Science students study wood ducks at Hazel Wolf
September 29, 2009
By Christopher Huber
By Christopher Huber
Ted Burris still remembers the time his high school biology teacher took his class out into the wilderness for a lesson. That experience stuck with the Sammamish resident and Ducks Unlimited Snoqualmie chapter member and led him to study science at the University of Washington.
Now, in partnership with science teacher Joelle Nelson and the Cascade Land Conservancy, he is leading a group of Skyline High School International Baccalaureate students in a periodic study of native wood duck nesting behaviors in Sammamish.
Thus, for about eight Skyline students, homework for their environmental systems in societies class took on a whole new meaning Sept. 27 at Hazel Wolf Wetlands.
“There’s something about students experiencing something they can really relate to,” Burris said. “This is the way to go.”
The students, mostly juniors and seniors, spent Sunday afternoon tromping through the forest and wetlands of Sammamish collecting data from 11 nest-boxes fastened to trees around the wetlands area.
“I think it’s cool because, like, we get to be involved with what we’re learning about,” said junior Katherine Parra. “We don’t just get to learn it from our textbooks. We actually get to go out and experience it.”
Their hope was to find empty nests, meaning all the area wood ducks would have produced successful clutches in the spring.
However, the students found numerous nests full of dead, un-hatched eggs. That means a mother duck abandoned her eggs after being scared off, or another, less experienced mother duck dumped her eggs in the nest and left them, Nelson said.
With help from Burris, Nelson and a couple other advisers, the students climbed ladders to reach the “duck boxes” high in trees and cleared them out. Upon securing the nests — empty or full of eggs — to return to the classroom, they stapled camouflage cloth to the outside and refilled the nesting material.
They noted the conditions of the eggs, the box’s host tree and any other pertinent environmental observations.
“It’s a new class and I think that a lot of people that are taking, like, physics and biology and chemistry don’t realize that we’re actually, like, really going out there,” said junior Katie Mincin. “And a lot of our class is really going out into the woods. This isn’t necessarily something new — what we get to do in class — but this is really cool because we get to collect data so they can improve it next year.”
This year, the researchers added camouflage to make the boxes look smaller and less prominent to area water foul, Burris said. This could possibly lead to less frequent nest dumping and more successful clutches next year, he said.
The wetlands has turned into a kind of outdoor classroom for science students at Skyline, Nelson said. It creates an authentic learning experience.
“It’s fun to be able to take the kids outside,” she said. Students don’t think about how much they’ll like it. They actually want to go into environmental science (because of the class). Teaching this is easy because they love it.”
Technically, the real-world experiment was extra credit for those who attended, but the student-researchers had more incentive than just a better grade.
Their research in the Hazel Wolf Wetlands is the only project of its kind on the Eastside and may affect the way water-foul biologists around the Puget Sound region study nesting behaviors, Burris said. He said Ducks Unlimited researchers are conducting similar research along the Snoqualmie River, but this project could prove to be much more than an outdoor class research project.
“I’m going off to college next year and I want to go into some field of science and this is a good experience for me to look into environmental science and the possibilities,” senior Zach Oseran said.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.sammamishreview.com.
Ted Burris still remembers the time his high school biology teacher took his class out into the wilderness for a lesson. That experience stuck with the Sammamish resident and Ducks Unlimited Snoqualmie chapter member and led him to study science at the University of Washington.
Now, in partnership with science teacher Joelle Nelson and the Cascade Land Conservancy, he is leading a group of Skyline High School International Baccalaureate students in a periodic study of native wood duck nesting behaviors in Sammamish.
Skyline junior environmental science students Brittany Hogan, left, and Katie Mincin, open a duck box to collect data. Photo by Christopher Huber
Thus, for about eight Skyline students, homework for their environmental systems in societies class took on a whole new meaning Sept. 27 at Hazel Wolf Wetlands.
“There’s something about students experiencing something they can really relate to,” Burris said. “This is the way to go.”
The students, mostly juniors and seniors, spent Sunday afternoon tromping through the forest and wetlands of Sammamish collecting data from 11 nest-boxes fastened to trees around the wetlands area.
“I think it’s cool because, like, we get to be involved with what we’re learning about,” said junior Katherine Parra. “We don’t just get to learn it from our textbooks. We actually get to go out and experience it.”
Their hope was to find empty nests, meaning all the area wood ducks would have produced successful clutches in the spring.
However, the students found numerous nests full of dead, un-hatched eggs. That means a mother duck abandoned her eggs after being scared off, or another, less experienced mother duck dumped her eggs in the nest and left them, Nelson said.
With help from Burris, Nelson and a couple other advisers, the students climbed ladders to reach the “duck boxes” high in trees and cleared them out. Upon securing the nests — empty or full of eggs — to return to the classroom, they stapled camouflage cloth to the outside and refilled the nesting material.
They noted the conditions of the eggs, the box’s host tree and any other pertinent environmental observations.
“It’s a new class and I think that a lot of people that are taking, like, physics and biology and chemistry don’t realize that we’re actually, like, really going out there,” said junior Katie Mincin. “And a lot of our class is really going out into the woods. This isn’t necessarily something new — what we get to do in class — but this is really cool because we get to collect data so they can improve it next year.”
This year, the researchers added camouflage to make the boxes look smaller and less prominent to area water foul, Burris said. This could possibly lead to less frequent nest dumping and more successful clutches next year, he said.
The wetlands has turned into a kind of outdoor classroom for science students at Skyline, Nelson said. It creates an authentic learning experience.
“It’s fun to be able to take the kids outside,” she said. Students don’t think about how much they’ll like it. They actually want to go into environmental science (because of the class). Teaching this is easy because they love it.”
Technically, the real-world experiment was extra credit for those who attended, but the student-researchers had more incentive than just a better grade.
Their research in the Hazel Wolf Wetlands is the only project of its kind on the Eastside and may affect the way water-foul biologists around the Puget Sound region study nesting behaviors, Burris said. He said Ducks Unlimited researchers are conducting similar research along the Snoqualmie River, but this project could prove to be much more than an outdoor class research project.
“I’m going off to college next year and I want to go into some field of science and this is a good experience for me to look into environmental science and the possibilities,” senior Zach Oseran said.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.
Other Stories of Interest: Skyline High School
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