This article presents a field technique that exposes students to the indirect effects of habitat fragmentation on plant distributions through studying edge effects. This assignment, suited for students in an introductory biogeography or resource geography class, increases students' knowledge of basic biogeographic concepts such as environmental gradients and disturbance in addition to formulating research questions and design. In this exercise, fieldwork can be implemented with simple tools that are easily obtainable and found in most physical geography labs. In this example, student response to the exercise was positive; they indicated that the exercise was a fun and interactive way to learn fundamental biogeographic concepts. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)