Experience Engage Enable
T: Telephone02 9816 1298
| Location | Buffalo Creek Reserve - 117 Pittwater Road, Hunters Hill. This excursion is on Darug country |
| Bus access | Supply bus driver with Buffalo Creek Reserve bus information. No bus entry into Buffalo Creek Reserve carpark. |
| Cost | DoE $24 per student - GST free Non-gov school cost $34 per student - GST free, minimum charge $600 |
| Risk assessment |
All staff and adult visitors must be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination. |
| Terrain | View the video of the tracks and bushland sites visited on this excursion |
| Welfare | Participants will be bushwalking for up to 1km on rocky tracks with some uneven steps. This excursion may not be suitable for people who have recently been unwell or who have significantly limited mobility. Toilets are only available at the beginning and end of the day. Please contact the centre to discuss the needs of participants with limited mobility. |
| Bring | Backpack, clipboards, pencil, pen, medication, plenty of food, water bottle, sunblock, wet weather gear, hat, sports uniform, sturdy shoes, mask. There are no shops near the study site. |
| Student devices | Students are required to bring their own mobile device for photography and data collection. They must have the Google Sheets app downloaded prior to the excursion. Download Google sheets: Google Play - App Store Please contact the centre if your school has a no-phone rule. |
| Essential viewing for students | Preparing for an excursion video Fieldwork information and skills video playlist Note: Your students will get much more from the experience if they watch these videos in the week before the excursion. Videos 7 - 11 are particularly useful. |
| Essential resources | |
| Supporting resources | Virtual fieldwork - 2021 resource for "learning at home" situations Teacher programming folder with resources, quizzes, worksheets and assessment ideas. Fact sheets for relevant animal and plant species. |
| Bin access | Bins are only available at the start and the end of the excursion. Students must take responsibility for their own waste at all times. |
| Medical or special needs | Notify Field of Mars staff prior to excursion. Students, staff and visitors must not attend if unwell, even with mild symptoms. |
| Extreme or wet weather | Days predicted to be above 35ºC, high winds, extreme bush fire danger and dust storms may result in the excursion being modified, postponed or cancelled. Weather forecast |
| Cancellations | Cancellations with less than three school weeks' notice will incur a $500 administration fee. This does not apply to cancellations due to weather, fire danger or COVID-19 restrictions. |
Time |
Activities |
||
| 9.45 - 10.15 | Introduction - Inquiry questions, planning, toilets, distribute fieldwork equipment | ||
| Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 3 | |
| 10.00 - 10.55 | Site 3 | Site 2 | Site 1 |
| 10.55 - 11.20 | Recess - at site 4 or other pleasant bush site | ||
| 11.20 - 12.15 | Site 1 | Site 3 | Site 2 |
| 12.15 - 1.10 | Site 2 | Site 1 | Site 3 |
| 1.10 - 1.40 | Lunch - at Buffalo Creek Reserve or other site | ||
| 1.40 - 2.00 | Data analysis, problem solving revisiting inquiry questions |
||
| 2.00 - 2.15 | Conclusion and depart | ||
On this excursion students undertake a journey through high-quality natural environments to access three main study sites. Along the way they engage with content from Modules 3 and 4 from the NESA Biology syllabus including:
Case studies of two native animal species and their ecological niches (including interactions, adaptations, evolutionary notes and population dynamics)
Rigorous, hands-on ecological surveys of the biotic and abiotic factors at two different forest sites. The data collected from these surveys then allows for a comparison of the sites which informs a habitat assessment for the two animal species mentioned above.
Analysis of human activities, environmental impacts, management and research priorities
Engaging, hands-on communication tasks that focus on animal adaptations, habitat, threats and management.
All of the fieldwork activities have an explicit teaching focus on the syllabus skills for working scientifically.
The inquiry questions that guide the fieldwork plan are:
Sites 1 and 2 - Ecological surveys
Students work co-operatetively in groups of 3 or 4.
