“Hang On, This is Full Contact Ecology
(for students and teachers)”
by Dan Bisaccio, Souhegan High School – Amherst, New
Hampshire
(* website for more information: www.sprise.com/shs/habitatnet/default.htm)
This
summer’s Olympic Games aptly taking place in Greece, the games’ home,
celebrates the rich history and tradition of human abilities to transcend past
performance while sharing cross-cultural similarities, hopes, and kinship. So I
begin this article with the word “Ecology” - from the Greek word “oikos” – the study of our house. Schools
at their best become “our house” for culture, society, and for our students’
future. Full contact ecology, within the context of schools, is a way for me to
think of both developing curriculum for my students as well as defining my
professional development as an educator.
A shriek
of joy and triumph was soon followed by a scream of terror, “spiders are all
around us!”
Think
back to when you learned how to ride a bicycle. Perhaps a parent or older
sibling patiently guided you through
to success. Wobbly steering followed by several requisite crashes ultimately
led to your achievement. At some magical point, with the coaching of your
“teacher”, you and only you were able to get all that it takes … the balance,
coordination, and confidence … to ride a bicycle … to head down that road!
This
past January I was thinking about the similarities between learning how to ride
a bicycle and seeing spiders at night in a tropical forest as I took my
Souhegan High School students on a night hike through the forest at El Eden
Ecological Reserve (Quintana Roo, Mexico). I wasn’t teaching as much as
guiding. Then, at a wonderful moment, each student was able to connect with
what I was coaching with their
ability to see and observe. They saw those spiders all around us!
More and
more I am convinced that “good teaching” means being a good guide. Students
need to construct meaning for them, if
it is to be enduring. Have any of us forgotten
how to ride a bicycle?
I teach
science, specifically, conservation biology. In addition to my work with
students at Souhegan High School (SHS), I am an adjunct biodiversity researcher
for the Smithsonian Institution’s Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity
(SIMAB) program. In 1996, I developed a program (HabitatNet) for my SHS students
as well as other students and teachers around the globe. HabitatNet directly
involves students and teachers with conducting authentic biodiversity research
while learning science as science is
done. My role is a guide through all of it, as CES states - “student as worker,
teacher as coach.”
Whatever
we teach, we need to be guides. Whether it is conservation biology, history,
modern language, mathematics, or the arts … we need to be guides for our
students.
Using the
SIMAB permanent biodiversity research protocols, my high school students have
been collecting biological research data at field sites in New Hampshire,
Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and Mexico for the past eight years.
The overall goals of HabitatNet are (1) to develop conservation biological
literacy in high school students by giving them an opportunity to learn field
methods and applications while collecting and interpreting biological diversity
data, and (2) to establish baseline biological diversity data at our HabitatNet
field sites.
Thus
far, over five hundred high school students have been involved with this
project. Annual field reports are written and submitted to the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, D.C., various conservation agencies throughout the
Caribbean, and the El Edén Ecological Reserve located in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Field reports include 20 m x 20 m forest quadrant tree maps; vegetation
analysis (tree species frequency, dominance values, and density statistics);
and invertebrate and vertebrate species lists. Additionally, concurrent student
research projects complement the basic biodiversity data that is collected
using the SI/MAB protocols. These research projects are designed by students
and conducted by them in the field. Their focus of research is on an aspect of
anthropogenic or "natural" disturbance regimes as they pertain to
biological diversity.
A
“meta-moment” is needed at this point. How did this evolve?
A very
dedicated group of Amherst – Mont Vernon community members, parents, and school
board members a dozen years ago challenged themselves to develop a public school
that would truly prepare their children for the 21st Century. As
such, they hired a “planning team” of five educators to push the limits of
public education. I was most fortunate to be a part of that planning team as
Division Head for Mathematics, Science, & Technology. ALL aspects of public education were
challenged – including the typical on-going professional development for
teachers. The common denominator for the myriad of dimensions needed to open a
public school was (and continues to be) – whatever it “is”, it needs to connect
to all students as successful learners. Note, this was 1991 – “pre-No Child
Left Behind”.
We all
know as public school educators, the only
route for professional advancement is from the classroom to “administrator”.
However, what if we want to continue to be in direct contact with students – teaching
/ guiding? How do we continue to grow professionally and directly guide
students for their future? One year ago I submitted a proposal to the SHS
School Board that would enable a colleague and me to develop a Conservation
Biology Institute for all students interested in applied conservation biology
and related technologies. This was based on the number of students who have
been involved and surveyed – post SHS (alumni survey; 2002), as well as the
number of current students involved. It
was accepted based on student needs, interest, and faculty professional
development.
Regardless
of the “concept” (in this case it is Conservation Biology), it is imperative
that school boards and communities recognize the link between professional development
and student achievement. Alternative professional development paths not only
retain faculty who are experienced in the classroom, but also fosters the
passions for what and why they teach. This directly transfers to student
engagement.
It is
imperative that students are engaged and care about what they do in high school
versus “credit counters” to graduate. This article is about intentional education versus
happenstance credit collection.
To
continue …
How do I
initiate all of this in a heterogenous class? My trek, as guide, begins with a
simple task. I ask my students to sketch an insect.
