Lisa Goochee, Communications & Outreach
A Student discovered this 12-inch long Southern Alligator Lizard living by the front steps of the big building.
Early in the 2019-2020 school year, Teachers Aaron Tinker, Jeff Zotz, Taylor Sayward, and Christy Utter partnered with BioBlitz, a National Geographic sponsored program to facilitate citizen science on our campus. According to National Geographic, Bioblitzes are a form of citizen science focused on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time.
Students meet Dr. Joe and learn about citizen science before the Bioblitz begins!
Citizen science is scientific research conducted in whole or in part by amateur scientists. It has many historic to modern applications from software engineering to bird-watching to astronomy. Lower School Science Teacher, Aaron Tinker, shared that our science team and many collaborating teachers had a great interest in bringing more opportunities for citizen science to Peninsula School because it allows for a meaningful experience of the scientific method in practice. Students are able to participate in the world beyond school. They are contributing to our collective human knowledge in the here and now.
Dr. Joe shows students the world of life that exists underneath a decomposing log.
To demonstrate the real-world impact of citizen science and facilitate this opportunity, National Geographic sent a scientist named Joe Cutler, Ph.d, to our campus. Dr. Joe is an ichthyologist (a type of marine biologist) and conservationist based in central Africa.
To document the variety of species on campus, students used an open-source iPhone application called iNaturalist that has citizen science applications far beyond K-12 education. As our students carefully canvassed the grounds, snapping photos in iNaturalist of roly-polys, crickets, lizards, leaves, and flowers, they simultaneously conducted a campus clean-up.
Curious to read more? Check out the Spring 2020 edition of News Notes located on our website.