UC Merced researchers, Lynn Sullivan and Michelle Gilmore, help lead campus experiments

In any field of science, researchers often struggle to relay their conclusions to the general public. That’s why campus AP biology class, led by Dr. Karen Walters, worked towards breaking this stereotype as they presented data to an audience of UC Merced researchers, as well as a class of FC junior high students.

The whole biology class contributed to the PowerPoint presentation covering the many facets of their experiment, from materials and procedures, to data tables and conclusions.

Walters hoped that the students involved would learn how to conduct a proper experiment through this process. She was not disappointed by the results.

“There were many things that the students had potential to learn,” Walters said. “One is a feel for what real science is. What it’s like to go out and get real data, struggle with it, collaborate with other people. This wasn’t a premade lab where we knew exactly how it was going to come out. It was like real science!”

As a result of the project the students undertook, Walters believes that the students surpassed expectations in many ways.

“I think we met and exceeded expectations,” Walters said. “I was really excited about the level of collaboration we had with UC Merced. They actually got really excited about it. I think we more than met what we were hoping to do.”

The study focused on water content in the soil in plots of various tree density. The students journeyed up to Shaver lake in order to gather data from the soil, and painstakingly took into account many variables throughout their experiment. The week afterwards, the class condensed the data into a presentation covering and explaining their analysis. Each group of students created a few slides centering on the part of the experiment that they specialized in. Finally, the class concluded that the plots of forest with medium tree density retained the most water.

The two UC Merced researchers, Lynn Sullivan and Michelle Gilmore, who helped the class with their experiments, were impressed with the final result. They not only believe the findings were successful, but that the students did a great job presenting their data.

“The presentation was absolutely spectacular,” Gilmore said. “It was very insightful and very detailed. Lots of great observations were presented, and the importance of the work was also emphasized.”

Later, Sullivan added more praises to the hard work the class completed.

“I agree with Michelle,” Sullivan said. “I thought it was very interesting the level of science that we were able to pull out of one day with our boots on the ground. It was also interesting that they were able to draw new conclusions from the data that they obtained. I think that the class represented the cutting edge of science.”

Even the junior high students present were able to glean some new knowledge from the presentation. Eighth grader Blake Deffenbacher revealed his positive impression of the project.

“I learned about the different ways that they measure the moisture of the ground and the soil in the forest,” Deffenbacher said. “The presentation was interesting because I didn’t know a lot about that before, especially with the drought going on. They did a lot of research that proved the points on their hypothesis.”

The class will continue to learn through experience in many future projects. The class works towards the AP test, which awaits them at the end of the school year. Hands on learning such as this field trips and presentations nail down important lessons bound to come up later, leaving students well prepared for their academic futures.

For more articles, please read AP biology students collaborate with UC Merced.