Project

Findings from the Field

Building a student scientist community.

Through Findings from the Field, we are growing a community of middle school ecosystem scientists across the region who work together to conduct, reflect on, and share scientific investigations in a science journal. Engaging in this community empowers student scientists with an authentic context for sharing their investigations, and writing about scientific endeavors creates opportunities to reflect on scientific work that is open to public discussion.

Project Goals:

  • Enhance student understanding of scientific inquiry by immersing them in the science writing process.
  • Connect students in a scientific community of practice where they can communicate their work.
  • Support teachers as they lead students through the process of scientific inquiry and writing.

What is Findings from the Field?

Findings from the Field is a middle school journal of ecological and environmental scientific investigations. Produced and launched in 2017 by GMRI, in collaboration with a community of student scientists and teachers across Maine and New Hampshire, Findings from the Field gives students the opportunity to engage in and communicate about authentic scientific inquiry. Student contributions to the journal undergo a process of peer and editorial board review before publication.

Findings from the Field, Volume 5

Explore the most recent volume of our Findings from the Field student journal. Nearly 600 students from 11 schools in Maine and New Hampshire contributed 195 total submissions and 226 peer reviews in order to produce Volume 5.

View Journal

""The best part of this project was looking at the final product and realizing what I had just completed, which was a fully comprehensive research paper."

8th Grader Falmouth Middle School

Findings from the Field Student Research Symposium

In February 2021, we invited middle school students and their teachers to join the Findings from the Field community by participating in a virtual research symposium. The online symposium allowed students to join professional, college level, high school and middle school scientists to share findings, connect over experiences as scientists, and learn from each other’s work. Students and teachers had a range of options they could participate in throughout the symposium, including the creation of their own mini-posters summarizing their work, and live panel discussions with professional scientists.

Symposium Highlights

Visit our Asynchronous Landing Page to catch up on all the highlights from our most recent student research symposium.

View Page

""My students really enjoyed hearing from real scientists. They were excited to see people working in such interesting fields where they combine their love of the outdoors with their scientific interests. Many of my students think of scientists as people in white coats who work in labs and I appreciate the opportunity for them to see other potential careers that they could pursue."

Middle School Teacher

Professional Development Opportunities

The GMRI Education team also works hard to develop and provide professional development opportunities for educators looking to get their students involved in the Findings from the Field process, and much more!

Are you interested in getting your classrooms involved in Findings from the Field? You can explore our Findings resources on our Learning Resource Hub.

"I feel like this was the piece I have been missing! The high moment of today was the whole day, which gave me the tools to feel much more confident in connecting my students to authentic scientific work.

Teacher workshop participant
In this edition of Field Notes, Meggie Harvey talks about our Findings from the Field project, a unique opportunity for students to engage in critical elements of the scientific process: the writing, peer review, and publication of results.

Project Team

Read More

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