News - United States of America
Maine and New Hampshire Youth Observe Leaf Color Changes with Gulf of Maine Research Institute
This fall, more than 50 educators and 1,500 young people from the northern tip of Maine to southern New Hampshire engaged in leaf color change observations and local ecosystem research through the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s GLOBE Green-Down field season. This program focused on helping educators get young people outside and connected with the local spaces around them while also engaging in scientific observation and data literacy skills.
Students from PreK through high school made observations and tracked the changing color of leaves on a variety of species including maple, oak, birch, ash, beech, poplar, apple, and others. Six elementary schools in Portland, Maine, made observations of the trees in their school yards as part of their environmental literacy and science education programs. They joined thousands of other observers in the North American GLOBE community, ranging from Machias, Maine, to British Columbia and many places in between.
As students made observations, they also asked questions. The young researchers asked:
- Why do some species turn faster than the others?
- Why do leaves change different colors and lose their leaves at different times?
- Do leaves on trees closer to buildings and parking lots change color before or after trees in a forest?
- Are red maples the only maples that have red stems on their leaves?
- Do the ash leaves fall first because they are the smallest?
- Why do the younger trees turn red first?
- At what time does the sun hit the leaves the most?
- Did the wildfire smoke this fall affect the timing of tree color change?
- How has the drought affected leaf color change?
- What will be the last day that any of our trees have leaves?
Educators who participated in the field season reported that they observed students involved in the project feeling connected with the natural world around them and expressing increased curiosity about their local ecosystem. Several also reported learners being able to use real world data to discuss what was happening at both local and global levels and being able to identify the potential impacts of environmental changes on the phenomenon of leaf color change.
This field season was hosted as part of a larger Science Activation project called Learning Ecosystems Northeast. This NASA-funded network brings together educator learning communities throughout Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts and fosters collaboration between out-of-school and school-based educators focused on STEM learning, data literacy, and local ecosystem stewardship.
A few observations and photos from young researchers
Washington Academy, East Machias, Maine
- Something we noticed: Strong pigments
- Something we wondered: Are other trees in the area turning so evenly? This is an open field.
East End Community School, Portland, Maine
- Something we noticed: That the edges of the leaves change colors first, sometimes browning, before the center of the leaf has lost its green.
- Something we wondered: Why maples trees right near each other turn colors at different times.
Presumpscot Elementary School, Portland, Maine
- Something we noticed: We are just seeing noticeable change on the leaves we marked. Many have multiple colors on them but are still green as the dominant color. Black Cherry and Shagbark Hickory turned yellow first! Sumac changed first but not the leaves we were observing.
- Something we wondered: What part of the tree changes color first?
Photos contributed by educators at East End Community School, Portland, Maine; Sacopee Valley Middle School, Hiram, Maine; Washington Academy, East Machias, Maine; and Presumpscot Elementary School, Portland, Maine.