MangroveWatch - Conducting Fieldwork

Australia curriculum content descriptions:

Year 9 Science:

• Ecosystems consist of communities of interdependent organisms and abiotic components of the environment; matter and energy flow through these systems (ACSSU176)
• Plan, select and use appropriate investigation types, including field work and laboratory experimentation, to collect reliable data; assess risk and address ethical issues associated with these methods (ACSIS165)
• Select and use appropriate equipment, including digital technologies, to collect and record data systematically and accurately (ACSIS166)

Year 10 Science:

• The theory of evolution by natural selection explains the diversity of living things and is supported by a range of scientific evidence (ACSSU185)
• Plan, select and use appropriate investigation types, including field work and laboratory experimentation, to collect reliable data; assess risk and address ethical issues associated with these methods (ACSIS199)
• Select and use appropriate equipment, including digital technologies, to collect and record data systematically and accurately (ACSIS200)

Year 11 and 12 Science – Biology

• Conduct investigations, including using ecosystem surveying techniques, safely, competently and methodically for the collection of valid and reliable data (ACSBL003)
• Represent data in meaningful and useful ways; organise and analyse data to identify trends, patterns and relationships; qualitatively describe sources of measurement error, and uncertainty and limitations in data; and select, synthesise and use evidence to make and justify conclusions (ACSBL004)
• Biodiversity includes the diversity of species and ecosystems; measures of biodiversity rely on classification and are used to make comparisons across spatial and temporal scales (ACSBL015)

Syllabus outcomes: SC5-14LW, SC5-5WS, SC5-6WS.

General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.7.

Relevant parts of Year 9 Science achievement standards: Students analyse how biological systems function and respond to external changes with reference to interdependencies, energy transfers and flows of matter. They design methods that include the control and accurate measurement of variables and systematic collection of data and describe how they considered ethics and safety.

Relevant parts of Year 10 Science achievement standards: Students describe and analyse interactions and cycles within and between Earth’s spheres. They explain how they have considered reliability, safety, fairness and ethical actions in their methods and identify where digital technologies can be used to enhance the quality of data.

Year 11 and 12 Science students:

• understand that ecosystem diversity and dynamics can be described and compared with reference to biotic and abiotic components and their interactions.
• use science inquiry skills to design, conduct, evaluate and communicate investigations into biodiversity and flows of matter and energy in a range of ecosystems.

Unit of work: MangroveWatch – Years 9  to 12

Time required: Up to 5 hours – this will depend on the type and amount of fieldwork you choose to do

Level of teacher scaffolding: High – explicitly model fieldwork methods, assist in collecting resources, and help students in assessments and in recording of data

• Part A.
  • Part A. Fieldwork – Long Plot Assessment
  • Camera
  • Data record sheet
  • Flagging or marking tape
  • Mangrove species field guide
  • Pencils/pens
  • Stakes
  • Tape measure
  • 1m X 1m quadrat
  • 2m pole
  • Long Plot Data Entry Template
• Part B.
  • Part B. Fieldwork – Rapid Assessment Datasheet
  • Camera
  • Data sheets for rapid assessment of salt marsh
  • GPS
  • Notebooks/paper
  • Pens/pencils
  • Rapid Assessment Data Entry Template
• Part C.
  • Part C. Fieldwork – Preparing For Your Shoreline Video Assessment
  • Benefits Of Shoreline Video Assessment Method
  • Boat
  • Cameras – one for video and one for photographs
  • Clapperboard
  • Compass
  • Data sheet
  • GPS capable device
  • Note-book/paper
  • Pens/pencils
  • Whiteboard marking pen

NOTE: Click here for a list of Environmental Education Centres that have MangroveWatch shoreline video kits

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• Collaboration
• Communication
• Digital literacy
• Initiative
• Leadership

The lessons in this unit have been developed in partnership with Earthwatch and MangroveWatch. Earthwatch is a global not-for-profit organisation that uses citizen science to empower people to save the natural world, and works with all sectors to create a society that lives in balance with nature. MangroveWatch is a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on the research, education and conservation of mangrove and tidal wetland environments globally.