1. Field Guide to our Quinnipiac River Palms in the Classroom

2. Students Collect Field Site Data Palm cameras documented plant life Probes measured water quality Trip Historian used Go and Tell software Students collected macroinvertebrate samples Soil samples were collected

3. Students Special Interest Groups: research topics and design the field guide to post their information.  Geology  Plants  Critters  Birds  Bridges  Water Quality  Web Cams

4. Geology Group Investigate various landforms in New Haven Create virtual web cams Collect soil testing data

5. Plants Students use Palm cameras to photograph plants Using field guides, they identify the plants Students research the “histories” of each plant

6. Critters Students use a kick net to collect biological samples. Diversity and types of critters collected are indicators of water quality.

7. Bird Group Students used the Palm cameras to get pictures of birds They used field guides to identify them They searched on the Internet to match up sound files with the birds

8. Bridges Students took pictures of the many bridges along the river. The K-1 class engineered their own bridges.

9. Water Quality testing.html

10. Palm Probes - Exploring pH Students brought in many liquids to test Results provided a wide spectrum of pH readings Students worked to understand exponential qualities of the pH scale seconds pH 15.188378 1.15.211804 1.25.230544 1.35.249285 1.45.27271 1.55.296136 1.65.314877 1.75.328932

11. Classroom Benefits Students took an active role in discovering science. Palms provided mobility and year-long access to data collection. Palms facilitated communication. Scientific data was permanently stored.

12. Organization/Logistics Teacher training Student Palm contract Introduce Palms slowly Central computer for hot-syncing

13. Unexpected Benefits Increased student organization skills Students became invested in technology Students showed increased responsibility

14. Handhelds Became Integrated Into Our Day Memopad for homework / spelling lists Palm keyboards for Word-processing - print to IRDA printer Calender helps students plan daily schedules Palm-Reader and Palm eBook Studio for reading and writing Fling-it for collecting Web data mill.html

15. Funding/Budget 20 Handheld units @ $199.00 each $3980.00 1 Bluetooth Access Point @419.00 419.00 4 Palm SDIO Cards @ $129.00 each 516.00 total funding request $4915.00 Core EquipmentAdditional Accessories Palm probes kit@$599.00 Assorted Software@ $200.00 Palm keyboards 5@ $99.00 each $345.00 total accessories request $1144.00

16. Sharing our Project with another school

17. Community Service Opportunities Working with the River Keeper to clean the river. Touring with the park rangers to identify plants and learn more about geology.

21. Cold Spring School 263 Chapel Street New Haven, CT 06513 203-787-1584www.coldspringschool.org