During Spring at Lausanne, the campus awakens from the brown of winter to transition to the many colors of spring.
It also gives teachers like Tom Brezina the chance to take class outdoors, where you’ll find his middle school class over the next few weeks.
As a part of their Ecology unit, the seventh-grade class is completing an audit of all of the trees, plants and ground cover on the Lausanne campus.
The students began this process by learning about trees, plants and insects that are common here in Tennessee.
The audit begins with a mapping project of the courtyard outside of the Upper Middle School building. This mapping project allows the students to learn the essential components on a good map likethe key, legend, orientation arrow and compass rose. The students’ maps include all of the trees, plants, landscaped areas, natural grass coverage and hard surfaces in the courtyard.
After this part of the project is completed, they will move on to map the area around the athletic fields and the lake.
Once the students become proficient in mapping certain features, they will then be given their own part of campus to map individually.
The budding cartographers will then compile their maps and their data to show how much of the campus is covered with grasslands, forested areas, school buildings, and landscaped areas, along with an index of all of the plants and trees found on campus. During the process, students will learn how to collect data in the field, learn how to estimate data using technology and how to present data by creating maps and graphs.
This project is a massive undertaking, but the seventh-grade students insist that they are up to the challenge, saying that there is no better way to spend a class period than outside in the sun.