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 Katy Rogal is always looking for new ways to engage her students. A semi-finalist for Alberta Education’s 2010 Excellence in Teaching awards and a teacher at Greystone Centennial Middle School in Spruce Grove, she attended Inside Education’s Forest Education Tour in 2008. “It really changed my point of view on teaching Trees and Forests.” Katy particularly appreciated that she heard perspectives from forestry, mining, conservation and government. “When I came back, instead of doing worksheets and exams we did a forest management project.” She gave her students a fictional section of forest to manage. The students had to determine who was going to be able to use the forest, for what kind of activities, which areas could be used, and if it would it be shared or sectioned off. “[My students learned] about judgment calls and values because there is not one way that is right. People place different values on the forest and you have to figure out what is the right balance.”
Katy has also been using Inside Education’s Guide to Common Native Trees and Shrubs of Alberta in her Grade Six unit on Trees and Forests but wanted an easier way to demonstrate to students how to use the dichotomous key, a tool included in the guide for identifying trees. Her solution was to build an interactive SMART Board presentation that allowed her students to learn how to move through the dichotomous key before ever setting foot in the field. “We did have lots of copies so the kids could look at their own, but to teach them initially how to use it, it was so much easier to put it up on the screen where everyone could see.”
Katy scanned in an image of the main key and programmed touch points to move the students through the various characteristics of a tree. The touch points take the students to the next page in the guide and the next key. By interacting directly with the digital dichotomous key and following along in their guides, her students quickly sussed out how the key could help them identify an unknown tree or shrub and used it more effectively in the field.
At Greystone’s student-led learning conferences, Katy had the students demonstrate the digital dichotomous key to their parents. A couple of the parents were teachers themselves and asked Katy if she would share it with them. Katy contacted us to ensure she had our permission and in turn we asked her if we could also share it with the larger Inside Education audience. You can download either a PowerPoint or Notebook version of the digital dichotomous key.
How do you use Inside Education’s resources in your classroom? Has your class done an interesting project you would like to tell us about? Do you have a great idea that you would like to share with other teachers?
For more information contact:
Email: communications@insideeducation.ca
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