Without
doubt, most students (juniors and seniors) should be able to respond to my task
– if
it was a question to define - by saying that an insect has "three body
segments and three pairs of legs." What I find most interesting, however,
is that the majority of these students have no idea where to place the three
pairs of legs on their drawings! Often, they do not realize this practical
knowledge is missing until they try to sketch an actual insect. After several
false starts, they invariably have to ask for assistance.
Recent
research and recommendations from prestigious national science education reform
committees strongly indicate a need for "application" of scientific
concepts and skills (AAAS 1989, 4-8; NSTA 1992, I:134-135) instead of simply
memorizing information. Additionally, I might also suggest that if science
educators hope to develop a society that is both scientifically and environmentally
literate, we also need to develop a curriculum that teaches science as it is
practiced in the field.
This
concept is not new. Certainly one may trace back to Pliny and Socrates the
importance of observation and critical discussion to the learning process. In
the early 1900’s Anna Comstock's classic Handbook of Nature Study begins
the chapter on "What Nature Study Is" with the following dictum:
"Therefore, the object of the nature-study teacher should be to cultivate
in children powers of accurate observation and to build up within them
understanding" (Comstock 1911, 1).
Perhaps
what we need to observe as educators in this new millennium is not how we
"teach students," but instead how we may enable students "to
learn." If we want our students to have enduring knowledge and skills in
which they are mindful of the natural world, then we need to involve our
students in the process of science. Individual choices and decisions regarding
the environment are not restricted to those students who pursue a career in the
sciences. Clearly, this must become an imperative for those of us who
"teach science”.
In Aldo
Leopold's salient essay, "Good Oak," he writes, "There are two
spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing breakfast
comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace"
(Leopold 1949, 6).
As we
look ahead to the future of conservation literacy, priority must be given to
answering Leopold's challenge. More and more I find that students not only have
difficulty with locating where they need to place appendages on insects, but
also where all that sustains us as humans comes from. It has become an
abstraction for all too many of my students.
So, what
happens when we as educators guide students to become autonomous learners? Several
years ago, a student in my class sprained his ankle while running from a
hornet’s nest after tagging a tree in his quadrant. He was a “starter” on the SHS football team and his perplexed
coach asked how he sprained his ankle. “I am taking full contact ecology” was
his response. This student and I have been keeping in touch over the years.
Today, he isn’t playing professional football or a career scientist but he does
understand why biological diversity is important for him and his family – this
is enduring understanding.
We need
to develop our curriculum so that students become “hunter – gathers” of
information, knowledge, and skills. That is our challenge as educators!
Students learn science by doing science while conducting authentic research.
Developing scientific habits of mind as well as scientific literacy means that
students are not "taught" science but experience science through
actual scientific investigations that are meaningful not only to them, but also
to a wider audience. Their data and research is meaningful because it connects
to a broader community.
Regardless
of our discipline, we need to allow students to experience the joys, issues of
engagement, and complexities of real academic endeavors so that they may
continue to gain confidence in themselves to ride that bicycle with us as
guides!
Next
steps for HabitatNet include an international forum for students to collaborate
on a written (multilingual) proposal to the United Nations calling for a Global
Commitment To Conserve Biodiversity for their future. Ekos – ultimately, it is
all about our home on one planet. Consider joining me next January, as I host a
“Kids’ Earth Summit on Biodiversity”. This is an international endeavor to take
place in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Information regarding this summit is on the
HabitatNet website.
Acknowledgments:
Projects
such as this achieve success through the vision and active participation of
many individuals as well as organizations committed to research, education, and
global conservation. I thank:
1.
The SIMAB Team in Washington, D.C.,
2.
Dr.
Arturo Gómez-Pompa, and Biologist Marco Lazcano Barrero (El Eden Ecological
Reserve) for their expertise, support, and belief that secondary school students
are capable researchers,
3.
My colleagues at Souhegan High School,
Melissa Chapman and Kathy White, who have
provided invaluable ongoing pedagogical and technical support,
4. Additionally, the Administrative Team of Souhegan High
School has given this project their
unconditional endorsement (Ted Hall - Principal, Colleen Meaney and Scott
Prescott – Deans of Faculty),
5. The School Board; Souhegan High School: without their
belief and on-going support none of this would be possible, thank you!
6. And, finally, a special note of
thanks to the hundreds of student researchers, known affectionately as our SHS BioSwat Teams, who have demonstrated
global stewardship and, offer proof positive hope for their future.
Literature
Cited:
*American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 1989. Science for all Americans.
Oxford University Press, New York.
*Bisaccio,
D. 1996. HabitatNet: a global biodiversity project. Souhegan High School, Amherst, New Hampshire. www.sprise.com/SHS/habitatnet/default.htm
*Comstock,
A. 1911. Handbook of nature study. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.
*Leopold,
A. 1949. Good oak. A Sand County almanac. Oxford University Press, NY
*Leopold,
L., editor. 1953. Round River: from the journals of Aldo Leopold. Oxford
University Press, New York.
*National
Research Council (NRC). 1996. National science education standards. National
Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
*National
Science Teachers Association (NSTA). 1992. Scope, sequence, and coordination of
secondary school science. The content core: a guide for curriculum developers.
NSTA Publications, Washington, D.C.
*Smithsonian
Institution/Man & Biosphere (SI/MAB). 1992. Long-term monitoring of
biological diversity in tropical forest areas: methods for establishment and
inventory of permanent plots. F. Dallmeier, editor. MAB Digest 11. UNESCO
publication, France.