his is a fun, casual “mini discussion” that can be used to get students generating and sharing ideas in a low-stakes setting, and to help build a culture of discourse and develop discussion skills within a group. It’s an interesting and fairly easy topic for students to think about and participate in. Students tend to love talking about the “most,” “least,” and “how many” facts about nature. The very broad category of “organism” means all students will probably have something to contribute to the discussion. Engaging in this kind of talk can help prepare a group to participate in similar or more involved discussions later, and it can “run in the background” while the group is eating lunch or a snack, or whenever they seem ready to sit and chat.

This activity sets an exciting tone of exploration and discovery, encouraging an inquiry mindset in students that helps establish a community of curious, active learners. Students gain tools to explore the natural world—and are inspired to discover and attempt to explain the abundant nature mysteries that surround us. NSI works well at the start of a field experience, to get students excited about nature mysteries. It provides an opportunity for an instructor to coach students in inquiry skills, by using the language of science and engaging in scientific discussions. For instructors with less experience leading open-ended explorations and discussions, this can be a challenging activity to lead successfully the first time. The write-up includes detailed support, by providing information and strategies for the instructor. Students focus on a mystery object, generate observations, questions, evidence-based explanations and share what they already know from other sources. Once students are familiar with these practices, they can use them to investigate and make explanations about anything they find in nature through their field experience(s).

It can be hard to make learning about the night sky student-centered, but that’s what this activity does: students trade and discuss cards, then take charge of finding and pointing out the different objects. When an object is found, the instructor may share some interesting information to feed students’ curiosity, but the primary focus is on students finding, wondering about, and discussing different objects.

During this activity, students try to find and discuss a variety of items during a night hike, such as, “evidence of an amphibian (frog croaks),” puzzlers that they’re challenged to figure out, such as “the fastest thing in the Universe” (light), and items from the night sky, such as “a natural satellite of Earth” (the Moon), or “something bigger than our Sun,” (other stars).

Are you related to a lizard? This Adaptations Activity gives students insights into
how very different organisms are actually related (distantly). Students search for two somewhat closely related organisms (like two kinds of insects, or a spider and an insect) to compare, using Venn diagrams. Then they debate which two organisms studied by a team are most closely related, supporting their ideas with evidence and reasoning. Finally, they interpret a “Tree of Life” diagram to see how living things on Earth share common ancestors. This activity helps students develop a foundation for understanding key ideas about evolution.

Many students are squeamish about spiders. But when you spray spider webs with a water mister, they are easy to see and gorgeous, and just about anyone can get caught up in exploring them! After this activity, students will probably notice and appreciate spider webs everywhere, including when they return home. They will also probably be more careful to avoid knocking webs down while walking around. In this activity, students notice spider webs as they walk. When students arrive at an exploration site, pairs search for different kinds of webs in the area, mist them with water, then regroup to discuss their observations and think about how different types of webs help spiders catch different kinds of prey. Students learn about different web types, then return to the field to use a key to identify different kinds of webs. They also make explanations about how the structures of the webs they find function to catch prey.

This activity is designed to be a follow-up to the Spider Exploration activity, and to be done with students who are excited about and interested in spider webs. It’s meant for instructors who want to help their students learn how to conduct a more formal and structured investigation. Students compare quantity of spider webs in two different plant communities. The basic structure of this investigation is pre-planned, but students discuss and plan how to make it a fair test with the least amount of bias as possible. Students also analyze their data, make explanations from their findings, discuss possible inaccuracies of their results, and reflect on science practices and investigation design.

Who doesn’t love to toss sticks or leaves into a stream and watch them move in the current? Who doesn’t love mysteries? In Stream Detectives, students get to explore a stream, figuring out how the currents move by using stick and leaf “boats” to track the speed and direction of different currents. Students learn about some of the factors that affect current speed and direction (hydrodynamics), how water shapes stone (weathering), how the channel of a stream changes over time (stream morphology), and how the speed of the current affects the size of sediment that it leaves behind (erosion). Then, they apply this knowledge by using a Stream Detective Key to figure out how the stream features they see in the moment formed in the past, and to predict how they might change in the future. Students learn skills and concepts they can use to interpret and learn about any stream they encounter.

