Preface

A field trip can be an exhilarating experience for students, and one of the most useful resources that you have for stimulating interest in the natural sciences. Only in the field can students really begin to appreciate such concepts as adaptation, environmental influences, the structure and relationships of natural communities, and geological structures and processes. These topics can be somewhat abstract, yet, if brought alive with field experience, they may be easier for many students to grasp. However, these advantages do not follow automatically from any kind of an excursion, but must instead spring from a carefully planned field trip that has specific objectives. While it should not be so rigidly programmed that there is no room for individual interests or the unexpected opportunity, a certain measure of guidance and organization is necessary if the time is to be used effectively and profitably.

This guide is intended primarily for the teacher who wishes to use the field trip as an adjunct to the classroom and laboratory, but needs some help with the logistics of planning a field trip. It will also be of specific help if you wish to conduct in-depth studies of ecology, taxonomy, or other scientific specialties.

Any field equipment, identification guides, first aid kits, or other equipment that you might require to make your field trip a success can be found online at wardsci.com.

Part I – General Information

Classroom Preparations

Before going into the field, you will need to acquaint your students with the purpose of the trip. Class discussions and appropriate outside reading assignments will help your students to get the most of their time in the field. These should cover the general type of environment at the site(s), appropriate dress for the activity, significant components of the environment, the dominant flora and fauna, how to recognize poisonous plants and insects, and main objects of interest. You will also need to explain how to use any field equipment that may be required on the trip. You may even wish to provide a study guide for each student that includes maps of the area, descriptions of the general topography and ecology, lists of significant species of flora and fauna or mineral, rock, or fossil specimens, lists of the various pieces of field equipment and their specific functions, and observation clues and questions.

Students should also understand the importance of notetaking on the spot and the significance of the data they are collecting. Because memory is not completely reliable, you should direct students to take a notebook with them into the field. To provide a uniform system, you should provide an outline for the students to follow when they are recording data.

The actual form and content of the outline may be varied by the teacher to suit the nature and the purpose of the particular field trip. And of course, there should be room for any interesting impromptu observations not covered by the above outlines. Flexibility is desirable and the outline should be used merely as a guide, not a rigid framework into which all observations must be crammed.

Some students may wish to supplement their notebooks with photographs. This should be encouraged, and you may even wish to suggest specific types of film that will produce
the best results for existing light at the field trip site. Students should also be encouraged to make their observations in chart or graph form where practical in order to make comparisons and correlations easier.

Later, after students have learned how to evaluate and record observations and how to organize their own field work, the amount of classroom preparation may be decreased, even as the detail, accuracy, and completeness of your students’ observations increases.

The outline for a field study guide may look something like the following:

• Date and time
• Purpose of trip
• Location (this may include a map)
• Observations

Biology
Weather
Wind
Precipitation
Temperature
Sky conditions (sunny, cloudy, etc.)
Nature of ground cover
Predominant organisms
Plants
Animals
Soil type and condition
Elevation (if important)

Geology
Topography
Factors producing local landforms
Factors producing any outcrops
Geological formations
Measure and sketch succession of beds
Specimens observed or collected
Rocks
Minerals
Fossils

Other Arrangements
You will also need to make a number of administrative arrangements before going on your field trip. The following is a checklist of arrangements that fall outside the realm of general classroom preparation.

