Session 1 · VOICE: Validate the Problem
What has changed here?
- 15 minThen and now: compare an old photo, aerial photo or record of a local place with a photo from today. What has changed?
- 15 minList possible changes (species, weeds, water flow, birds) and possible causes. Draw arrows from causes to changes. Notice that most changes have more than one arrow.
- 15 minMeet the partner's question: what do they need to know? Write a precise, testable question about one change and one cause.
- 5 minKōkako asks one question about your question. Sharpen one word.
Session 2 · VOICE: Observe
Observation or inference?
- 10 minSort statements into observations ('3 of 10 cards had rat prints') and inferences ('rats are eating the eggs').
- 20 minPlan what to record over time: which indicator, where, how often, at what time of day, and how many repeats.
- 20 minSet up at the site: mark the transect or quadrats, number the tracking-tunnel spots, choose bird-count points at least 100 m apart.
Getting started
Choose from three ready-made questions, such as 'Are there more rat prints outside the trapped area than inside it?'
Stretch
Name a confounding variable (something else that could explain your result) and how you will control it.
Checkpoint
Each group has a precise question, a named indicator and a plan to record it more than once.
Activities for this week
- Then and now photo detective: How has our place changed over the last 50 to 100 years?
Useful this week
- Predator Free 2050 vision ↗ Why NZ aims to remove rats, stoats and possums, and what it would take.
- The five-minute bird count method ↗ The standard NZ method for counting forest birds, so your data matches the experts'.
- NZ Birds Online ↗ Identify every bird you see or hear, with calls and photos.