Participating Schools

Fragile Inheritance will again be exploring and revisiting places across Canada in October of 2022. We invite students and their teachers to join in the survey of their local biodiversity along our route.

The Teachers Guide to Canada's Biodiversity will help to prepare your class for making their own natural history observations to contribute to the Fragile Inheritance database. Participants from Grades 4 to 12 will learn to:

• use the senses of sight, hearing, smell, and touch to perceive their environment
• consider the possible significance of every observation
• carefully collect plants, amphibians, and invertebrates for identification
• consult field guides as aids to identification
• note correctly and consistently the date, time, weather, and location for every observation
• understand the terms used in a "tick off" site visit datasheet and fill one in onsite
• compose their own brief summary of a habitat
• make informative sketches
• expand brief notes into prose descriptions (journalling).

OBJECTIVE: Empower citizens of all ages to contribute to scientific knowledge of species, ecology, biodiversity, and the environment.
ACHIEVEMENT: Students learn to observe carefully and to achieve the consistency of data gathering required for scientific records while at the same time observing, writing, and drawing at their own level of proficiency.

Dr Fred Schueler will also give talks and lead discussions with interested students or teachers on topics important to the study of biodiversity:

• the principles of scientific naming and evolutionary relatedness of organisms
• the discovery of local problems in distribution and identity of species.
• patterns of diversity & adaptation across Canada

The studies of ecology, biodiversity, and the environment are not accomplished indoors. We have urgent need of curious minds, perceptive eyes, ears, fingers, noses, and diligent pencils out here in the real world. Participate in onsite nature interpretation on the ground and in the field as we all write, draw, paint, and talk about our discoveries.

Contact us at info@fragileinheritance.ca for our itinerary and fees, and to suggest places for the Expedition to explore with your class.