O.N.R.C. Science Experience
By Steven 

Purpose:  The purpose of the ONRC/FMS Science Experience is to give middle school students an opportunity to learn more about the local environment and how science is done in the real world.

Supervisors: Sherry, Elizabeth, Michelle, Theresa

Participants:

8th Graders:

  • Phillip (No Project)
  • Scott (U R Wut U Eat)
  • Jessica (Soil Samples)
  • Leah (The Ring Tailed Robber)
  • Nina (How do Microbes in Streams and Ponds Differ?)
  • Molly (How do Microbes in Streams and Ponds Differ?)
  • Krystle (Where do Animals Burrow?)

7th Graders:
    • Steven (You are what you eat)
    • Keith (You are what you eat)
    • Erica (Tree Boring)
    • Nic (U R Wut U Eat)

Date Started: February 22nd , 2002

Date Finishing: End of May through the beginning of June


Science Experience: All of the participants have done science experiments of a wide variety. Some did water experiments, and some did land experiments. Some used fluorescent tracking powder, and some found bugs in the dirt. Everyone has gotten a chance to work on the computers in the computer lab for slide show presentations and a certain animal project for our school’s Curriculum Fair. 

Before going out into the field we  learned how to use many kinds of equipment, such as tree borers, diameter tapes, tracking powder, light meters, clinometers, thermometers, anemometers, and a laser that lets foresters find the distance and incline of a certain place to help them make logging roads.   

We have done many other things out in the field too.  One time, the participants split up into two teams and did a scavenger hunt. They had to find a lot of natural things along the ONRC trail, for example, bird feathers and cedar bark. Another time we did a geocache which you normally do using GPS’s (Global Positioning System’s).  We used paper and pencil to write down clues to find the caches which the other teams then had to find.

We are going to go to the University of Washington on May 31st..   We are going to learn about the different fields of science that are studied at the school, such as astronomy and biology, and how they apply to the real world.

At the end of the year we will participate in  a Curriculum Fair at Forks Middle School where all of our work will be presented.