Coming back to campus at the start of this school year was a welcome change for San Miguel High School students after a year of isolated online learning. And Brother Jack Henderson is intent on not only getting students out of their homes, but out in the open and part of the great world (and World Wide Web) as he initiated a Biodiversity track with his Sophomore Biology classes. Students were sent outdoors armed with a new app on their phone or school-issued Chromebook as he began teaching them about classifications of species. Using the Seek app by iNaturalist, students point their device at a plant or animal and the program will begin identifying it down to its Species-level.
Students are learning how to be Citizen Scientists by identifying insects and plants on campus. Each entry becomes part of a global database and grading is based on other people confirming the identification. Students focus on entering native plants and insects and the number of confirmations of the plant/animal identification moves an entry up to Research Grade where Scientists can confirm it.
In addition to Biology concepts like Classification, students also gain confidence as they begin identifying more items and have those become part of this Global Citizen Scientist research database.
Students also expand their horizons around this topic by breaking out the ol' pen and paper as they get back to basics with Nature Journaling as well. Br. Jack looks at their journal entries, which include texts, illustrations, and numbers to identify species.
This renaissance approach to instruction helps students acquire skills beyond just Biology coursework, but also critical thinking, collaboration, and discernment as they go out from their homes, school, campus, and beyond.
