Using ArcGIS Online to Enhance Middle School Ecosystem Field Trips Chris Pistole, Education Director Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center

The Audubon Network We touch approx. four million people through our diverse network of members, chapters, and staff. Our work is about birds and landscapes. We all need maps to help us organize, understand, and move our work forward. We reach approx. one million visitors at 41 Audubon Centers around the country. We also have education programs internationally, in Belize & Panama, through Audubon chapters.

Base Layers Organizational Authoritative Layers To connect this network we built a platform that has base layers from our partner ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) and we build and maintain Audubon spatial data like IBA (Important Bird Area) sites, chapter territories, boundaries of priority landscapes, and CBC (Christmas Bird Count) circles. Climate Using the platform these base shapes can be populated with new data from other sources to create a big picture view All of the maps can be accessed through an online portal called ArcGIS Online While Audubon has been using this technology to answer questions about our conservation priorities we have not been able to share this technology in our EE programs due to the barriers of licensing and giving students & teachers access. We were very excited to learn in 2014 that Jack Dangermond, the CEO of Esri, donated a subscription (access) to ArcGIS online to every school in the country. With the barrier lifted we decided to pilot integrating this technology into an existing EE program at the Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center.

Pairing conservation priorities with the needs of our students We did not want to create a new “mapping program” and we had to be careful about students being distracted with technology since our goal is to get them to connect with and appreciate nature. So we evaluated existing programs and conservation goals to find an opportunity to enhance a field trip experience with the mapping technology. Joplin, MO middle schools have been participating in a field trip aligned with their science curriculum about water for the past 5 years, but this program didn’t address conservation priorities as staff there would have liked. The Prothonotary Warbler (PROW) is a conservation target species for the Center and is a priority species for Natl. Audubon. Their habitat in this region consists of riparian corridors, which are obviously important to water quality and stream health as well. Because they readily accept nest boxes, which can help increase their population, over 20 boxes were installed in 2013, and have been monitored for the past 4 years. 76 PROWs have fledged from boxes in this time period. Maps of the PROW box locations and the use of the Collector app on tablets allowed students to gather and record real data in the field, which can be used by conservationists to make informed decisions in managing the boxes and riparian corridor in Wildcat Park. Students are gaining practical experience in STEM with cutting-edge technology through ArcGIS Online mapping software, while learning about real conservation. Color banding of PROWs should begin next spring which will allow students to make more observations regarding individual birds.

Field Trip Goals: Identify the components of aquatic ecosystems in Wildcat Park Measure and quantify indicators of aquatic ecosystem health Use indicators to create a rating score to evaluate aquatic ecosystem health Enhance classroom science curriculum and improve student comprehension, retention and collaboration through a real science investigation project

Led by a Wildcat Glades volunteer, students collected macroinvertebrates from the kick seine and learned how to identify them. Different macros are more sensitive to pollution than others, and are therefore useful in determining a water quality rating score. Macros, especially adult mayflies, make up a significant portion of the PROW diet. Most mayflies are in the pollution sensitive category.

Matrix for Riparian Corridor Health Score Rating Test/Measurement My Results Poor - 1 Fair - 2 Good - 3 Excellent - 4 Rating Score (1-4) My Combined Overall Water Qual. Rating (Macros):  28 <12 12 to 17 18 to 23 >23  4 My Nitrate level:  0.25 ≥2 ppm 1 ppm 0.5 ppm 0 to 0.25 ppm My Canopy Density (average):  60% <50% 51-62% 63-74% >75%  2 TOTAL SCORE (last box)   1 to 3 4 to 6 7 to 9 10 to 12  10 Applied geography was used to aid in students’ ability to rate the health of the riparian ecosystem on our site. Each school contributed to a group map that we could later score to create an evaluation of student learning during the trip. Teachers also participated in trainings and workshops, with the goal of having them use ArcGIS Online with other topics, and to partner with other teachers in their school on projects that reach across various subjects, including language arts, social studies, mathematics, etc. We also built pre and post lessons that they could access on their own ArcGIS Online accounts. With this technology the field trip never ends, as students and teachers can go back and enhance maps or answer the same question at another site.

Where birds thrive, people prosper. We ALL need clean water! Where birds thrive, people prosper. We ALL need clean water!

For more info about Esri and ArcGIS Online for schools, visit: http://www.esri.com/connected Chris Pistole Education Director Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Ctr. cpistole@audubon.org Doreen Whitley Rogers Geospatial Information Officer, NAS dwhitley@audubon.org