Come on an interactive audio adventure to become an indoor wildlife investigator, and discover the wildlife of your home! This Podcourse is designed for kids age 6 - 10, by the creators of Tumble Science Podcast for Kids. You’ll learn about ecosystems, by discovering the unknown creatures you wake up with every day. As you listen, you’ll be doing real science. We’ll show you how to share what you find with a worldwide scientific effort to study indoor ecosystems. You might even discover a new species!
What You'll Learn
How do ecosystems work
How to discover unknown creatures
How to observe scientifically
- Hosts of The Wildlife Of Your Home
We begin our indoor wildlife investigation by meeting a dangerous, mysterious creature that’s stalking its next victim inside our homes right now. Fortunately, professional indoor wildlife investigator Rob Dunn is here to help train us to solve the mystery! Rob is an ecologist and author who’s investigating indoor ecosystems around the world. And he needs our help! So get your supplies together, and begin your adventure.
Listen to Tumble’s original episode, which this podcourse is based on! It explains how and why our investigation got started. You’ll hear how Rob Dunn’s curiosity about indoor ecosystems grew from his own home to houses all around the world - including yours! This episode also gives you a taste of the activity we’ll be doing later on in the pod course.
Get ready to investigate! In this episode, Marshall and Rob will guide you through the hot spots to find creatures in your kitchen. Get all your supplies together, because this is a hands-on, nose-on activity! You might never look at your kitchen the same way again.
Our investigation continues, with a search through your home to find creatures in your lightfixtures. Make sure you have a ladder and an adult handy for this episode! Rob will guide you tothis hot spot for specimens, and set up a drawing activity. You can call yourself a “scientificillustrator” after this episode!
It’s time to figure out what you’ve discovered! We take a well-deserved break from our hands-oninvestigation, to fine-tune our indoor investigator skills. “Classification” is one of scientists’biggest tools to understand living things and their place in the world. You’ll get practiceobserving and classifying one of the specimens you’ve collected, while learning aboutarthropods. We’ll also upload our first observation with iNaturalist, an app that will help youname what you’ve found, and...
We’re back on the trail of indoor species, investigating the room where we sleep! Don’t worry, you’re not going to find monsters under the bed or in the closets. You’ll use your indoor investigator skills to find habitats in your bedroom. But be warned: There are invisible creatures hiding in your dust!
Our last official stop on the investigation: The bathroom! This room hides several “wet and wild” habitats, where you’re sure to discover a common creature in your sinks. Plus, we have a special guest: Rob’s ecologist friend Noah Fierer stops by to take a look into your shower, and tell us about the life that hides in slime.
It’s time to join over 2,000 other indoor investigators on the quest to make 20,000 observations on iNaturalist! This episode is a how-to guide to join Rob’s citizen science project, “Never Home Alone.” You’ll be contributing to real science, and sharing what you’ve found with Rob. Plus, Marshall will show you some of his favorite iNaturalist features to explore and learn about wildlife around the world.
Your investigation has turned up many fascinating creatures. But what do they have to do with each other? It’s time to look at your clues, and start making connections. A fascinating story about disappearing wolves will help you understand the ecosystem in your own home. You’ll use your indoor explorer’s journal to record your thoughts and theories, as we get ready to wrap up our investigation!
Everything has been leading to this moment: Using your indoor investigator skills to solve amystery in your own home! Choose your favorite specimen from your investigation (“thesuspect”), and gather your observations and notes (“the evidence”). You’re about to discoverthe connections between your suspect, its predators and victims, your house, and ultimately -you! You’ll also receive your official indoor investigator certification at the end of the podcourse.
Supplemental Materials