The Problem
The purpose of this project is for LAHSA Environmental Studies students to document and identify the organisms they encounter in their explorations of the immediate neighborhood. In doing so, we will better understand the diversity of life that surrounds us in our day to day lives in the beautiful city of Los Angeles.
My wish is for my students to look closer at the word around them and invite their friends and families to join them in a deeper appreciation of the biodiversity in their own neighborhood.
Our Plan
We will be documenting species by taking pictures of plants, animals and fungi in the immediate neighborhood of the school (i.e., between students' homes and the school campus). Students will explore, locate, photograph and attempt to identify species. They will then upload these photos and written descriptions to the iNaturalist project created for this campaign (http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/lahsa-biodiversity-survey), which becomes a searchable database open to researchers and the general public.
Students will also make products to present their individual work to an audience of teachers and parents in a gallery walk of field guides created in class.
