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You
are here: Inquiry-based Learning Through Animal Tracking
by Mark Jordahl
Everybody loves a good mystery. It engages every part of your brain as you try to figure out "what happened here" based on a set of seemingly incomplete clues. However, if you have ever read a Sherlock Holmes story, you know the clues are all there. It is just a matter of learning how to read them and put the pieces together.
Tracking is a process of immersing oneself in the greatest mystery of all-- the mystery of life. A single animal track is a gateway into a world of questions and understandings that can motivate a student to direct their own learning about their surroundings.
Animals have an innately compelling quality to them. When I ask students who come to IslandWood what their goals are for the week, many of them say, "to learn more about the animals who live here." Through tracking they initially see just a hint of the animals, and then they have to use all of their critical thinking and researching skills to fill in the rest of the story.
You don't need access to a million acres of wilderness to find a track. Wildlife exists all around us, even in the most urban environments. Finding a raccoon track next to a puddle in the school playground may get a student to look at his or her neighborhood in an entirely new way.
You can't tell a raccoon track from an elephant track? That's fine. Don't be intimidated – you don't need to be a master tracker to use tracking in your teaching. The process of discovery that you undertake with your students will be even more inspiring if you don't have all the answers. In inquiry-based learning, the questions are more important than the answers. All you need are a few tracking guides (such as the Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks), a ruler, some notebooks and pencils, and access to resources about different mammals (computers with web access or encyclopedias).
The first thing you need, of course, is a track. To find the track, use the knowledge that your students already possess. Ask them what animals they might expect to find in the area you are about to explore. Where in the area are you most likely to find tracks? If you are in a very urban area, look for puddles or mud alongside roadways or driveways early in the morning. Also take a look near the dumpsters at your school. If you have access to parks or other natural areas, look in the mud along the edges of ponds and along trails. Although different animals may have very diverse food needs, water is a common denominator. This means that a lot of animal activity will be concentrated around water sources.
Once you have found a track or a set of tracks, have the students take out their journals and write down as many questions as they can think of about it. The first time you do this you may need to prompt them at the beginning. They may come up with questions such as:
What animal made this track?
When was it here?
How big was it?
Why was it in this place?
Where was it going?
What does it eat? (which may lead to "what plants are growing around here?"),
What eats it?
Where is it now?
Where does it sleep?
How might it have been feeling in this place?
Next, use the track guides to try to determine what kind of animal it might have been. Often students will fixate on the first track in the book that has the same general shape as the track they are observing. Many times at our center on Bainbridge Island I have been told with conviction that we are looking at a wolf, bear or elk track. As much as I wish we had those animals, this is the time for me to start asking questions: "Are you sure?" "Would that animal live in this habitat?" "Have you measured the track on the ground?" "According to the track guide, how big is a wolf's track?" "Is there anything else it could be?"
Once you have identified the probable maker of the track, you can use any research materials you have at your disposal to answer the rest of the list of questions the students generated. This can take you in almost any direction, and the deeper you go, the more invested the students will be in "their" animal. You may find yourselves exploring concepts such as range, habitat, conservation (what are the threats to this animal), food chains, etc.
Tracking is an engaging tool that can be used across the curriculum:
Do you teach English or Creative Writing? Every track tells a story. Have your students write the story of a typical day in the life of that animal. It could even be in the form of a police report relaying what happened in this spot during the night.
Math? This can be a great exercise in pattern recognition. All animals have particular walking and running gaits, which leave distinct patterns. Have your students determine the pattern of the animal you are tracking. It is also a good time to work on accurate measurements, both of the individual tracks and the distance between tracks.
Music? What do you suppose the birds sounded like when this animal passed by? What would they have sounded like if it were a deer? What about if it was a bobcat or house cat? Try to use instruments to mimic the sound of the birds, or to express the "feeling" of how a deer moves or how a raccoon moves. In my mind, these would sound quite different. Maybe even use drums to help remember the pattern of the tracks you see either on the ground or in books. Many aboriginal drumming rhythms come from the natural world.
Science? This is a great way to learn scientific method. Start with a hypothesis: "This track is from a wolf". Collect some data: By examining the range information available, the only wolves that might exist on Bainbridge Island are gray wolves. Gray wolves are endangered in Washington State and are virtually extinct in the wild here. Their home ranges are about 50-200 square miles (Bainbridge is about 35 square miles). All of these tracks are accompanied by human footprints. Assess: Hmmm….maybe it's not from a wolf. New Hypothesis: "I think it is a domestic dog." And on you go with the process.
Animal tracking is an art form that engages every part of the brain. By using their own questions, students guide themselves through the process of learning about the world around them. By researching one animal in depth, you can't help but learn how they are interconnected with the plants, other animals, and even humans inhabiting the same area. With a personal attachment to this animal and an understanding of its habitat needs, your students are ready to take the next step – a service project.
To culminate your study of animal tracks, consider a restoration project that will create a new habitat or improve the current habitat for the animal you have studied. In the long run, this will make your job much easier . . . there will be many more tracks to work with, and therefore many more mysteries to solve.
Mark D. Jordahl is a naturalist at IslandWood. Mark has extensive experience working in the outdoors with people of all ages. He has coordinated experiential education programs in Alaska involving ropes-course and wilderness programs; taught in a marine science program for inner-city Seattle teens, and led youth on a cultural exchange trip to the Wyoming Wind River Reservation. As owner of Adventurous Spirit Kayaking, Mark provided eco-tourism and educational guide services in Puget Sound. Education: Chinese Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz; Alaska State Naturalist Certification, University of Alaska, Southeast; Kamana Naturalist Training Program, Wilderness Awareness School. You may email Mark at markj@islandwood.org.
© May 2003 New Horizons for Learning
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