Richard Lord

Lord's "Ecosystem Experience" project is a year-long ecological research, inquiry, and communications program. Using print and electronic media, groups of students gather and analyze information about nature, and then build their own "mini-ecosystem." For eight months, students document their daily observations and complete more than a dozen short-term activities that allow them to present their findings to the class. At the end of the eight-month period, groups compile their findings in a bound portfolio that is kept in the school's biology laboratory for future reference.