1. You should first get administrative approval for the date and time of your trip.
2. You should also find out your liability for the trip. In some states, the teacher in charge of the trip is fully and personally liable for accidents on trips.
3. Visit the field area beforehand to acquaint yourself with the area and to plan the procedure for the activity. Determine any clothing or equipment that will be needed and identify lavatory facilities at the site.
4. Determine any admission fees to field trip site.
5. If the trip site is on private property, permission should be obtained well before the trip date and arrangements made with site owner.
6. If collecting is desirable, be sure that the area is one where collecting may be done. If special permission is needed, obtain this in advance. Be familiar with state laws on protected species and inform your students that it is not appropriate to collect rare or protected species.
7. When the trip overlaps more than one period or lab time, notify other teachers who may be affected by the absent students.
8. Arrange for transportation well in advance. You may utilize private cars, school buses, or chartered buses. Be certain drivers are given full instructions on the date, times, meeting place, routing, and parking. A marked road map or even a handmade map may be extremely helpful.
9. Ask parents and teachers to chaperone. Be sure that you have enough for a low student:chaperone ratio, and make sure each chaperone has a copy of the full itinerary.
10. Make sure that parental permission slips are signed and returned on time. Create a list of participating students and leave copies with the principal/administrator. Each chaperone should also have a list of the students they are responsible for. If any permission slips are not returned on time, make arrangements for the student to spend the time in a study hall or in another classroom.
11. Clearly define the rules of behavior to your students and inform them of areas at the site that are prohibited. Permitting food, portable radios, etc. is generally a distraction and a mistake. However, on an all-day field trip students may be asked to bring their lunch if restaurant facilities are not available.
12. If the trip will be long enough to require eating out at a restaurant, make arrangements with the restaurant so you don’t waste time waiting for tables.
13. If the trip to the field site will require a long drive, plan remarks about biological or geological observations that can be made en route.
14. Have a First Aid Kit available on all trips. If poisonous snakes are known to be in the area, a snake bite kit should be included. Insect repellents should be included as well.
15. Identify and prepare a list of all telephone numbers for emergency use. Be sure to give copies to chaperones.
16. If different groups of students are to have specific duties, assign students to the appropriate groups before going into the field.
17. Assign particular students to be caretakers of each piece of field equipment that you need to take. They should make sure that it is not left at school and that it is returned and cleaned after the trip.

In-the-Field Checklist

1. Gather your students in one spot immediately after arrival for a general orientation of the area and to review the procedure and time schedule.
2. When remarks are addressed to the group as a whole or any part of it, be sure that students can hear what you say.
3. If student groups are to work at different stations, the location of the stations and the amount of time allotted per station should be stated at this time. This would also be appropriate information to include in the study guide handed out during your pre-trip classroom preparation.
4. Be sure to leave the field trip site in at least as good a condition as when you found it. You should not leave any litter and there should be no damage to the property. This will ensure that you will be welcome in the area in the future.

After the Trip

1. Be sure that students properly care for biological specimens brought back to the classroom. If the specimens are not to be studied immediately, they should be preserved or given appropriate housing.
2. Make sure that all the equipment is properly cleaned and put away.
3. Follow up the trip with classwork designed to reinforce and increase understanding of the field observations.
4. Don’t forget to write “Thank You” notes to any drivers, property owners, parental chaperones, etc. who may have assisted or cooperated.

Part II – Specific Types of Trips

Birds

Birds are early risers, so if you are planning a field trip to observe various species of birds you should plan on being in the field not long after sunrise. This is when the birds are most active and easily seen. After about 9:30 a.m., they begin to settle down and only a few of the most common species will be active. There is a second, smaller peak of activity late in the afternoon before the birds begin settling down for the night, but the early morning hours exceed all others for observing birds.

The main objective for a school bird trip is to identify as many different species as possible and make observation about habitat preferences. In the spring, songs of many different species can be heard, and whenever possible, songs and call notes should be associated with the species producing them. To make identification easier, you should provide students or small groups with identification guides. Peterson bird guides offer different versions for various areas of the country, while Audubon bird guides offer excellent concise accounts of the natural history of each species.

Some birds can be found at all times of the year, but the best month of all is May when the migratory species arrive. Much birding can be done with the naked eye, but nearly all birders use binoculars to extend their range of vision. Generally, magnifications of 7X or 8X are used in binoculars, but in places where birds need to be identified at great distance, such as from the shore of a lake or marsh, you may choose to use a 20X telescope on a tripod.

To record the greatest number of species on a single trip, students should visit as many different types of habitats as possible. One of the best places to see a large variety of birds is an edge, which is an area where two different types of habitat come in contact with one another. An excellent example of such an area is an open field adjoining a patch of woods. The open fields provide good foraging areas for both insectivorous and seed-eating birds, while the patches of wood provide cover, concealment, and nesting sites. Thick woods are generally not productive places to go bird watching because of the thick cover. However, if you are interested in seeing birds, such as the ovenbird, that are found only in this type of habitat, you have no choice but to go there. If you are in search of water and shore birds, obviously your best choice will be lakes, marshes, or seashores. Waterfowl refuges can be found in many parts of the country where great numbers of geese, ducks, and other water birds can be seen abundantly in season.

Botany

Generally a field trip dedicated to botany should have two objectives. The first is to teach the student how to recognize and identify the common plants in the area, and the second is to note how different species create communities.

