Students will determine if latitude has an effect on when the leaves change color. Therefore, it is important to determine where your school is in relation to the other schools participating in this project. For this project, locations will be divided into 3 different zones as follows :
When choosing a tree, try to pick one that can you can take a picture of without having other trees overlapping it. Try to find a tree that is full and has few, if any gaps or spaces of light coming through the leaves when it is green. This will be important when trying to calculate the percentage of color change. Each Monday each group (or the class) will take a picture of their tree. All pictures will need to be taken from approximately the same angle and distance in order to compare with future pictures. Students may bring a tape measure to measure the distance from the tree. They will need a minimum (approximately) of 100 feet of space in order to get the whole tree. Pictures taken with a digital camera or Polaroid camera may be scanned, downloaded to the computer and brought up on the computer screen for immediate analysis. Pictures taken with a conventional camera must be developed to a disk as soon as possible so that the tree can be analyzed in a timely fashion. If no camera is available, teacher may decide to have class give approximate calculations. If approximate calculations are made, please note this when sending data to this site.
Use either the color print out or the picture on the computer screen. Use a transparency of graph paper with small squares. The smaller the squares, the more precise the percentage. Difference in size of squares can be discussed with students. Place the transparency over the print out or over the computer screen and secure it with tape. Use a marker to outline the shape of the tree, excluding the trunk or any open spaces where the light is coming through. (Small spaces need not be worried about.) Count the number of squares that the image of the tree covers. This represents 100% of the area of the tree that will be studied in the project. Count the number of squares in which the leaves are non-green. (If the tree has not begun to change, the number of squares with a color other than green is zero.) Count number of 1/2 squares, divide by 2 and add that number to number of squares with color. Divide the total number of squares by the number of squares with a color other than green. Multiply this by 100 to find the percentage of leaves that have changed color. Record the percentage calculated in the logbook. (See Sample Journal Page) Save this graph (or a photocopy of it) and the picture of the tree in the group’s logbook. (See Sample Journal Page) A possible alternative if no camera is available, make frame for transparency grid. Have students hold grid up at a distance from the tree that they can outline the tree and fill in squares to show color change.
*If the picture is taken from exactly the same spot, you may be able to use the same outline on the transparency. It is more likely that you will need to make a new outline and recount the number of squares for the total area each week. In the following weeks, students will use markers to color in the squares where they see leaves changing color. Students will then calculate what percentage of the total tree has changed color that week. They could also, if desired, calculate the percent of red, yellow, orange, or brown leaves they see.
1. Each week each group of students will find averages for the following:
2. This information is to be recorded in a spreadsheet (see below) along with the percentage of color change calculated that week and cloud cover information. Click here to view the spreadsheet on a white background that can be copied and used.
3. Each Monday e-mail the current week's information for each group to
Make sure that you include the name of your school and the zone that your school lies in, the dates that the information represents, and all of the information that was collected. For example:
Enter any comments or observations below.
4. The information that is submitted each Monday will be posted to the website for your use later during the week at the data collection page.
5. When all of the information has been submitted through December 13th, your class should participate in analyzing their data. For suggestions, see the Data Analysis page. You may also opt to have your class analyze the data as it is posted each week.
