2024 CA Biodiversity Week
Celebrating California’s Biodiversity Day: Exploring Nature In The Schoolyard
This past week, Youth Education
Program Manager Peggy Harte had the pleasure of visiting an
elementary school in Dixon to celebrate
California Biodiversity Day/Week. As part of California’s
30×30 initiative—a state-wide effort to conserve 30% of our land
and coastal waters by 2030, Biodiversity Day has become a
weeklong celebration where naturalists (both professional and
budding) from across the state come together to document as much
biodiversity as they can by contributing to community science.
What better way to inspire young scientists than to host a
bioblitz centered around the incredible biodiversity right in the
school’s own playground.
In 2017, students at this same site
had advocated for changes to both their campus as well as to a
local open-space based on research they had done monitoring bird
populations in both locations (read more in this case study).
Students learned about a wide variety of career pathways, learned
how to conduct scientific research, and used their science and
language arts content learning to give voice to their findings.
Taking Action!
Changes students advocated for were made to an area of the school playground to better support native bird populations and other wildlife. You can read more about the original research in this article, Birds Near and Far. The questions for students today, what kinds of biodiversity would we find now, 7 years later?
Exploring Biodiversity on Campus: A Mini BioBlitz
Our first activity was a mini
BioBlitz—a race to find and document as many plant and animal
species as possible. In addition to recording their findings
paper/pencil, we also used the community science app iNaturalist to document the
variety of species found in the school’s arboretum. By recording
findings on iNaturalist, students were contributing to both the
30×30 challenge as well as supporting research into global
biodiversity monitoring.
The students were not just observers; they were young scientists in action. They learned how to identify different species based on various structures and record their findings, contributing to our understanding of local biodiversity. They noticed things they had walked past every day, seeing them with new eyes. By the end of the BioBlitz, we had documented over 20 species, each observation sparking more questions about how these organisms survive and thrive together.
Scientific Sketching: Seeing Like a Scientist
After our BioBlitz, we gathered for
a lesson in scientific sketching, a practice that blends
observation with art to help us see and understand nature more
deeply. Alongside their teacher, students learned how to slow
down, observe closely, and capture what they saw on paper. The
key was not perfection but focus—using drawing as a tool to
notice details that might otherwise be overlooked. The students
embraced the process, quickly realizing that their sketches were
not just pictures but scientific records that helped them make
sense of what they saw.
Connecting with California’s 30×30 Goals
This day of exploration and sketching was more than just a fun break from the classroom—it was a way to connect students to California’s 30×30 initiative. By discovering biodiversity on their campus, students learned firsthand why protecting nature matters and how they can play a role in conserving our state’s rich ecosystems. They saw that science isn’t just something that happens in labs or distant forests; it’s right here, in the everyday spaces we inhabit. And with each species they discovered and sketched, they contributed to a growing awareness that every plant and animal has a role in the web of life.
Looking Ahead
These young scientists and artists reminded us that conservation starts with awareness—and that awareness begins with looking closely, asking questions, and taking time to connect with the nature around us.
California Biodiversity Day was a wonderful reminder that biodiversity is not just a concept—it’s all around us, in every schoolyard, park, and garden. And it’s up to all of us, young and old, to protect and celebrate it.
Thank you, students of Dixon, for hosting me and sharing this day of discovery. I can’t wait to see where your curiosity takes you next!
To learn more about how community science can support California’s environmental/climate science initiatives, check out the UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science’s Youth Programming/Teacher Training resources where you will also find resources for connecting to ELA/ELD and SEL.
California Initiatives:
- California Environmental Literacy Initiative
- California’s Math/Science/Computer Science Professional Learning Partnerships
- Climate Ready Schools Coalition
- Climate Change Education (AB285) Seeds to Solutions
- California’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) Pathways
