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Galapagos Island Discovery Experience

Endorsement Stories

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Galapagos Island Discovery Experience
Galapagos Island Discovery Experience

The Ecuador and Galapagos Discovery trip this past summer is an excellent example of how Discovery experiences extend our students' learning into the real world. When talking about Ecology in Biology class, students learn how ecologists study ecosystems and the challenges they face in preserving our natural world. Are certain species endangered? Do they need particular conservation action? How are we impacting them? However, none of these questions can be answered until we know the types and population levels of species that exist there. This is a challenging but essential job that our students were able to participate in! 

On our Discovery trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, students worked with two different types of animals. They used GoPros to take pictures of green sea turtles in the Galapagos and then uploaded them to a researcher's website. He uses AI to identify individual sea turtles by the scale pattern on the left side of their face to track their movement around the Galapagos Islands.

They also implemented bird surveys, contributing to the global bird database by submitting 21 checklists to eBird that included 98 different species of birds. This totaled 752 individual birds that students documented throughout other areas of Ecuador and the Galapagos islands. No one within the last 20 years had surveyed some of the places students worked in! 

Through this experience, students practiced valuable ecological skills in observation and identification techniques using GoPros, binoculars, and sound identification apps. They were able to see firsthand how difficult the job of an ecologist is, all while making a significant and sizeable addition to the global database. Great job, team Ecuador!

More Endorsement Stories

Galapagos Island Discovery Experience
Galapagos Island Discovery Experience

The Ecuador and Galapagos Discovery trip this past summer is an excellent example of how Discovery experiences extend our students' learning into the real world. When talking about Ecology in Biology class, students learn how ecologists study ecosystems and the challenges they face in preserving our natural world. Are certain species endangered? Do they need particular conservation action? How are we impacting them? However, none of these questions can be answered until we know the types and population levels of species that exist there. This is a challenging but essential job that our students were able to participate in! 

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