Ecology Fieldwork and Teaching Adventures with Children

By Andrea Worthington, Ph.D. Professor emeritus, Biology, Siena College, Loudonville, NY

I have spent my career teaching field courses in Plant Ecology and Tropical Biology at a small college in upstate New York.  With my husband’s help, I took all my children with me in the field for weekend field trips.  When I started teaching Tropical Biology, first in Puerto Rico and then in Costa Rica, I brought my husband and children along.  My husband and I collaborate on research, examining the prey capture behavior of dragonflies and the neuro-ethology of prey capture.  The history of my academic career is tightly woven to accommodate raising children.

I know that working while having babies requires lots of creativity. The best decision I made was to commit to breast feeding.  My first born arrived in March and I had already arranged an unpaid leave for the spring semester to care for my son.  When I had to return to work, I was very lucky to find a care-giver who was also a nursing mom and she was willing to help me. My plan was to nurse my first born during all my time at home including through the night. My care-giver knew how to offer water with a sippy cup to my son who was just 6 months old when I returned to work in the Fall. My daughter was born 5 years later in June but I also took an unpaid leave in the Fall.

I was hired by a four-year college to teach Plant Ecology (along with many other courses).  Every year, the Plant Ecology course would spend a weekend in the Adirondacks visiting sphagnum bogs and climbing a mountain collecting data on how plant communities change with altitude.  We would tent camp and cook meals on camp stoves.  Class sizes would vary from 15 to 30.  My husband came with me and so did our children as they arrived. I also invited colleagues (with or without children) to join us.  I found that having children present really led to more community and helpful behavior in the field. It also tamped down unwanted behaviors such as the urge to 1) sneak in beer and party when we camped and 2) race to the top of the mountain.

The following three photos are from various trips to study tree gradients on Adirondack Mts in Plant Ecology lab.

We would camp out Friday nights and hit the trails early Saturday to reach the summit collecting data on plant community structure and diversity on the way.

My son’s first Adirondack adventure was when he was 1½ years old. He was still nursing at the time.  He participated in 14 mountain data-collecting assents. My daughter’s first Adirondack adventure was when she was 1 years old. She was also nursing.  She participated in 12 mountain data-collecting assents. Thank heavens for child backpack carriers. With the help of my husband and other colleagues that joined us, the students collected data at each elevation interval gain and we got everyone to the top of the mountain. My children learned to identify plants and, as they got older, they were great teaching assistants.

The first time I taught Tropical Ecology, my son was 10 months old. The course was co-taught and we had a winter break trip to Puerto Rico.  My husband came along to care for our son while I was supervising student research.  Our son took his first steps in El Yunque National Forest.

The first time we taught Tropical Ecology in Costa Rica, my co-teacher brought his wife and their 2 year old child and I brought my husband and both our children (our son was 16 and our daughter was 12).

Author's daughter mist-netting birds with co-instructor and students

Author and son viewing monkeys in Costa Rica

We visited 3 different field stations covering various different tropical plant communities…traveling by bus and living in field station dormitories.  It was so helpful to have curious young people at any age.  The 1 year old loved the leaf cutter ants.

Costa Rica Tropical Biology Field Course

Again, traveling with families really impacted the student behavior. I would say they were a fabulous addition since they were constantly curious and had a wonderful ability to observe and discover creatures. They were great assistants in student projects. The students included them in their social activities too which I think damped down possible chaos.

The children also went along to international professional society meetings, along with field trips.

Worldwide Dragonfly Association 

Meeting in Sweden

Our children over the years helped us with our research on the neuro-ethology of prey capture behavior in dragonflies.  They helped us dig a backyard pond to attract dragonflies.

Building a backyard dragonfly pond to raise animals for research.

The have helped us collect dragonfly larvae and adults in the field.  They have helped us video prey capture behavior in the field. Each did independent research projects on dragonflies for high school honors research.

So after all that exposure to science, what have they chosen to do with their lives?  My son is a musician and is a partner in a music production studio and my daughter is working on a Ph.D. in plant genetics.