Kid Zone » | Field Journal
Why Keep a Field Journal?
Keeping a journal is an important part of fieldwork. A scientist uses it to provide a permanent
record of what is going on in the natural world, somewhat like a diary of nature.
When you look back at pages from weeks gone by, you will know what day it was when you
saw particular things. If you keep a journal for many years, you will begin to notice
patterns. Eventually you will be able to predict when certain animals will return and
when particular plants will bloom.
Scientists call this phenology, the study of seasonal, weather-influenced changes
in living things.
What Goes in a Field Journal?
A field journal is a diary where you keep all the information you gather in the field.
As you observe nature and gather data through field tests and experiments, your field
journal gives you one place to store all the information you gather. Think about the kinds
of information you might keep in a field journal:
- What kinds of information will you need to record about the site where you are doing
your field work?
- What kinds of information will you need to record about the creatures you observe?
- What other information will help you to make sense of what you observe or help you
to find patterns?
- What other information might you want to have when you look back at your notes after
a week, a month, or a year?
Watch
the video of a field scientist explaining what he puts in his field journal.
Creating Your Field Journal
A field journal is always a work in progress, since you will add information to it for
as long as you work in the field. However, there are some things you can do to get your
field journal started:
- Decide what you will use for your field journal. A binder or notebook to which
you can add pages will probably work best.
- Create a cover for your journal. Be sure to include your name, grade, school,
and a title for your field study. You can use our Journal
Cover worksheet
or create your own.
- Define your research question. What is it you hope to learn from your field work?
The activities on the Underground Adventure Web site will help you answer
the question: What is the relationship between the soil's physical properties,
environmental and human factors, and soil biodiversity? You may have a different
question you want to answer, or your teacher may give you a different research
question. You may choose to do only some of the activities provided. What question
do you hope to answer through your research? When you decide on your research
question, write it down in your field journal. What are some other questions you
have about the soil and the creatures that live there? Write down two or three
additional research questions. You may want to design a study to investigate those
research questions later. The questions you ask here will guide your observations.
Of course, you can always change your questions or pose new ones as you learn
more through your research.
- Generate a hypothesis, or an educated guess, to answer your research question.
Think about the research question. You may want to find out more about soil life
before you formulate a hypothesis. Meet the
Creepy Critters, the Underground
Adventure Field Guide ,
and the Resources section of this Web site
are good places to start. Then try to answer the research question. Don't worry—your
hypothesis might not be right, but make the best guess you can based on what you
know about soil life. As you do the activities on this Web site, you will begin
to find out if your hypothesis is correct, and you can always change your hypothesis
as you learn more.
- Several of the Underground Adventure activities include printable worksheets
for collecting your data. Before you get started on an activity, print out the
data sheets you will use and add them to your field journal so you'll be ready
to collect data when you're working at your field site.
Tips for Using Your Field Journal
You should bring your field journal each time you go into the field so you can record what
you see and learn as you work. Here are a few tips to help you use your field journal:
- For each soil activity that you do, there will be a worksheet that you can use
to record your data. To make it easier to see how all the data fits together,
you should also record the results from each of the activities together in one
place. You can use the Field Study worksheet
for this or create your own.
- Write everything down. Be sure to include lots of blank pages in your journal,
so that you can write or draw what you see, hear, smell, feel, even taste!
- Make a note if there is something new at your site, such as a new plant or a burrow
under a tree that wasn't there the last time you observed.
- Always record the date and time when you make an observation.
- Use as much detail as possible. Remember, you want to be able to get good information
from your journal a week from now or a month from now.
- Question what you see. As you observe, you may have questions about what you see.
Be sure to write your questions down. Who knows, they may become the guiding questions
for another field study!
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