Overview

9th grade MBHS students will create a field guide for the Kendall Frost Salt Marsh that communicates to the public the importance of this ecosystem.  As this marsh lies alongside our school students will communicate how vital it is to know about and protect our local environment.

Project Initiation

Our launch shifted as this year was mainly taught through distance learning.  Initially we had planned on a walking field trip to the Kendall Frost Salt Marsh where the 9th grade students would meet the reserve managers, Heather and Isabelle from UCSD and explore the ecosystem.  Instead students met the client and got a tour through videos that teachers put together with interviews of the client and the ecosystem.  The videos provided students with a grounding to learn about the area.

Project Exploration and Development

Students explored the marsh, researching the species, the ecological interactions and the ecosystem services that the marsh provides us.  They used this information to practice scientific writing skills as they created field guide pages.  Students then worked to create scientific illustration paintings of the species in art.  They continued to build on their knowledge of the species to produce nature writing pieces and persuasive writing from the perspectives of the organisms.  In computer animation students applied the skills to create an animation for the different species.  It all came together in a digital field guide accessible via signage printed by the design students of the student selected pieces as they reflect about the vitality of this area in our local community.

Project Revision and Exhibition

Students applied the learning about their species in every class included in this project. Each time they learned more and revised their understanding. They had the opportunity to select which piece of work they felt best represented them to submit for inclusion in the project and ultimately the digital field guide website that will be accessible to the public. When selecting the piece to submit students reflected on what they had learned from focusing on a topic from different perspectives.

Teachers and Subjects

Echo Jacoway, Lyndsay Sutterley, Nicole Yen, Tamara Rasmussen - Biology
Heidi Redlitz, Jessica Blanchard, Nathan Sheehy - English
Alex Cannon - Intro to Design
Tony Corbin - Computer Animation
Heather Henkes - Art