BudburstLessonPlan

Project Budburst Lesson

In this lesson, students will

• take part in a citizen science experiment
• discuss mass collaboration
• make and read a scatter plot

What is citizen science?

One of the greatest sources of information in science is not scientists or equipment, but the contribution of volunteer "citizen scientists." One of the most famous examples, an experiment which has been run for more than one hundred years, is the Audobon Christmas Bird Count. People all around the United States will identify and count birds near them, and scientists use these numbers.

Project Budburst is a newer project which has volunteers from around the world report when spring comes to their community, by reporting on flowers and other plants near them. Reports tell when the first leaves, buds, and blooming flowers appear. Scientists can use the data to learn more about the climates in different places and the patterns of seasons over several years.

Collect Data

It is easy for your class to get involved.

1. Find a garden, courtyard, or park with many types of plants.

2. Find plant(s) from Project Budburst's plant list, or identify a plant near you.

3. Describe the site and location, including latitude and longitude - help

4. Have students observe the plant for its first leaf, flower, and/or fruit in the spring.

5. Report your results

You may also want your students to:

• Research to identify plants
• Take pictures in Record of the plant before and at its first leaf / flower / fruit
  • Upload pictures (to Flickr or another site) and link to them in your report comments
• Create charts in SocialCalc
• View data from past experiments
• Write reports

Results: Scatter Plots

When you have only a few sets of information, you can put them together to make a line chart. When there are many different data sources, scientists are able to draw conclusions using a scatter plot. This is similar to a line chart without connecting the dots.

The data you are going to put in a scatter plot is taken directly from reports to Project Budburst during 2008. (data to-be-added)