In conjunction with this year’s modified City Nature Challenge (CNC), Ocean Studies Charter School in Tavernier will be asking students to conduct nature tours that FIU scientists will comment on.
The annual event usually includes “bio blitz” weekends, where participants search for wildlife their own backyards, take pictures and upload them to the iNaturalist phone app. With COVID-19 social distancing in place, the contest has been replaced by a celebration of nature.
“We were supposed to do a ‘bio blitz’ with Ms. Martha’s class at Ocean Studies,” said Analisa Duran, FIU’s education outreach program coordinator. “Instead, we’re doing a ‘virtual bio blitz’ where students will film themselves doing nature tours and post them on the CNC SoFlo Facebook page. FIU scientists will comment on the tours to encourage them.”
Martha Loizeaux, a teacher at Ocean Studies Charter School, is no stranger to the CNC. Last year, she organized “Blitz on the Bay” with FIU and Florida Bay Forever to bring light to the plants, animals and ecosystems of Florida Bay and the Everglades. She wanted to bring particular awareness of human activities that threaten these places.
“These projects give students a strong awareness of the Florida Bay and Everglades ecosystems as habitats and important resources that should be protected,” she said. “This helps build a strong foundation of environmental stewardship in our younger community”
“Students really take ownership of the projects when they know that they will be presented to the general public,” Loizeaux said, “instead of just submitted for a grade. Also, the process of completing these projects exposed students to other valuable skills such as research, collaboration, planning, and presenting.”
Loixeaux’s students can choose to guide a nature walk, kayak tour or snorkel tour. They are all creating slideshows of their findings. Other students, focused on preventing marine debris and removing plastic pollution from the marine environment, are producing educational videos on how to create usable items from trash and about the dangers of marine debris.
Loizeaux is excited about having the project go virtual with the added bonus that students will learn technological skills that can help them as they move on into our technological world.
An additional takeaway for the teacher may even eclipse her original lessons. “I hope students will also see that as a community we can still accomplish goals, learn, and grow during uncertain times,” she said. “We can do this with a little flexibility, innovation, and grit.”
To join the virtual event, people can “attend” the Facebook event and do their own bio blitz around their house or out on the water. They can also comment on students’ nature walks and upload their observations as part of the broader City Nature Challenge.
