Sophia Flores: Week 2 Recap

Week two down, six more to go! This past week I’ve learned how to plan extension activities and communicate information to high school students with my herps partner Coby. I really enjoyed being able to engage with the high school students because I got to teach them more about herptiles. While none of the students in my groups wanted to pursue careers related to natural resources after graduating, it was nice to get them out in nature and have fun while learning something new. We didn’t find any salamanders when we flipped logs and searched the streams with the students, but we did find crayfish and some possible salamander larvae.

Aside from interacting with the high schoolers, I did face some challenges when writing my research proposal. Our first two research questions were too complicated because we wouldn’t be able to replicate all of the sites to acquire accurate data, so we had to change things in our proposal and just focus on one research question. While it felt like Coby and I were a little behind compared to other groups, we were able to rearrange our calendar so we could have enough time to collect data.

I’m looking forward to setting out our materials and starting data collection. I haven’t been outside much this past week except when we went to the high school so I’m excited to spend more time outside in nature and see different herptiles.