Project Overview

Our ability to care for our local environment requires us to know about the plants and animals that share their environment with us. This knowledge enables us to recognise changes as they occur over time and make judgments about whether the ecosystem is healthy or not. To sustain this endeavour, these projects connect with agencies within the school and beyond into the local community.

As part of this project participants investigate local ecosystems at Macquarie University and back in their local school environment to identify factors affecting the biodiversity of that ecosystem. Students utilise a variety of technologies including the mobile phone, the NOVA 5000 hand-held touch screen computer and dataloggers to collect data in the field. The design of these field activities incorporates the use of learning management systems such as LAMS as well as geo-spatial applications. This middle-years project involves high school students mentoring their primary school partners. One of the outcomes of this project is the development of an online community in Edmodo, a secure and collaborative learning network data is collated, shared and analysed to support student learning. Participating schools will be able to continue this project for as long as it is relevant to their needs.