Time to deploy the sensor kit. Maybe you found a particular spot that intrigued you the most, or there are some uncertainties about why a species of plant can grow in an unexpected place. Place the sensor kit into the soil and make sure it is turned on. The sensor kit will now collect data about the environmental conditions. They may not all be relevant to your question or interest, you may then also decide to make adjustments in terms of which sensors you want to use.

Make sure to take some photos of the species in the area with your phone and upload them to an identification app such as iNaturalist. These apps analyse the image to help you identify which species you found. This helps to understand the local ecosystem and simultaneously can develop your ability to recognize species.

It is up to you to decide how long you wish the sensor kit should monitor the location. Some suggestions are to make quick measurements of different spots, or to make long term measurements over a few days (keeping in mind the battery life).

At this point you can decide to already move onto the next step while waiting for the data collection to conclude, imagining through sketching. You can also already start to do some desk research about the species that you have found there, this helps to know what to look for in the sensor data.

Now retrieve the tool from the location, use this opportunity to make some more sketches! Onto the next step.