To help your students in the identification process, there is a wide range of field guides available. Depending on the detail you want to achieve you may choose a guide that offers illustrations and basic background, or you may choose one of the more technical manuals used by professional botanists. In addition to an appropriate field guide, students should also be equipped with a 10X hand lens. Not only will this help in the identification process, but a hand lens will allow them to see tiny flowers and structures that would otherwise go unnoticed. If you wish to perform more detailed morphological studies in the lab, you will also need a binocular dissecting microscope in your lab.

When choosing a location, it is a good idea to choose one where several types of vegetational associations occur adjacent to one another if possible. Unfortunately, because of the spread of suburbia, such places are becoming harder and harder to find. You may need to go to a municipal or county park instead. Just remember that there may be nonnative ornamental plants that have been introduced. If you are close enough, another option may be to visit a state or national park. The problem with a visit to one of these parks is that collecting of specimens is often forbidden without a special permit. Generally, if you wish to collect specimens, your best bet will be to visit private property.

Once you have decided on a site, make sure that you visit the site before the field trip to familiarize yourself with the terrain and landmarks, as well as the various species of plants in the area. Don’t be too concerned if you are unable to identify every species, since that level of knowledge requires a large amount of field experience. However, most common trees, shrubs, and wildflowers can be identified at least to their genus. If you collect specimens, you may wish to have your students create an herbarium to provide a reference of the plants they found and identified in the field.

Students may either make their own individual herbariums or they may combine all of their specimen samples into one large class herbarium. In order to collect specimens for the herbarium, one or more vasculums should be carried into the field. Once you have returned to the school, the specimens should be dried and pressed with plant presses fitted with drier sheets. After the specimens have dried, students may mount the collections on herbarium sheets and then place them in the herbarium.

Vegetation Types in North America

Speaking broadly, there are four principal types of biomes in the world: forest, grassland, desert, and taiga/tundra. The dominant plant forms of the first two are trees and grasses. Deserts are characterized by small-leaved shrubs, succulent plants, and short-lived annuals. The tundra is inhabited by dwarf shrubs, mosses, and lichens.

The type of vegetation that an area will support is governed by the climate of the area. Forests require the greatest amount of precipitation and receive from 10″ per year in the colder areas of the temperate zone to 35″ per year or more in the warmer parts of the temperate zone to more than 60″ per year in the tropics. However, regardless of the amount this must be fairly evenly distributed throughout the year for growth to occur. In the subtropical regions, rainfall of less than 20″ per year results in a desert area, while in the cold temperate zone a desert receives less than 10″ a year. The amount of precipitation that grasslands receive falls between forests and deserts. Unlike forests, grasslands and deserts do not need to have the precipitation fall throughout the year and most regions have distinct wet and dry seasons. Precipitation in the tundra is seldom more than 10″ per year and is very often less than 5″. The long, cold winters and short summers in the tundra create a layer of permanently frozen soil called permafrost that also affects the plant growth in the region.

Prior to European colonization, the eastern part of what is now the United States was covered mostly by deciduous forest. Some coniferous trees could be found along with the broad-leafed trees, especially along the U.S./Canadian border. Many pines are also found on the southern coastal plain as well. The greatest species diversity in the deciduous forest may be found in the southern Appalachians, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This area has never been glaciated, and the “mixed mesophytic forest”, as this region is called, has probably been in existence for over 100,000 years. Its locality may have shifted occasionally with the fluctuations in average temperature during the Pleistocene Epoch, but the continuity is believed to have been maintained.

Just to the west of the deciduous forest, the rainfall was insufficient to support tree growth and the grass prairies began. This area is now the richest agricultural land in the United States, making examples of the original long grass prairie small and hard to find. The short grass prairie is found still farther west, where the rainfall is less yet. Here is where you’ll find abundant grazing land for cattle and sheep.

Coniferous forests are found to the west of the open prairie and cover the slopes of the Rocky Mountains all the way to the west coast of Washington and Oregon. The coniferous forest is also found around the world in Canada, Alaska, and northern Siberia and Europe. The southwestern part of the United States is generally a desert region, while much of California is characterized by a Mediterranean type climate. This type of climate has cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers and is populated mostly by oaks and a shrub formation called chaparral.

Forest
The ideal forest environment is the most undisturbed patch of woods available; however, virgin forest is extremely rare. As a result, most sites will have suffered some type of disturbance. Unless the disturbance is quite severe, it shouldn’t make a large degree of difference, since your main objective will most likely be to familiarize your students with the species of trees that are most common to your region.

