Self-Study Lab
Teaching and learning during the pandemic has been unusual. The lab class I was a TA for, Freshwater ecology, was based on field trips to streams. We had only taken one of the field trips when we switched to remote learning. We still wanted students to get out in the field and look at streams and macroinvertebrates if they were still able to do so safely. I came up with a self-study lab on wetland features. Wetlands can be defined in many ways, but the main features are the presence of water, wetland soils, and wetland plants. The soils and plants develop distinctive features in response to being frequently wet. This lab is a self-guided tour, mainly aimed at looking at wetland plants.
This lab was aimed at college-level ecology students, but could also be appropriate for almost any aged student depending on the additional background you give.
This lab may require some background information about wetland soils and plants. I did not include background to avoid any copyright infringement, but there are lots of great resources available for the basic information to accompany these activities. For the love of soil is a great website that has aggregated online education resources related to soils.
Here are a few more links:
Virtual munsell soil color chart
Wetlands and plants introduction
Please feel free to use this lab for your own classes and adapt as needed! Go explore!