Each group has a bag full of quality fieldwork instruments and tools. Students use these to record quantitative and qualitative data for their site surveys of biotic and abiotic factors.
Biotic factors surveyed include: leaf litter invertebrate sampling, fauna evidence, leaf-litter coverage (using a sectioned quadrat) and identifying dominant plant types.
Soil factors surveyed include: soil texture, pH, moisture, colour and temperature.
Abiotic environmental factors surveyed are numerous and use instruments including hygrometers, compasses, clinometers, light meters and anemometers.
Students record their data and observations in two ways: first using their own worksheets and second using a shared online spreadsheet which they all access on their phones using the "Google sheets" app. This streamlines data collection, processing and analysis (and allows the teachers to spot and correct errors and suspicious data outliers as they occur)
As they work, the groups identify and discuss issues with the survey method's validity and data reliability. This discussion includes explicit examples of different types of error and bias and strategies to minimise these.
Note: To get the most out of these activities your students need to have watched these videos in the week before the excursion (videos 7 - 11 are particularly useful)
Site 3 - Case studies of native animals
Students will investigate the habitat and engage with the adaptations of two threatened species/populations that occur at the site - the long-nosed bandicoot and the red-crowned toadlet.
Students will use their own phones/devices to make a short, informative video about the ecological niche, adaptations and threats for the long-nosed bandicoot.
Site 4 (and bush tracks) - Ecosystem dynamics and human impacts
Throughout the day students will identify the relevant human activities and their associated environmental impacts (good and bad) occurring in and around the study sites.
Students learn to identify cause and effect relationships and then communicate these with a flowchart building activity.
Students are be coached on how to take the ideal photos on their own devices that enable them to best identify and communicate information relevant to the syllabus content and any assessment task the school may have.
Near the end of the excursion student groups consider and discuss information they have gathered and use this to make an initial comparison and assessment of the two study sites, specifically their suitability as habitat for the long-nosed bandicoot and red-crowned toadlet as well as future directions for land and ecosystem managers.
Teachers can easily use this excursion experience and data collected as the basis of an assessment task.
A range of sample assessment questions, tasks and marking rubrics are available by request.
Schools that are able to organise their students to collect their excursion data using the Google sheets spreadsheet app (instead of pen and paper) will find it much easier to assess their students' data processing and analysis skills.
Biology Stage 6 Syllabus (2017)
Working scientifically
Outcomes
A student:
develops and evaluates questions and hypotheses for scientific investigation BIO11/12-1
designs and evaluates investigations in order to obtain primary and secondary data and information BIO11/12-2
conducts investigations to collect valid and reliable primary and secondary data and information BIO11/12-3
selects and processes appropriate qualitative and quantitative data and information using a range of appropriate media BIO11/12-4
analyses and evaluates primary and secondary data and information BIO11/12-5
analyses ecosystem dynamics and the interrelationships of organisms within the ecosystem BIO11-11
Module 4 Ecosystem Dynamics
Content
Students investigate and determine relationships between biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem, including:
the impact of abiotic factors
the impact of biotic factors, including predation, competition and symbiotic relationships
the ecological niches occupied by species
predicting consequences for populations in ecosystems due to predation, competition, symbiosis and disease
measuring populations of organisms using sampling techniques
Students analyse evidence that present-day organisms have evolved from organisms in the past by examining and interpreting a range of secondary sources to evaluate processes, claims and conclusions relating to the evolution of organisms in Australia, for example:
small mammals
Students investigate changes in past ecosystems that may inform our approach to the management of future ecosystems, including:
the role of human-induced selection pressures on the extinction of species
models that humans can use to predict future impacts on biodiversity
the role of changing climate on ecosystems
Students investigate practices used to restore damaged ecosystems, country or place, for example:
mining sites
land degradation
address
220 Pittwater Road,
East Ryde NSW 2112
telephone 02 9816 1298
We’d like to acknowledge the Wallumedegal Peoples of the Darug Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we stand and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
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