Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nature’s Calendar
Developed by: Dylan Plummer
Time: 75 minutes
Overview
This activity is designed to help students engage with the natural cycles in an old growth forest,
and their interdependence on these processes. In the initial discussion, educators will have the
opportunity to assess students’ understanding of the plant and animal life cycles, and their
relationships with seasonal changes. Students will work with data from experiments at H. J.
Andrews about first bud burst in relationship to changes in temperature. This station also aims to
provide students with a fundamental understanding of what makes an effective hypothesis, as
well as giving them experience reading and drawing graphs.
Rationale
This station is designed to introduce scientific concepts and literacy by having students review
data capture and data analysis, while also taking into account alternative means of knowing and
personal connections to seasons. By using analysis in conjunction with observational tactics, this
station engages and empowers students, introducing them to the value of the growing field of
citizen science, and encouraging them to explore their own potential role in scientific discovery.
This station will meet the science standard by having students interpret variabilities in
temperature averages and compare them with changing dates of average budburst at H. J.
Andrews.
Links to Standards
Next Generation Science Standards
MSLS21: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource
availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem .
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this station, students will be able to:
1. Write testable, falsifiable hypotheses
2. Define phenology
3. Draw a bar graph
4. Describe two different systems of knowledge (TEK and Western Scientific thought)
22
Materials Needed
❏ 3 sheets laminated graph paper (in case of rain)
❏ 3 Dry erase markers for graphing
❏ Bottle of dry erase cleaner and washcloth
❏ Laminated copy of graph of average temperature (attached)
❏ Laminated graphs of each species’ average bud burst from 20142017 (attached)
❏ 3 Pojar Plants of the Pacific Northwest Field guides
❏ 1 Leaf from each of the three species (red huckleberry, vine maple, and rhododendron)
❏ 3 Phenophase cheat sheets 1 for each species (attached)
❏ 3 Phenology data collection tables (attached)
❏ Laminated scientific process visual
Background Information
H. J. Andrews has been conducting experiments since the 1940s, with some set to
continue for over 200 years into the future. This is due to their commitment to acquiring long
term ecological data to inform best practices in forest management and ecology. One subject of
longterm study is phenology . Phenology is the study of “cyclical and seasonal natural
phenomena” (MerriamWebster Dictionary) and is an essential means by which to study the
interrelationships within ecosystems, as well as the effects that variations in weather can have on
these relationships. H. J. Andrews has been conducting phenological experiments since the
1970s, focusing on different microclimates in the forest.
Plant phenology is often measured by average date of first budbreak , which is the date in
which budding first begins to be visible on a particular species, and is extremely important in the
life cycle of plants, particularly in their relationships to pollinators. In this station, we will be
teaching students about the 6 phenophases of leafing (as detailed on the phenophase cheat
sheets), and how to identify between them.
Indigenous peoples from all over the world have been observing these life cycles for
millennia, and this station encompasses the importance of this traditional ecological knowledge .
Traditional ecological knowledge is the body of knowledge acquired by indigenous people
through millenia spent in direct contact with certain environments. These observations are
extremely important to their subsistence and culture, with hunting and gathering ceremonies
correlated to different phenological shifts in ecosystems. We will be contrasting this form of
knowing with the scientific method, and discussing how both are means of understanding and
how they both function as an ongoing process.
23
Activity Description
Step 1: Introduction Discussion Time: 8 minutes
❖ Ask: Does anyone know what phenology is? Break down the word into its two parts
❖ “phen” (phenomena) and “ology” (the study of)
❖ Define phenology :
➢ “study of cyclical and seasonal natural phenomena” (MerriamWebster
Dictionary)
➢ “Nature’s calendar” (OSU)
➢ The idea that every organism has a life cycle just like humans, and that these can
be studied to see when and how different stages of life occur
❖ Facilitate discussion about seasons/seasonal changes
❖ Ask:
➢ What’s your favorite season?
➢ What makes that particular season special?
➢ How do you know when the seasons are changing?
➢ Are there any things that change during that season? Before? After?
■ Daylight hours
■ Temperature
➢ How do you connect with these seasonal changes? What’s different for you?
❖ Transition into details about indigenous peoples of Pacific Northwest and TEK
➢ There are other means of knowing besides conventional Western thought, for
example traditional ecological knowledge
➢ Ask: How old do you think the United States is? (Approximately 230 years)
➢ Ask: How old do you think these trees are? (Approximately 400700 years)
➢ Ask: How long do you think the Kalapuya and Molalla peoples have been here?
(Anywhere from 10 to 14 thousand years)
➢ “These trees are older than the U.S.A., Native Americans have been here for
thousands of years longer than that”
➢ Indigenous peoples closely observe seasonal changes and have relied on this
intimate intergenerational knowledge for survival for thousands of years.
Kalapuya and Molalla people travelled through the Willamette Valley and the
Cascade Range following seasonal foods, relying on their traditional ecological
knowledge of phenology
➢ Traditional ecological knowledge is another method of science, parallel to
scientific inquiry
Step 2: Hypotheses Time: 12 minutes
❖ Transition into hypotheses section: describe to students the experiments being performed
at H. J. Andrews about phenology
24
➢ “Very important experiments are conducted here, some are planned for over 200
years into the future”
➢ “Currently, H. J. Andrews is working on collecting data about phenology and has
been since the 1970’s”
➢ Now we’re going to make hypotheses about how temperature might influence
phenology!
❖ Ask: Can anyone tell me what a hypothesis is?
➢ Define hypothesis : specific, testable, falsifiable prediction about some kind of
phenomena
➢ Explain importance of it being specific, testable and falsifiable
■ What’s a hypothesis again?
● Why is it important that it’s specific? Testable? Falsifiable?
