategies that exist to obtain the data they need: field study, experimentation, secondary research (researching in journals and online to obtain data that has been collected by others), scientific modeling. Discuss how they might combine different strategies. Have students describe the evidence they need as well as the strategy(ies) they will use to obtain the evidence on the Researching a Question sheet. - Answer any questions students have. Explain that students are now well prepared to conduct their research independently.
- After students have collected their evidence, they are ready to analyze their data and draw conclusions.
- Call on volunteers to describe their questions, hypotheses, methods and data they've collected. Discuss what their evidence shows and whether it supports or rejects their hypotheses. Remind students that reviewing their methods is key in order to ensure that their data are sound. Discuss how rejecting a hypothesis based on the evidence collected is just as valid as supporting one. When a hypothesis is rejected that particular explanation or answer to the question can be ruled out.
Have students work with partners to review each other's data and discuss their analyses. - Encourage students to share any new questions that arose during their investigation.
- With students, review Presenting Your Findings in the contest guidelines. Discuss with the class ways they might structure their essays. Remind students that their work needs to have a strong personal voice—a description of their investigations told by them in their own words. Review How to Avoid Plagiarism on the YNA Web site. (Students need to be reminded that plagiarism is a very serious offense.) Distribute Essay Checklist. Have students write a first draft.
- Review each essay and make comments on the essay's strong and weak points as well as ways the essay might be improved. The student should use these comments to revise the essay.
- The second draft should have the artwork in place, as well as the bibliography (written according to the style on the YNA Web site). You may want to have students work in groups to review essays and to offer constructive suggestions for improving them.
- Review the final draft. (If the essays are graded, the grades should not be sent along with the entry form.) Students read over the entry form, fill it out, and sign it. The teacher completes Part II and sends the essays to the Young Naturalist Awards.
Additional Tips
Collaborate with other teachers or with environmental groups
You can maximize the impact of the project by inviting teachers in other disciplines to work with you and your students. Consider collaborating with English, math, computer technology or art teachers. Members of local environmental groups are often more than happy to offer their services. They can do class presentations, conduct field trips and/or provide expert knowledge in specific areas.
Have students keep a nature journal
Journaling is a good way for students to begin to connect to the natural world, to learn its patterns and to keep accurate data important to their research project. Discuss the purpose of a nature journal with students. Show them sample journal pages and have them identify the different kinds of information found in them and how that information might be useful. Conduct several journaling expeditions to a local park or the school's backyard. This should be an opportunity for students to observe, write down their observations, and perhaps sketch what they see.
Note: A good journaling resource is Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You by Clare Walker Leslie, Charles E. Roth
Sketching or Photography
Using photos and sketches will help bring students' research to life. Point out to students that sketches and photographs serve multiple purposes. They may be observational data, they may reveal interpretation of evidence collected and serve to provide the reader with a visual that will help him or her understand the topic and point of view more fully. Through sketching an object or animal, students become more aware of details that they would otherwise miss if they were simply observing. You might consider partnering with your school's art teacher for a lesson on sketching natural objects. Or you might conduct an activity in class. Bring in small items: rocks, leaves, twigs, seed pods, etc. (one per student) Call on students to sketch the object in detail. Then, invite several volunteers to display their illustrations. Discuss with the class whether sketching the object made them more aware of its details and whether they learned anything new about their objects. Refer students to the artwork pictured in the essays of the Young Naturalist winners.
If possible, have a photographer visit your class to give tips on how to take meaningful photographs. If that is not possible, go over some points with the students yourself.
- The quality of the photographs are more important than the quantity.
- The photographs should be in focus.
- The subject should be large enough to see it clearly. (A tiny speck in the sky circled on a photo does not give the reader an inkling of what the bird looks like.) If your subject is far away, try to take a picture through a telephoto lens.
- The photos should relate to specific passages in your essay. (If you are writing about a beaver dam, then a clear, focused photo of a beaver dam could be used.)
This may be the first time students in 7th or 8th grade will conduct research in the natural world. Many teachers like to engage students' families in this activity in order to help students along. This can be accomplished by sending a letter home outlining the project and inviting parents to be of assistance. See Family Letter...
