Orange Elementary School

Plan

A Davis weather station will be purchased and used in conjunction with bird observations to investigate how bird behavior is affected by weather systems in Waterloo, Iowa. Two teachers will engage students in this project and extend their involvement in citizen science. Data will be taken in accordance with appropriate GLOBE protocols and reported to GLOBE. Scientific and educational results will be reported to YLACES.

The bird monitoring project and weather reporting will be done in partnership with the Institute for Earth Science Research and Education (IESRE). IESRE President Dr. David Brooks will provide science background and mentoring for teachers and students in the areas of experiment design, data reporting, and analysis. IESRE may provide additional equipment support as well and will post results from this project on its website.

Success Criteria for this project will be:

• Accurate and consistent recording and reporting of weather data through GLOBE

• Accurate identification of birds at our feeders

• Diligent recording of bird behavior at our feeders and comparison with weather data at the times of bird observation

• Ability of students to assimilate all these data to answer their research question and to prepare and share a presentation about the learning gained