In a deciduous forest there are generally three layers. The tree layer is the tallest, the understory forms the middle layer of shrubs and smaller tree saplings, and the ground layer includes the herbaceous plants, ferns, mosses, liverworts, and lichens. All three layers should be included in your students’ identification. If you visit a deciduous forest in early spring before the leaves are out, you will find an excellent opportunity to find early blooming wildflowers such as hepatica, early saxifrage, marsh marigold, and skunk cabbage. A coniferous forest, on the other hand, usually only consists of the tree layer and a sparse ground layer. The understory and ground layers are prevented from growing in a coniferous forest because the fallen needles take a longer time to decompose than the softer leaves of deciduous trees.

Open Field or Grasslands
An open field in the eastern deciduous forest region is usually the result of the land being cleared for agricultural purposes. The ecology of such sites is usually disturbed and in a state of flux; however, it is an excellent opportunity for your students to become familiar with the common herbaceous plants of the area. Many plants may be introduced Eurasian species, but your guide books should distinguish between introduced and native forms. Trips in the spring and early fall will afford you and your students the opportunity to find wildflowers that are common to that season. The prairie lands west of the eastern deciduous forests are generally dominated by grasses, although trees usually occur along watercourses. Many grasses are difficult to identify, so if you are located outside the prairie states, you may wish to focus on other herbaceous plants that are common to the area.

Desert
Desert plants consist mostly of three types and include the succulents, such as cacti that are able to store water absorbed during occasional rains; shrubs with hard, leathery leaves and a thick epidermis and cuticle to reduce water loss; and small annual herbs that can grow, blossom, and produce their seeds within a very short period of time after a rain. You should also note that in desert regions the plants are spaced widely apart.

Taiga/Tundra
Few classes will be in a convenient situation to visit an area of this sort, but those few who can should certainly do so. Tundra is found not only in the Arctic, but also above the tree line of high mountains. Tundra vegetation is noted for its low stature because of its adaptation to the harsh conditions such as low temperatures, strong winds, little precipitation, and a short growing season.

Succession and Climax

The concepts of succession and climax are usually treated within the context of general ecology. However, their significance in the study of plant life makes a short discussion necessary, even for botanical field trips with no ecological objective.

As an example, let’s suppose that you owned a field in the eastern United States that at one time was covered with a deciduous forest before the Europeans arrived. Currently, there are species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants in unused areas of the field. Now, let’s suppose that you completely cleared the field of vegetation, including destroying any dormant seeds that happened to be buried in the soil. What would be the nature of the plant life that would inhabit the field over the next several years?

The first pioneer plant forms might be mosses and lichens, but would soon be followed by various grasses and other herbaceous plants, especially those with airborne seeds. The field would then be covered by plants that are commonly referred to as weeds. Two or three years after this, small shrubs would begin to grow as their seeds are brought in by wind or animals. Because these shrubs would be able to grow taller than the grasses and other plants, they would begin to shade the smaller plants and thus kill them off. At this point, tree seedlings that require shade to start their growth, but need full sun to flourish will begin to grow. Eventually these trees will create a canopy that will block the sun from reaching the shrubs and the shrubs will be replaced by those plants that are more shade tolerant. However, since the saplings need full sun to survive, the offspring of the trees will not survive and saplings from shade-tolerant species will begin to grow instead. Eventually, the trees growing there will be able to reproduce themselves generation after generation and a climax community will be created. To put it another way, a climax community is one that is capable of perpetuating itself under the conditions imposed by its own existence. Unless disturbed, a climax community may not change for many centuries.

A good rule of thumb to determine whether you are observing a climax community or one still in succession is to decide if the saplings growing are from the same species as the mature trees. If they are, then you are visiting a climax community, but if they are not, the area is still undergoing successional changes.

These changes may require a long period of time, sometimes as much as several hundred years and the factors that determine the length of succession may be quite complex. Yet, despite how obscure the factors of succession may be, the evidence for succession and climax are readily observable.

Ecology

Ecology is the study of the interaction between the biotic and abiotic components of a specific environment. Abiotic factors are the non-living elements found in an area and may include sunlight, soil, wind, rain, and temperature.

Biotic factors, on the other hand, are the living elements and include plants, animals, and microorganisms. The study of ecology involves many different fields of study such as physics, chemistry, meteorology, geology, and physiology. Because the field of ecology is so wide, there are many different types of investigations that could be a focus of your field trip. You could choose to look at succession in terrestrial or aquatic communities, do a population or behavior study, or even observe a microenvironment.

