The Transgender and Gender-nonconforming Field Alliance was created in 2022 by Dr. Ezra Kottler. They meet virtually on a monthly basis to coordinate initiatives to support TGnC scientists who do field work in both natural and social sciences, and provides resources to educate allies in positions of power within these fields.
Students conduct an investigation using historical photographic records to determine whether the timing of plant phenophases has changed in their own communities. They search for old photos (indicating dates) in their family’s or town’s records that show sites where plants are in specific phenological stages (i.e., peak flower, 90% leaf out [or 90% lack of leaf cover], fruiting, seasonal festivals, etc.), and that show dates of record. They then visit those sites when plants are experiencing those same phenophases and take pictures to compare the past and present timing of seasonal events.
Students will develop their own research field site, learn to make observations and collect data outdoors, build their own dataset and then will learn to plot graphs of that data. They will also learn to use GPS and mapping tools and resources.
Students will use the Spring Index Maps and USA-NPN Visualization tool to explore the timing of spring between their location and other areas of the country. They will also explore the overlap of phenology between two species in a single year.
Students will work with a small dataset taken from the USA-National Phenology Network database. The data show the timing of observations by Maine volunteers of milkweed plants and monarch butterflies in 2011.
Conduct this activity before students are introduced to data collection using the Nature’s Notebook observation protocols. This activity will familiarize students with some of the main phenophases present on select species during certain times throughout the school year.
Traducido por Viviana Beltran
Students record observations and collect data about birds visiting feeder(s) outside their school. They compare their records with
historical records from local birding experts and online citizen science data sources to determine whether the timing of bird activity has shifted in their community.
The following activity can be used as an introduction to the concept of phenology. It demonstrates the life cycle of a corn plant, a
plant familiar to many, putting this plant into a new perspective. The Life of Corn highlights the importance of the developmental lifecycle, something which all organisms experience in a predictable manner.
This activity is designed to help participants experience the importance of plant phenology from a pollinator’s perspective. Participants learn why pollinators visit flowers and what color, shape, and size of flowers their pollinator prefers to visit.
The following activity can be used as an introduction to the concept of phenology. The items on the phenology board are phenomena that participants have observed in nature, perhaps without even knowing their relationship to ecology, science, and climate, or their status as phenological events.