Observing an organism for an extended period of time can be a rewarding learning experience that helps students develop a meaningful relationship with the natural world. Students often engage more deeply in observing an organism if they’re given some sort of task to focus their observations. In this activity, pairs of students find an organism, then observe and record its structures and behaviors. Students apply the lens of adaptations as they come up with explanations for how their organisms’ structures and behaviors might help it survive in its habitat. In a group discussion, students consider the relationship between organisms’ structures and possible functions, which is a useful science thinking tool that can help them to better understand the natural world. This activity helps students develop a definition of adaptation that includes both behavioral and structural adaptations (adaptations are inheritable structures or behaviors that help a population of organisms survive in their habitat), and gives students the experience applying that definition to an organism in the local ecosystem.

Animals are sometimes hard to see, but with observation skills we can use evidence to figure out where they‘ve been and what they’ve been doing. Students love to look for evidence of animals, and teaching them basic tracking skills can open up a world of intrigue and mystery. In this Focused Exploration activity, students use observation skills to notice evidence of animals living in the area. With a few basic tracking tools, students look for animal signs, and follow animal paths to new discoveries. Students also engage in key science practices as they share explanations for the animal signs they find, compare and evaluate explanations based on the strength of evidence, and take part in scientific argumentation.

In this Adaptation Name Game, students sitting or standing in a circle play a version of tag, with one person in the center. When a person in the circle says another person’s name, the person in the center of the circle tries to touch the person whose name was said, before they can say someone else’s name. Later, students pause to brainstorm strategies to improve their performance, then play some more. Students learn that this was a representation of how certain structures and behaviors help organisms survive in their habitat, and that these are adaptations that species inherit over time. This game helps students learn each other’s names, while “lightly” introducing them to what adaptations are. Note: This activity is only an introduction; to gain any meaningful understanding of the topic, students will need more adaptation-focused activities, such as Adaptations Intro-Live!, Structures & Behaviors, and Related & Different, which engage students more deeply in understanding the concept through interactions with real organisms.

“What lives here?” is a question that students tend to wonder about, and this activity taps into that natural curiosity. Students figure out what lives in an ecosystem by looking for evidence and by using a simple field guide. They deepen their understanding of evidence, both the evidence organisms leave behind and evidence in general. Often, students might see a hair, track, or other piece of evidence and jump to conclusions about what left it behind. They may also treat all evidence as equal, whether it’s actually flimsy or strong. This activity helps them slow down, make observations, and evaluate their evidence as strong, less strong, or weak. Later in the activity, students make ecosystem models from their notes and, through discussion, use them as evidence to try to better understand the ecosystem.

Science literacy is of great value for any citizen of the world. For students to develop science literacy, it’s important that they not only engage in science practices, but also that they take time to reflect on practices they use, which most students are unlikely to do without scaffolding and support from an instructor. This activity engages students in reflecting on science practices.

This activity has three parts that are meant to be led with students before and after a field experience in which students engage in science practices. The first two parts are meant to be taught at the beginning of a field experience, and the third part at the end of the field experience. In the Science = Adventure introduction, the instructor builds up anticipation and excitement about doing field science. Then the instructor introduces some core field science practices by leading students in using those practices briefly to explore a mysterious object. Later during the Post: Debriefing Science Practices, after other field science experiences (not included in this activity), students reflect back on the science practices they engaged in and experienced.

In this Matter and Energy Name Game, students learn each other’s names through a chant about energy and matter, then each dance in the spotlight when it’s their turn. It gives students a fun introduction to some words relating to matter and energy that the instructor can refer back to during later learning experiences. It also provides an opportunity for each student to feel “seen” at the beginning of a field experience.