My brother Dan is an engineer, but he has a unique hobby. He develops wildlife habitats. The “riparian” is a seventeen-acre plot developed on a farm Dan and a couple of my relatives own in Iowa. Dan hunts there some, but mostly just enjoys the challenge of restoring the habitat and watching wildlife.
His new toy is a “trail camera“. This is a fairly inexpensive digital camera that is triggered by movement. You set up the simple camera in an area (a trail I suppose) where you expect wildlife to be. After some time passes, you come back and see what images you have collected.
Dan sent me a few pictures a couple of weeks ago (a partial frame with a deer and some geese on the beaver pond you see above), but this new image is really pretty cool. There must be some educational applications here. What about the reality of not being able to take frequent field trips. What if a class could position a camera (via a teacher or a student with access) and then explore what they might find?
I have had this debate with teachers, sometimes biology teachers, from time to time about technology. I often do not immediately reveal some of my personal interests. The teachers often assume that my use of technology involves siting in front of my computer and exploring virtual worlds. I ask about their last field trip and what they and their students did afterwards. Virtual worlds are actually not my thing – I like being there. I tell them after my trips I continue to explore what I saw.
