Ornithologist in Training: Avian Field Ecology Project Private Mentoring

***Please send Heather a message with your interest and availability as instructor does not post availability for this course.***
The semester course Ornithologist in Training: Avian Field Research and Scientific Writing is a prerequisite for this course.

This course may be used as a part of the “Ornithologist in Training Curriculum Series”.  Please see the section below entitled “About the Ornithologist in Training Curriculum Series” to learn how this curriculum series can provide your learner with a comprehensive multi-year curriculum in Ornithology culminating in the development of skills in independent ornithology field research and college-prep scientific writing.  The semester course Ornithologist in Training: Avian Field Research and Scientific Writing is a prerequisite for this course.

Would you like to do a science fair project or other independent research project outside studying birds in nature?  During this class, students will work one to one with an experienced field ecologist to design, conduct, and communicate a unique avian field ecology project.  Students might investigate patterns in bird species relative abundance and species richness, foraging behavior, etc... The list of possibilities is only limited by your curiosity and interests.  

Typically students will meet with Heather every other week. Each meeting will explore one of the class topics below, or a different pre-planned topic.  During the meeting Heather will work with students to identify what "homework" should be completed before the next meeting.  In addition to the 30min meeting, the class price also includes individual, written feedback on homework assignments prior to the next meeting as well as the opportunity to ask questions by sending a message in Outschool. You will only be charged for weeks when there is a meeting scheduled through the Outschool classroom. Send Heather a message to set up your own unique meeting schedule. 


Meeting Topics and Class Schedule Example for a Student Project Culminating in a Scientific Paper:

Note: These are examples only!  Actual topics and schedules vary with each student project and Heather will work with you individually to help you design a class meeting sequence and schedule that will work well for your student project.  For example some students may wish to focus on communicating their results through a professional poster or oral presentation rather than a scientific paper. 

Meeting 1: Design Your Research Project:  
During this meeting students will:
- Identify research interests
- Decide on a research question
- Form a hypothesis and identify independent and dependent variables
- Begin writing a procedure to test the hypothesis
Homework: Write methods section and begin background literature research for project

Meeting 2: Firm up Research Project Methods:
During this meeting students will:
- Finish research project design (including locating study sites, as needed)
- Finish research project protocol 
- Discuss background literature and biological context and biological rationale
- Design a data sheet to use to gather data 
Homework: Write the introduction section and being gathering data

Meeting 3: Data Collection Check-in
During this meeting students will:
- Discuss data collection progress
- Troubleshoot any data collection challenges
- Begin organizing data for analysis
- Begin data analysis (if time)
Homework: Finish collecting data and begin data analysis

Meeting 4: Understand and Display Your Data
During this meeting students will:
- Organize data for analysis
- Analyze their data   
- Display data in graphs and tables with appropriate axis labels, titles, and/or captions. 
Homework: Finish analysis and write the results section 

Meeting 5: Interpret Your Data
During this meeting students will:
- Interpret the data to determine if it does or does not support the hypothesis
- Draw conclusions about the data and how it fits into what is already known in scientific literature
- Brainstorm future research ideas
- Brainstorm the broader implications of the study
- Discuss title options
Homework: Write the discussion section and revise and submit the entire scientific paper 

Meeting 6: Scientific Paper Feedback
During this meeting we will:
- Discuss the written feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the scientific paper.  
- Identify concrete ways to improve the scientific paper
Homework: Submit final scientific paper for final round of feedback 


About the Ornithologist in Training Curriculum Series

This course is a part of the “Ornithologist in Training” curriculum series.  Each course may be taken as a stand-alone course, or in series using any order, though the Avian Research and Scientific Writing course is recommended as a prerequisite to this course.

Learners seeking a comprehensive multi-year curriculum in Ornithology may want to consider taking two courses that pair together in one semester.  Below is an example of how a learner could use the Ornithologist in Training curriculum series to take 3 full years of ornithology courses that culminate in the development of skills in independent ornithology field research and college-prep scientific writing.  

Year 1, Semester 1: The Evolution of Birds
Ornithologist in Training: The Origin and Diversification of Birds (6 weeks, 1-2hr per week)
Ornithologist in Training: Bird Evolutionary Biology and Systematics (6 weeks, 1-2hr per week)

Year 1, Semester 2: Bird Anatomy, Physiology, and Adaptations for Flight 
Ornithologist in Training: Anatomy and Physiology of Birds (6 weeks, 1-2hr per week)
Ornithologist in Training: Bird Feathers and Flight (not developed yet)

Year 2, Semester 1: Bird Behavior
Ornithologist in Training: Bird Foraging Behavior  (not developed yet)
Ornithologist in Training: Breeding Biology of Birds (not developed yet)

Year 2, Semester 2: Ecology of Birds
Ornithologist in Training: Bird Migration and Dispersal  (not developed yet)
Ornithologist in Training: Bird Population and Community Ecology (not developed yet)

Year 3, Semester 1: Avian Research and Scientific Writing
Ornithologist in Training: Avian Research and Scientific Writing (12 weeks, 3-4hr per week)

Year 3, Semester 2: After completing the course Ornithologist in Training: Avian Research and Scientific Writing, dedicated ornithology students often use subsequent semesters to refine their scientific writing/presentation skills and pursue research interests through the  1-to-1 independent research mentoring opportunities provided by the course Ornithologist in Training: Avian Field Ecology Project Private Mentoring