Monday's Lesson
Handheld Computers in the Field

When students do projects in their own backyards, neighborhoods, and playgrounds, they make real-life discoveries. And when handheld computers team up with database and spreadsheet software, students can turn the collection of real-life data into actual fieldwork, and become math and science experts about phenomena in their local community.

Creating a field guide is a great way to learn about the environment, and leave a lasting legacy. The following lesson describes some of the powerful portable software that can be mixed and matched to fit different needs and budgets. Even though this lesson took place in Denali, Alaska, it can be adapted to your local geography and data collection needs.

Denali National Park Fire Succession Study

The Denali National Park and Preserve encompasses six million acres of pristine wilderness. This sub-arctic ecosystem hosts grizzly bears, wolves, Dall sheep, moose, and a biosphere reserve filled with forests, glaciers, and a wide variety of plants and vegetation.

In June 2004, the Eastern Area Fire Management of the National Park Service and Denali Borough School District collaborated to study fire succession. The Denali Science and Storytelling Camp offered teachers and students in grades 4-12 an opportunity to use handheld computers to investigate the diversity and catalog the changes in the park after a fire.

Fire succession studies research the natural recovery and development of forest vegetation following wildfires. This involves counting the plant species that either survive fire intact or are capable of colonizing the immediate post-fire site from seed sources. Because succession is a natural and recurrent process of developing forest vegetation, understanding its basic features is essential to the effective management of the park. Natural wildfires, mostly caused by lightning, are a critical component of the boreal forest ecosystem. Fires of considerable size and intensity have created a patchwork landscape of vegetation communities of different species and ages. The Denali Camp participants set about studying and recording the landscape of three burn areas.

Campers’ Fieldwork

All of the technology the Denali Camp participants used and the types of data they collected can be adapted to any location. Let's take a look at how the campers created a field guide and how a similar project can be accomplished anywhere.

Armed with lightweight, portable Zire 71 handheld computers with built-in digital cameras, the campers visited several burn sites, ready to photograph and identify the plants and animals of interior Alaska, and create their own specialized field guide. With a handheld version of SmartList, camp participants identified plants and animals using a common field guide for reference (Figure 1). Then they added a description and photograph to each entry. They also recorded numbers of plant species in a fire effects plot spreadsheet.

Next, participants measured the temperature and depth of the permafrost at each burn site with Vernier direct-connect temperature sensors using the ImagiWorks sensor interface and ImagiProbe software (Figure 2). Although this may sound daunting, the equipment is simple and intuitive to operate, and it can be used to record temperature data in rivers and lakes, or on land.

To record data, students used Sheets To Go, which is part of the Documents To Go software created by Microsoft (Figure 3). It allows students to collect data in the field on a handheld computer and then export it to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Collecting Data

Students followed a common protocol to accurately collect a species cover count. To do this, they followed a 20-meter straight line, or transect, and half a meter on the right side of the transect line they looked for species every meter. When a species was located, it was identified and entered on the spreadsheet (Figure 4).

After returning from the burn areas, the handheld computers were synced with a laptop and data was downloaded to determine the species cover count and the overall percent coverage.

A field guide project does not have to be as big as a national park. What's in your local community? Is there a playground, a neighborhood park, or a stream where students can collect data? Is there someplace where conditions are changing or the land is threatened?

From Data Collection to Poetry

In addition to using the handhelds to collect data, camp participants used their creative talents to design animations about the concept of fire succession (Figure 5) using software called Sketchy.

Based on this animation, another student wrote the following poem to describe the natural cycle that occurs as the forest returns.

One flame dropped
there it burns

Down to ashes
then it turned

Up sprouts life
a whole new world

Repeating the cycle
the forest returns

Wireless Technology

Denali campers also tracked wolves using Global Positioning Systems (GPS). Handheld GPS units are widely available and can be used to record the locations of animals, plants, or even people!

Students used a secure digital (SD) card in their handhelds to access the National Wildlife Federation Handheld Guide to Birds and used it to identify the local Alaskan birds. This comprehensive guide includes field marks, bird sounds, and seasonal migration marks.

Participants also used iSight software, a wireless connection supported by towers mounted atop several mountains, and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) cards in portable computers throughout the park as a method to transfer live video to those not in the field.

Investigating Your Community

With the help of handheld computers and some easy-to-use software, students can create a field guide, track animals, even investigate something that threatens the local ecosystem.

Contact your local park service or environmental agencies for research ideas and assistance with field study protocols. Visit the Usight website for more information on how handheld computers can be used as tools for data collection and more.

The possibilities are as wide as the imagination.