Cooling the schools

Step 6
Monitoring and evaluating

STAGE 3 TEACHER RESOURCE
Years 5-6

Two koalas sitting in a eucalypt tree. Credit: Dan Lunney/DPIE

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Continually monitoring the progress of your plants and the area they live in is crucial

This step encourages students to use data and insights from this action-based research program to make decisions about how effective their solution (tree planting) will be. Students will learn how to gather and present their findings in readiness for the final part of the program.

Students will:

learn the importance of continued monitoring of their project
learn about the different types of data
understand the importance of evaluating their project
create a graph to represent their findings

What is monitoring and evaluation?

Monitoring and evaluation is a systematic ‘checking and balancing’ process that is undertaken during a project. It is incredibly important for any project, business or organisation to look at how well an intended plan of action worked. That way, areas of success and failure can be observed, and the necessary changes made to create better outcomes in the future. For example: by monitoring and evaluating the changes in growth or losses of trees planted in this project, it will help your school understand how to improve the project next time to gain better results.

In this step we will be monitoring the growth rate and the health of your plants. We will then be using the data collected to help evaluate the effectiveness and outcomes of the tree planting project.

Monitoring the growth rate and health of your plants helps evaluate your project's success

How to monitor

Monitoring is the routine collection of information and data from your project. We monitor the outcomes of our project so we can learn how to improve practices and to make informed decisions for the future.

Monitoring happens right from the beginning of a project, allows results and processes to be documented and is used as a basis for decision-making. The data acquired through monitoring is used for evaluation.

You can monitor using quantitative data or qualitative data.

Quantitative data are measures of values or counts expressed as a number. For example if you were measuring the changes in your height as you got older you would be monitoring your growth, quantitatively

Qualitative data are measures of 'types' and may be represented as a descriptive word, name or symbol. If you were monitoring how your appearance had changed as you got older (hair colour. skin tone, eye colour etc) you would be monitoring, qualitatively

Pictures, like this one from S. Pfautsch, Western Sydney University, are a great way to present your observations when monitoring temperature ranges at school

How to evaluate

Analysing the data you collect can help you evaluate your findings and spot trends

Evaluation is assessing, as systematically and objectively as possible, a completed project. Evaluations use data and information to inform decisions, thus improving the project next time you run it.

Evaluations are based on information gathered during monitoring and they

help to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the project
identify targets that have been met
lead to process improvements for future or ongoing projects.

The best way to monitor and evaluate data is to set aside a regular time to really observe and record changes in your project. It would be a good idea to take some photos of the planting site before, during and after planting. You will be measuring the growth rate of the plants in the activities.You can then compare and contrast the plants success or failure over time. It is easier to evaluate data when it is presented in a clear and concise way. Producing graphs, charts, thermal images and temperature maps from your data are some of the ways you can make it easier to analyse and evaluate a project.

Using your monitoring and evaluation data

Once you have a good data set built up, the information can be evaluated and used to inform not only you, but future students. The great thing about plants is that they will last a long time into the future as long as they are looked after.

Just like the trees you have planted in this project, you will grow bigger and eventually leave school to go on to high school. But what will happen to your findings and the knowledge you gained? You have worked hard to understand a problem and come up with some solutions for reducing the urban heat island effect in your school. The monitoring of plant growth and temperature in the school grounds should continue. This will enable other students and teachers to support your mission into the future.

The trees you plant at school will last for many years to come

Consistent monitoring of your plants and trees will help inform future projects

Hopefully your revegetation plan completed in step 4 will work. But if there are some areas for improvement it will be seen by continued monitoring and evaluation of the plantings.

For example, trees in certain areas will have greater survival rates than others. With consistent monitoring and evaluation of the data, a pattern may emerge. Then evidence-based decisions can be made to improve the survival rate of the plants, for example where seedlings might have been be affected by wildlife or pests. Perhaps that particular area is getting attacked by a roaming possum who is continually nibbling the new leaves and slowing the growth of the seedling. A possible solution could be to put a physical barrier such as chicken wire around the seedling until it has grown big enough to survive regular nibbles.

Learn how to monitor and present your data for evaluation

How to measure growth rate in plants [0:37]

Learn practical tips for measuring the growth rate of your plants to ensure consistent monitoring.

Learning about line graphs [1:39]

In this video, learn how to translate your results into a line graph so the data can be evaluated and presented in a simple and clear way to others.

Activities

Monitoring your plants – photos and measurements

Visit your planting site over a period of weeks, taking photos and measurements to gauge the growth of your plants. Record your measurements on worksheet 6.1. Teachers can refer to the 6.1 activity instructions for guidance.

Evaluating plant growth – graphing your results

Use the measurements recorded in activity 6.1 to work out the average growth rate of your plants. Plot your results on a graph and answer the questions on worksheet 6.2.

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