Some ideas for science and camping

"'Tis the season to go camping falalalalaaa lalalala"

On the Coromandel

 And yes, I now have this tune stuck in my head. And yes, I had to work out how many 'la's to write!
As many schools head out on overnight stays for the juniors and a bit longer for the seniors, there are plenty of opportunities for our students to do a bit of science. With the use of a device, you may be able to take photos and videos (or get the children to instead, which is even better!) of creatures and plants to then investigate further back at school.
I like using the first term as a chance for lots of "Gather and Interpret Data" capability building -the observations and inferences skills that will also develop language, specialist vocabulary, some te reo and perhaps even maths.
I thought I'd list some activity ideas, all shamelessly lifted from the old Building Science Concept Resource "Life Between the Tides" which I think would work in other contexts too, like the bush.

Waiotahe Beach, Opotiki

• Invite children to find as many different types of living creatures as possible... this could mean actively exploring, for example, turning over rocks or digging under the sand or leaf litter or soil. An important part to remember is to discuss about whether or not we should take the creatures or plants away from their environment. I like the marine metre squared project way of observing and this could be transferred to the bush just as well as the beach.
• Children can take photos and videos as well as sketches. I particularly like the last -if you think about the past explorers, sketches had to be very accurate... can the students identify the species from their sketches?
• What areas of the beach or bush are particular species found -could we draw a map of the environment and then label where species are found? Why could certain species be found in particular areas?
• Can children describe the behaviours of some of the species -I'm thinking about the birds in particular (mainly because I like birds!). Often children think the best show at the beach is running along and chasing all the birds. What if we sat and simply watched... what are we observing? What do you think they are doing (inferences)? Can you see any differences and similarities between the birds eg oyster catchers and pied stilts or seagulls? Of course, they may just be known as black birds until we know the name! 

Waihou River

Once back at base, students could unpack further, researching information, heading to websites to identify birds and insects as well as the plants, and looking in books as well. We could look up whether any of our inferences and ideas were right about what the birds were doing. And that may be enough! To  go further, you might explore the data itself: where did we find most turret shells? What about pipi? Where did the oyster catchers mainly stay (and did that change when we all turned up)? What about evidence of people? As you discuss, students may start to generate questions -write them up on the whiteboard to review later...

So a quick idea for you all -enjoy camp!

Paul