WYTeacherCon25

Teaching research comes with a combination of challenges for middle school students. Most do not have experience in research topics. The trail cameras offer a way for the students to focus on a research topic that is very general or very specific to one animal. In this activity the students worked as a research team. Each class period were a team. They had no choice, this experience helps them understand how to navigate collaborations as a group. This unit was about teaching them how to develop research questions. The second year (Spring 2025) is about teaching them to develop a measurement tool. What is quantitative and qualitative research? Can trail cameras research be a qualitative study? How does the Arapaho and Shoshone lens help you understand western research science methods?
In this session I will share the Wind River Reservation through the lens of the trail cameras and how my students interpret the 100,000+ photos they collected.