Transforming Students into Researchers Using Photography and Citizen Science Applications

Cathy McGuire-Groft

In this two-three week unit, Kindergarten students will learn about the traditions and culture of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware. They will learn about similarities between the families from the Lenape Indians long ago and in the present. They will compare these families to their own family traditions. The unit will focus on teaching Kindergarteners how to become “researchers” and explore native flora and fauna on the grounds of our elementary school and how those native plants and trees were used by the Lenape and still used today. The students will be paired with a fifth grade “research buddy” and learn what citizen science is and how to apply a citizen science application to photograph the native flora and fauna they discover through outdoor exploration. Kindergarteners will engage in the Common Core standards to participate in classroom activities, view pictures of items used in the past by the Lenape community, and produce items such as talking sticks, and photographs of the trees and plants they discover. At the conclusion of the unit the researchers in Kindergarten will be able to display their photographs and their informative writing pieces at either a multicultural night event or an event in the classroom. They will also host a planting ceremony which will be a dedication to the indigenous families from long ago and today in collaboration with the hard work the students put forth into their unit. Their fifth grade research partners will assist and attend this event.