This has been an EXCITING week at the Nature Research Center at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  One highlight of my time as a Kenan Fellow will definitely be the moment we all sat in the Daily Planet as Julie Urban introduced the Students Discover cohorts and described our projects.  It was exciting to see interested museum-goers as they listened to the presentation from the seated area, as well as the viewing areas from the upper floors.  That was my first experience in the fishbowl atmosphere of the Nature Research Center.

Dr. Julie Urban introduces the Students Discover Kenan Fellows 2015 in the Daily Planet.  

We followed the Daily Planet presentation with tours of the labs the Kenan Fellows would be in for the remainder of the three weeks externship.  Teams eMammal and Ants would be in the 2nd floor Biodiversity Lab, while Team Shark would be working in the Paleontology Lab and Team Dirt would be in the Genomics and Microbiology Lab.   

As the week progressed, I was constantly considering how I can use what I am experiencing and learning to impact student learning.  We immersed ourselves in the world of camera trapping at Carroll Middle School, where we learned to set camera traps and retrieved two previously set camera traps.  On Wednesday, we hiked over six miles at Raven Rock State Park as we retrieved previously-set Reconyx cameras.  Some things I didn’t plan to retrieve:  ticks and poison ivy.  Just goes to prove that science is MESSY!

We have two cameras on each side of the river, so this might take a while!

Later in the week, we began working with data collected from middle schools in the area and begun the work of identifying animals that were trapped on the cameras.  It was amazing to learn that in suburban areas, there was an abundance of coyote, gray fox, grey squirrel, raccoons, and opossum.  This got me really excited to see what animals my students might trap on our own campus at Chinquapin Elementary!  I am already thinking of ways to incorporate the camera trap data into math and art lessons.  I can’t wait to see what my “Students Discover”!!!!

Getting ready to hit the trails. The traps are set 200m off-trail, so we are ready to hit the woods, as well.