Seventh Grade Field Trip

A Seventh Grade Trip to the Outdoor Lab

Middle school classroom teachers work with the Lab director to tailor a day of activities to their students’ needs, such as an Ecology Discovery Day, in which seventh graders travel around the lab in small groups to learn about various ecological topics by completing a packet at interactive stations.  Adults (teachers, chaperones and Lab staff) are strategically placed to check students’ answers and provide instructional guidance.

Topics covered at the stations include:

  • Predator-prey relationships
  • Symbiosis
  • The role of decomposition in an ecosystem
  • Forest succession
  • Organismal identification using a dichotomous key
  • Water quality monitoring

The students end their explorations back at Striker cottage classroom where they eat their lunch and digest the day’s learning.