Event 1: Carnivores and People with Christine Wilkinson

Watch Explorer and conservation biologist Christine Wilkinson to learn about their work tracking and studying how carnivores, such as the spotted hyena in Kenya and the coyote in California, interact with their environments–including humans.

Event 2: Filming Birds and Tide Pools with Christine Lin

Watch Explorer and documentary filmmaker Christine Lin as she explores the incredible world of birds and the hidden life of the mysterious animals in tide pools through the lens of indigenous storytelling.

Event 3: Tracking Elephant Seals with Roxanne Beltran

Explorer and marine biologist Roxanne Beltran tracks the movement of elephant seals to learn how they survive and thrive in the open ocean. Join to find out how Roxanne and her team do this and what they have discovered.

Event 4: The Photo Ark with Joel Sartore

Explorer, photographer, and founder of the Photo Ark Joel Sartore has taken portraits of 14,000 species–and counting–in his quest to document our world’s astonishing biodiversity. His images promote empathy and inspire viewers around the world to understand and protect the animals who share our planet.

Pre-Mission: Explore Local Wildlife

Guide your students to learn about the wildlife in your own community, including species they might not even think live nearby. Your class will use the online tool iNaturalist.org to find data about the wildlife that has been observed in your local area. Students will not need to download or log in to the iNaturalist app to complete this activity.

Use the Pre-Mission worksheet to guide students through an online resource that identifies and locates local wildlife.

Mission 1: Spot the Wildlife Around You

Lead students on their own mission to observe, ask questions about, and reflect on the wildlife in their community.

• Use the Adopt a Spot worksheet to have students record what they observe in a safe outdoor location
• Discuss student observations, focusing on the wildlife they saw, focusing on the topics of biodiversity and interconnection

Mission 2: My Wildlife Map

Guide students to use observations and stories from their own community to map the locations where wildlife is active.

• Use the My Wildlife Map worksheet to identify and map areas in the community where wildlife sightings are common
• Discuss why certain locations in the community may have more or fewer wildlife sightings

Mission 3: Tell Wildlife Tales

Help your students get “inside” the lives of local wildlife to tell stories from their perspective.

• Use the Tell Wildlife Tales worksheet to brainstorm 10 questions they would ask an animal in their community
• Draw on the 10 questions from the worksheet to write a “day in the life” diary entry for that animal
• Discuss the lives of animals in the community, including identifying the things animals need to survive and the challenges they face

Mission 4: Take Action to Help Wildlife

Guide students to create their own plans to protect the wildlife in their community.

• Use the Take Action to Help Wildlife worksheet to analyze a challenge faced by local wildlife and brainstorm a solution
• Create a poster advocating to protect wildlife

Reflect on student learning thought the series with the Post-Mission Reflection worksheet