Making it real: Bringing ecology to life wherever you are

Sometimes the most meaningful learning comes from direct contact with your subject and that is especially true for ecology. From the organisms you can find on your campus, to observations of our own behaviors, seeing and experiencing ecology firsthand remains a powerful approach to teaching students about the complexity of ecological phenomenon. We can teach about ecology through natural history observations using our smartphones (photo collections) and direct sampling (plant and insect specimen collections). Don’t underestimate the significance of these simple tools. Your students have probably never seen the world from this perspective!