When you go into the field to conduct an ecological study, you will be studying a specific community of plants and animals. The first thing you must do is determine the particular group of plants found at your site. Certain organisms, whether plant or animal, may be found in more than one community, but each community has a unique combination of organisms that exists only in that community. By determining the type of plants that are growing in your chosen community, you will be better able to determine what type of animals live there as well. In most areas, the organisms that will be easiest to identify will be birds and insects. You should be able to identify any birds that you see down to the species; however, unless you are an entomologist, you may be only able to identify insects by order. If you choose, your students may collect insect samples to make more accurate identifications when you return to the lab.

Marshes and swamps generally contain some of the most interesting plants and animals,
but the exploration of these areas requires special clothing such as hip boots or waders. If equipment such as this is not available for every member of your class, you may instead wish to conduct a shore topography study at a local pond, lake, or stream. These locations may permit the collecting of aquatic animals and plants from the shore by students using dip nets. Deeper areas may then be reached by students wearing the appropriate clothing.

Coastal Regions

Only a relatively small number of schools in the United States have easy access to the ocean, but these schools should certainly consider an ecology field trip to the coast. In general, a rocky coastline, such as in Maine, provides the best opportunities to see marine life, but other areas also offer a suitable amount of variety. For example, sandy beaches may feature crustaceans, burrowing worms, and mollusks; while breakwaters and piers may provide attachment sites for algae, barnacles, tunicates, and other sessile forms. You may also find other types of marine life along breakwaters and piers if you search hard enough.

Your trip should be made at low tide, so that the many plants and animals may be observed at close range. You should be able to find masses of brown and red algae attached to rocks in the intertidal zone and various forms of green algae floating in the water near the shore. In the tide pools, your students may frequently find starfish, sea urchins, crabs, and barnacles, as well as limpets. They may also glimpse worms such as Nereis (the clamworm) swimming near the water’s edge. If your students wish to dig in the sand, they may be rewarded by finding clams and mussels as well.

Pond Life

The study of life in a pond or other body of water requires more time, special equipment, and preparation than most field trips, unless you only plan to observe the most superficial aspects of aquatic life from the shore. However, if you wish to conduct a thorough study of a pond ecosystem you may wish to include activities that determine the depth of water, the water temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen content. In addition, you may wish to collect plankton samples, small invertebrates, and insects, as well as rooted and floating aquatic vegetation. These same activities may be adapted for lakes, streams, bogs, swamps, and marshes.

Winter Field Trip

A winter field trip can produce more interesting lessons in biology than you may at first suppose, even though biological activity in the arctic and temperate zones is at its lowest ebb during this time of year. You may choose to have your students identify trees by their buds, bark, leaf scars, and other features; or you may decide to have them identify animal and bird tracks in the snow. In addition, you and your students may occasionally come upon the remains of a meal for an owl or fox, since these animals do not hibernate and hunt all year round.

Mineral and Fossil Field Trips

Where to Go
The bedrock in many regions contains minerals and fossils. Bedrock is often exposed in stream banks, old quarries and mines, railroad cuts, and road cuts. If you are planning a field trip to collect minerals and fossils, a map of the area you wish to visit will be helpful. A road map is good, but a U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Map will be much more helpful. These maps show roads, route numbers, city streets, and buildings, as well as ponds, swamps, topography, and occasionally wooded areas. You may obtain maps specific to your region from the U.S. Geological Survey or see if a local bookstore might have them in stock. Indexes listing the map title for your area are supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey as well. Look for additional information on ordering maps on the USGS website. As a USGS business partner, maps may also be specially ordered from WARD’S. Contact WARD’S Customer Service for details.

In addition, many universities and State Geological Survey offices can provide reference materials that are specific to your area. You may also wish to contact a local museum or library to find information on local amateur collectors. These people may be able to give you some advice on the best places to search for minerals and fossils.

Equipment
When deciding what tools and materials to take on a collecting trip, remember that you will be returning with more than you brought and specimens are always heavy. Therefore, you will want to take along only enough equipment as needed to do the job. You will need a cloth carrying bag or basket with a carrying capacity of about 1 cu. ft., several sheets of newspaper and tissue paper for packing, safety goggles, a hard hat, your notebook and pencil, and, of course, a geologist’s (rock) or brick hammer. The chisel-ended variety is best for sedimentary rocks and combing through loose talus, while the pick-ended hammer is best for igneous and metamorphic rock. You might also want to consider taking along 1/4″, 1/2″, 1″, and 11/4″ cold chisels, a 10X hand lens, a small pinch bar, gloves, marking pens, labels, maps, a field guide, and for more strenuous operations a 2–4 lb. crack hammer, an 8–16 lb. sledge, and a 4–5’ pry bar.

