Species Distribution Modeling for High School Educators

Data science skills are crucial in science research, yet few K-12 schools and programs equip students to develop these skills in authentic scientific contexts. Here we present a practitioner’s guide that uses Wallace, an open-source research platform for ecological modeling, to introduce high school students to creating and evaluating species distribution models (SDMs). Through creating SDMs, students are exposed to various data science skills and practices (including data cleaning, data visualization, and model evaluation and interpretation), learn ecological content in alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards and Science and Engineering Practices, and use models to develop solutions to pressing societal issues, such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity. We describe our approach to utilizing SDMs in a high school classroom and discuss strategies for implementing this technology.