As I teach more iterations of this class, I\u2019m appreciating how different lessons of the class land. \u00a0I like starting the class off by getting students outside as quickly as possible. \u00a0We\u2019ll meet up, have a short intro in a classroom, and then go outside to our study area, where students are supposed to come up with their own answer to the question, \u201cwhat are the animals here going to do after we leave?\u201d \u00a0I don\u2019t give much instruction about how to do that, just a quick chat about how to look for tracks and sign. \u00a0Students work in small groups, each group comes up with their own way of answering that question, and then they set up a trail camera to see if their prediction is correct.<\/p>\n
The next day we meet, I pull footage from the cameras before the class, and we go over it together. Most groups have some sort of problem with their camera. \u00a0Maybe they didn\u2019t turn it on, or they have lots of leaves right in front of the camera, with several hundred videos of leaves waving in the breeze (really common). \u00a0There might be a camera failure that has nothing to do with the students, like an SD card failure or batteries running out. \u00a0We also notice that a lot of groups didn\u2019t point their camera at the thing they wanted to see. \u00a0This is natural \u2014 on the first day, I just give them the basic \u201cstrap a camera to a tree\u201d kit, which is actually remarkably hard to work with (we build tools for positioning and aiming cameras on day 2). \u00a0All of these problems are learnable, workable problems \u2014 \u201coh, you had lots of leaves in front of your camera. \u00a0Next time, put your camera somewhere with a clear view, or take out some of the leaves and branches.\u201d \u00a0\u201cYou wanted to look at the ground, but we\u2019re mostly looking at the treetops. \u00a0Next time, do a test shot after you set it up to see if you\u2019re looking in the right direction\u201d. Easy, fixable lessons. \u00a0It\u2019s fine that they had problems, and it\u2019s actually better for them to learn from their own mistakes than for me to hover over them trying to correct everything they\u2019re doing wrong.<\/p>\n
And then, something cool happens \u2014 somebody gets a success. \u00a0It might be intentional, or a lucky guess, or completely by accident, but someone finds an animal that is a surprise to everyone. \u00a0<\/p>\n