iPads as Field Note Devices

The entire 6th grade class from Rye Junior High School recently took a trip up to the Center for Wildlife and Mount Agamenticus in York, Maine as part of an integrated unit centered around science.

Before the trip, students took part in social studies class mapping out their bus routes and the trail system up and around the mountain to calculate the distance they would travel. In math class, they used these measurements to find the total cost for the field trip, including bus mileage and price per gallon of fuel for the trip up-and-back. In language arts class, each student had chosen an animal to research that lives in the transitional forests that hug the the border between Maine and New Hampshire and wrote stories about their animals, and how they have adapted to their habitat and surroundings. Word choice was a focus for these stories, and mini lessons covering antonyms and synonyms were used to express the power of words in painting a true picture in a written piece.

Obviously science class played a major part in this field trip, as students had studied the food web and food chain of different species that live in the transitional forest. Researching and presenting new facts about each others' animals, as well as seeing how they are all connected within the ecosystem was eye opening for some. It was the perfect segway into the field trip to the Center for Wildlife and Mount Agamenticus.

The trip started with an hour presentation at the Center for Wildlife. The students were greeted by a red tailed hawk, a box turtle and a Virginia opossum. All the animals at the Center for Wildlife have been hurt, rescued and helped to either be rereleased into the wild, or in some instances where this is not possible, the animals have found a home right at the Center for Wildlife and can be visited by the public. Before loading the bus again to hike up the Mountain, students had a few minutes to check out the other birds of prey and other Maine animals at the center.

During the climb to the top of Mt. A. students used iPads as field note devices. The brochures for the Center for Wildlife and the Mount Agamenticus Conservation Region were downloaded into iBooks for quick reference. Other apps. such as, Notes, Camera, and Audio Memo were used to record text, speech and video and still images of the hike and the ecosystem. The trail map was also imported into the app Doodle Buddy, so that students could use the drawing tools to trace their routes up the mountain over the trail map image. All of these apps. could be used without a wireless signal.

Upon returning to school, the students (with the help of the 6th grade teachers) uploaded these multi-media files to the local server for editing and selection. A presentation will be created by each group to showcase what they had learned from their trip to York, Maine. Below is a quick clip that I created using Animoto to share the experience.