Safety
Aside from general precautions about outdoor hazards, some special reminders apply to mineral and fossil collectors. Make sure that your students wear the proper footwear if climbing or wading is anticipated. If the area is on private property, find out if domestic animals are near and if they are friendly when you ask permission to enter. If you are collecting in a quarry, avoid metallic junk and any small unfamiliar devices. These could be dynamite caps and could be extremely dangerous. If you are collecting on a steep slope or bank, be aware of what or who is above and below you, since falling rocks and earth slides can be dangerous.

At the Site
Before you begin collecting, survey all of an outcrop first. Specimens commonly occur in layers or zones within a certain bed of rock or at a certain level in that bed. If the rock layers are tilted, the specimen zones will usually follow this angle, remaining parallel to the layering in the rocks. Depending on the size of the outcrop and time available, several visits may be necessary to become familiar with the most productive areas in the outcrop. If the outcrop is an active quarry or fresh road cut, the rock is usually not severely weathered and specimens may be held tightly in the rock matrix. In most quarries containing fossils, the rock will be limestone and should not be difficult to break if it occurs in thin layers. However, if you are working in thick beds, you may need a sledgehammer. In some cases, fossils may be only impressions in the rock and therefore will not weather out, but simply crumble and disappear as the rock weathers.

Mineral crystals may be easier to find in mine dumps or in quarries. Cracks and crevices in the rock should be examined closely, since crystals often develop best in such places. Solid rock containing minerals may be colorful and exhibit an interesting texture. If the outcrop is shaly or is characterized by broken and crumbly rock, mineral specimens may have weathered out completely and accumulated in the talus slope along the bottom of the outcrop. If you comb through this material you may find collecting easier, but you should remember that when you find specimens loose in the talus slope, you cannot be exactly sure where they came from.

Most collectors feel they must remove specimens completely free of the rock matrix no matter how hard the rock or how large a specimen is involved. This is not always necessary, since some matrix will enhance most specimens, making them more attractive and convincing to students or laymen not familiar with fossils or mineral specimens. If a fragment of rock must be removed from the outcrop in order to collect a fossil, you should first chip out a groove or channel around the specimen with a small cold chisel and rock hammer. Then, try to split off the desired area from beneath, bearing in mind that most sedimentary rock has formed in layers that will split off most readily in a direction parallel to the layering or bedding orientation of the rock. In igneous and metamorphic rocks, it may be more difficult to determine the weakest direction. Instead, you may wish to take a few practice blows with your hammer and chisel on a nearby piece of rock to see the best way to extract your crystal. Students should also be advised not to discard broken or incomplete specimens, since they may be worth repairing or may still show enough to make identification possible.

While you are at the site, you may wish to instruct your students about the conditions necessary to preserve the fossils or form the crystals. You should also ask your students to observe any patterns of mineral distribution in various zones or if there are multiple species of fossils. These observations will provide your students with clues to the nature of the depositing agents, such as if the water was still or running.

Collecting
While collecting, it will be easy to remember where your specimens originated, but it is surprising how much you can forget once you are back at school or at home. For this reason, it is important to take notes and mark your specimens in some manner. If the specimens are small or if it is not desired to mark them directly, make a note on the paper that you wrap the specimen in or include a small label in the wrapping. If you wish to mark a specimen directly, you may find a felt-tip marking pen helpful.

Back in the Classroom
After you have returned to the classroom, specimens can usually be washed or brushed clean, although some specimens, such as water-soluble minerals and fossils from shale should not be wetted. Broken specimens can often be glued with white wood glues or epoxy cements. Once you have cleaned and repaired your specimens you will want to label them carefully, since much of the value of a good specimen comes from the information on its label. Use small numbered tags or a number mark that can be keyed to a file card that lists the collector’s name, the location where the specimen was collected, and other pertinent data. Proper display and storage of specimen samples in trays and drawers will keep tumbling and jostling of specimens to a minimum and will prevent damage and mixing.

Additional Resources

• Ward’s Biology Supplies
• Ward’s Earth Science Supplies
• Ward’s Field Equipment
• Ward’s Lab Equipment 

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