● So that it can be repeated by other scientists to create
consensus
■ Could someone give me an example of a hypothesis?
● Example hypotheses from H. J. Andrews: “Old growth forests
reduce maximum spring and summer temperatures 2.5 Celsius
compared to plantation forests”
● “Old growth forests provide birds with refuge in changing
climates”
➢ Using the graphic, explain how the scientific method works as a process
■ The scientific method, just like traditional ecological knowledge, is an
ongoing process of observation and inquiry
25
➢ Define average budbreak : Average date of first bud emergence
26
➢ Pass around laminated graph of average annual temperatures
➢ Help students look at and understand the data
➢ Questions to ask during analysis of temperature data:
■ Which year had the coldest winter?
■ Which had the warmest?
■ When do plants bud?
● In the spring
➢ What do plants need to survive? Do they bud earlier in years with cold, dark
winters, or later?
■ Light and heat
■ Warmer winters with more sun encourage earlier budding
❖ Have students formulate an agreed upon final hypothesis about the date of average first
budbreak that is testable, falsifiable, and specific
❖ Pass around graphs of average bud burst and have students compare their hypotheses
with the data
27
28
❖ Have students examine graphs and compare to original hypotheses
➢ Was your hypothesis accurate? If not, what actually happened?
➢ What other factors might have contributed to the results?
■ Difference in location, quantity of rainfall, variance of data, different
levels of direct light
Step 3: Plant Scavenger Hunt Time: 25 minutes
❖ Transition into plant scavenger hunt:
➢ “Gregor Mendel couldn’t pass the test to become a high school teacher, but
through careful observation and study, made one of the greatest discoveries in
modern science. Darwin discovered evolution without a lab or any fancy
experiments”
➢ “Anyone can be a scientist you don’t need expensive equipment just your
five senses and a passion for discovery”
➢ “Let’s go see if we can make any discoveries!”
❖ Give instructions for scavenger hunt and hand out field guides
➢ Introduce each plant: “Can anyone tell me what this plant is?”
➢ Describe the three plants that the students are looking for: red huckleberry,
rhododendron, and vine maple
➢ Describe to students the 4 phenophases that we’re looking at (dormant, bud break,
emerging leaves, and leaves)
➢ Put students into three groups having students count off 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, etc.
➢ Give a brief explanation of how to use field guide (different categories of plants,
index)
➢ Pass out Pojar field guides
■ Ask: Does anyone know where the index is?
➢ Have groups find the species in the field guide index (all of the species we’re
using are listed as shrubs one per pair)
➢ Assign one species to each group (red huckleberry, vine maple, rhododendron)
➢ Hand out each species phenology monitoring chart to proper groups
➢ Explain to each group how to fill out the charts, marking which phenophase every
plant listed on their charts is in
➢ Pass out three phenophase cheat sheets (one per group)
➢ Tell them to go find all of the tagged plants listed on their phenology table
➢ Tell students to stop when they find plant 5 of their species
29
Vine Maple Vegetative Phenophase Cheat Sheet
1: Dormant; buds are hard with no 2: Bud Break; emerging green tip visible at
separation of scales; usually red or mottled end of separated bud scales
green and red
3 Emerging leaves < 75% size; leaves are 4: Leaves; fully unfolded mature leaves
tentlike, but have clearly begun unfolding range in size, but are almost flat when fully
and expanding expanded
30
Red Huckleberry Vegetative Phenophase Cheat Sheet
1: Dormant; red buds are compressed with 2: Bud Break; emerging green tip visible at
no separation of scales end of separated bud scales
3: Emerging leaves; 4: Leaves; fully unfolded, almost flat when
fully expanded
31
Rhododendron Vegetative Phenophase Cheat Sheet
1: Dormant; buds are compressed with no 2: Bud Break; leaf tips visible at tip of
separation of scales elongating bud
3: Emerging leaves; leaves outside bud, 4: Leaves; fully unfolded
folded
32
Red Huckleberry Phenology Collection Table
Tag Location Phenophase # (14)
#
1
2
3
4
5
Vine Maple Phenology Collection Table
Tag Location Phenophase # (14)
#
1
2
3
4
5
33
Red Huckleberry Phenology Collection Table
Tag Location Phenophase # (14)
#
1
2
3
4
5
❖ Have groups slowly move down the trail towards the Tree Circle (marked on the map),
having groups collect data on their plants
❖ As facilitator, jump between groups every five minutes or so to ensure accuracy
❖ Stop at last tagged plant (approx. 100 ft from the beginning of Life in the Forest station)
❖ Debrief Scavenger Hunt: Have each group discuss their experience and what trends they
observed
❖ Have each group show the others how to identify their specific plant
❖ Additional questions to ask/comments to make during debrief:
➢ Did you find all of the tagged plants?
➢ Did you see all of the 4 phenophases? Which ones did you see?
➢ What’s the benefit of studying lifecycles in an ecosystem?
■ To better understand the fundamental workings of the system, and the
interrelationships that make them possible
■ To better understand the effects of changing climate increasingly
important work in the time that we live in
Step 5: Assessment Time: 5 minutes
❖ What is phenology?
➢ “study of cyclical and seasonal natural phenomena” (MerriamWebster
Dictionary)
❖ What makes for a good hypothesis?
34
➢ Testable, falsifiable, specific.
❖ Why is it important to study life cycles?
➢ To better understand how ecosystems work and the interrelationships that make
them up.
❖ Did this change your understanding of the scientific method?
Step 6: Questing Time: 10 minutes
❖ Establish that students will take turns being Riddler (who reads the clues) and Navigator
(who reads the map)
❖ Establish that only by working together will they be able to navigate the forest
❖ Give them the name of the station and assist them with interpretation
❖ While on the move, reinforce key species in the forest and have the students call out
when they find a particularly interesting specimen
35