Lewis and Clark in Washington
Shrub Steppe Habitat
Overview
As Mrs. Sonderman's letter indicates, the Franklin County Historical Society is looking for student investigators to research our area—comparing the way it is now with what Lewis and Clark found. Three elementary schools are participating: Amistad, Canyon View and Southgate.
Canyon View's task is to research the "NOW" part—the plants, birds and animals that live in our area now—for the museum. We will be collaborating with students from Southgate who are collecting data on today's plants, birds and animals and with students from Amistad who are gathering information from the journals of the Corps of Discovery.
Getting Started
To complete this assignment we will be forming research teams to visit the shrub steppe. We need to brainstorm the different challenges presented to us and develop an action plan for our research.
What do we already know? What do we want to find out? How will we keep track of what we have learned?
- Let's do a KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart brainstorming what we know about the canyon area and its inhabitants.
- Let's define a shrub steppe habitat. What makes our area different from the rest of the state?
- What do you think members of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery might have seen as they passed through this shrub steppe area?
What work will we have to plan for and do? Where will we do our research? How will we collect and compile data?
- Let's take a general "walk-through trip" of the habitat. How can we record our general observations of the study site?
- How can you tell which animals use or live in the natural habitat near school? What is a good way to look for animal clues and record this data?
- How can we collect plant samples and organize them?
- How can you document the information you collect?
- Where will we find resources for identifying the plants and animals? Can you bring in some resources or find URLs (Websites)?
- Who could we contact to find out about how scientists do these tasks?
What types of research teams do we need? Here are some possibilities. You may wish to add or subtract from this list.
- Field Trip Planners/Researchers
- General Study Site Surveyers
- Animal Experts
- Bird Experts
- Plant Experts
How will we confer and work with our colleagues from Amistad and Southview?
- What can we learn from the Amistad students researching the Lewis and Clark journals?
- Would the research data being done by Southgate students on Zintel Canyon be useful to our project?
- How will we plan and create our Website?
What special talents can each of us contribute to our work? Check out these suggestions:
Presentations
How can we present our plant and animal data so others can learn about and enjoy our shrub steppe habitat? How can we collaborate with the students at Amistad and Southgate to present all our research as a whole study? The historical society has asked us to develop a Website.
Other presentation choices include a brochure, a field guide, an herbarium, a Kid Pix slide show.
- Guidelines for creating Webpages
Are there other questions that need to be addressed?