Donor's Choose

Our proposal for a Donors Choose project has been posted!  We are hoping to collect several cameras to use for our project when we return from Costa Rica.  While we at LaSelva, we will be learning TEAM protocols for animal monitoring.  Then when we return, we will start collecting and analyzing data with our students.  

Trail Cameras

We've been doing some research into what type of camera trap would be best for our follow up project.  I found one that seemed reasonable, but when I sent the specs over to our contact at Kennedy Space Center, he thought that we needed a variable focal length.  So after some more research, we settled on a Spypoint BF-10HD.  Ellen, who works at a school receiving extra funding for low income students, was able to find money in the budget to buy two cameras.  Ryan and I don't get any extra money and so are both working on independent funding.  This is a link to Ryan's Go Fund Me page.  I've got a Donor's Choose proposal in the works, so hopefully that will result in a few more cameras to make our project doable.  Part of the plan is placing cameras along a gradient to look at the impact of rising water levels.  

La Selva

Here is a google maps image of La Selva Biological Preserve where we will be studying ecosystem monitoring and TEAM protocols in August.  The site is called Volcan Barva.  We were fortunate to win a competitive application process for ECO Classroom sponsored by Northrop Grumman. After assembling a team of 4 teachers from Brevard Public Schools, we decided on a group project idea and wrote a proposal as to how we apply what we would learn in Costa Rica to our own classrooms.  We chose to focus on camera traps.  Camera traps are motion activated devices which monitor animal activity remotely.  Our proposal was submitted along with applications, essays, and letters of recommendation.  

Space Coast Eco Geeks

We are the Space Coast Eco Geeks -- a team of 4 teachers working together to prepare for a professional development opportunity at La Selva Biological Preserve in Costa Rica.  We will spend two weeks at the station learning about ecological monitoring techniques.  Then, when we travel back to the Space Coast, we will use what we have learned help our students discover more about ecology, climate change, and science.  We are working on grant applications for our proposed project which will use camera traps to monitor the occupancy of gopher tortoise burrows in Brevard County.  Follow along as we prepare, learn and share!