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Jr. Scientist Program

Wood Lake Nature Center's Junior Scientist Program is designed for middle-school aged homeschoolers. This program builds upon the knowledge learned in the Science Explorers program to perform real research and habitat restoration. The program provides hands on projects related to citizen science, resource conservation, and cool projects that a field scientist would experience.  This isn't a class, it's an experience! For information on topics covered and how to sign up please see below.

 
 

Registration

Classes generally take place on the last Wednesday and Thursday of the month from 2 to 4 p.m. Each class is limited to 24 students.

Cost is $4 per student per class.

Pre-registration (as well as pre-payment) is required for these classes, so call 612-861-9365 to sign up. Due to the popularity of this program it is recommended that you sign up early.

Projects

September 28: World Water Quality Monitoring Day (A global event!)- Check water quality and report it to the International Water Association.

October 25,26: Prairie seed collection and prairie restoration.

November 30 and December 1: Forest restoration- Invasive species removal by making your own buckthorn hiking staff.

December 14,15: Wood Lake mammal check-up.

January 25,26: Wood Duck monitoring and conservation.

February 15,16: Great Backyard Bird Count (A national event!)- Report findings to Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

March 28,29: March Phenology survey.

April 25,26: Maple Syrup Party.

May 23,24: Project Noah Flowers of North America  Citizen Science Project (A national project!)- Document wildflowers at Wood Lake to help build a national database.

The results of many of our projects will be reported to national scientific institutions to aid scientists in global research. Students will do active field research, restore critical habitat, complete important projects for Wood Lake, and have fun while meeting other homeschoolers. This is not a class orientated program. Rather, students will be in the field performing research.

The research results will be recorded by the homeschool coordinator. As the program continues over the next several year the students will be able to start analyzing the data and determine trends at Wood Lake with the homeschool coordinator's assistance.

This program strives to introduce students to how research is actually performed, therefore the same experiments will be performed every year so that the data can be compared and real findings generated. That being said, though the topics and experiments will be the same, the projects done will vary from year to year. It is recommended that you sign up for multiple years so that the students can learn how to analyze data and see the results of their work.

 
For more information call the homeschool coordinator at 612-861-9193.