The Journey
North
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
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The Journey
North |
This is one spectacular site which offers all kinds of opportunities for classroom use. And, the best part is that it is free! The Journey North started as a project designed to monitor the migration of the Monarch Butterfly. The concept is relatively simple. Students would send email reporting when they sited the first Monarch during the migration period. The results are posted publically; everyone can read and incorporate the results into an appropriate lesson. Well,it was so popular that the project was expanded to include the monitoring of Loons, Hummingbirds, Orioles, Whooping Cranes, Robins, Gray Whales, and both Western and Eastern Bald Eagles among others. A common complaint of internet sites is their lack of volatility. There's no problem at the Journey North. The site is updated daily as reports come in. An interesting feature which has all kinds of application for our students is a little tutorial about how to determine whether or not facts that you read are true or not. Suggestions for students about how to assess the truth value of Internet claims is very helpful. Check out the links You're the Scientist: Verifying Data Collected by Peers and From the Horse's Mouth: Understanding Primary Source Information . In addition, the link that heads to the "Teachers' Manual" keeps you up to date with new lessons to add to the teacher's printed resource which is available for a small fee. Finally, how are the Monarchs doing? Here's the latest map, dated April 28, 1998.
(dp)
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