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BNZ LTER Education and Outreach. Elena Bautista Sparrow, Ph.D. International Arctic Research Center, and School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences University of Alaska Fairbanks. LTER Outreach. K-12 Education University Education Outreach to Communities Outreach to Agencies
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BNZ LTER Education and Outreach Elena Bautista Sparrow, Ph.D. International Arctic Research Center, and School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences University of Alaska Fairbanks
LTER Outreach • K-12 Education • University Education • Outreach to Communities • Outreach to Agencies • Outreach to the General Public • Ties to other Long-Term Research Programs
K-12 Education • Leveraged limited SLTER funding • Partnered with other science education programs such as GLOBE, Partners in Science, Global Change Education Using Western Science and Native observations and the EPSCoR Alaska Rural Research Partnership • Expanded SLTER activities to 8 schools in Fairbanks and 34 other schools outside Fairbanks
K-12 Education • Conduct Professional Development workshops for K-12 teachers, model best teaching practices, provide science content, educational materials and equipment • Developed Phenology protocols and learning activities that are part of the Earth As a System Chapter in the GLOBE Teacher’s Guide Published on the web (www.globe.gov) and on CD • K-12 students from 112 schools in 16 countries are using the phenology protocols and have entered their data on the GLOBE web site
Green-up Green-down
Table 1 Budburst by genus • (Day of Year) • Anchorage • Year Betu Popu Salix Avg. • 2001 124 120 ---- 122 • 2002 135 136 137 136 • 2003 120 128 129 125 • 2004 123 125 125 124 • Avg. 125 127 130 127 • Fairbanks • Year Betu Popu Salix Avg. • 2001 135 137 138 137 • 2002 134 135 136 135 • 2003 125 118 118 120 • 2004 122 125 125 124 • Avg. 129 129 129 129
K-12 Education • LTER personnel help with science fairs or science symposium • LTER PIs and grad students work with K-12 students in classrooms, and on science fair or symposium projects • Students mentored by LTER scientists continue to compete at local, state and national science fairs, and win awards and scholarships • Research Summer Internships for high school students
University Education • BNZ research sites are used for UAF course field trips and lab exercises • REU students as research assistants • IGERT program for graduate student training that links ecological, economic, & cultural aspects of sustainability and resilience
Outreach to Communities • Alaska Boreal Forest Council - information exchange • Alaska Native Science Commission- help address concerns of native leaders re environmental changes, and their effects on subsistence and cultural activities • Tanana Chiefs Conference
Outreach to Agencies • Work with state & federal agencies (AK Div of Forestry, AK Div of Natural Resources, Alaska Fire Service, AK Dept of Fish & Game, National Park Services etc. • Joint research programs, discussions of management issues, jointly organized seminars, training programs with agency staff • Participation on Citizen’s Advisory Committee for Tanana Valley State Forest.
Outreach to General Public • Website: www.lter.uaf.edu • LTER Brochure • Interviews aired on radio and television stations regarding growing national and international concerns about climate change • Newspaper articles • Seminars for the general public
Ties to Other Long-Term Research Programs • Arctic LTER at Toolik Lake • National Park Service to help design their Long Term Monitoring (LTEM) Program in Alaska • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service research programs on Arctic Wildlife Refuge and Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Ecological consulting • Ecological monitoring on military bases
Ties to Other Long-Term Research Programs • National Phenology Network • NEON (National Earth Observatory Network) • SEARCH (Study of Environmental Arctic Change)
Cross-site Activities • LTER Executive Committee • LTER Education Executive Committee- developed LTER ED strategic plan • LTER Education, Outreach and Training Committee • LTER Graduate Student Committee • LTER cross-site synthesis project – E.Kane • LTER ED cross-site proposal • LTER Children’s Book Series for primary students
Education & Outreach • EOT working groups suggests that an appropriate goal for LTER Education and Outreach efforts is to promote environmental literacy in students, teachers, and the general public. • We define environmental literacy as having two dimensions: understanding environmental content (as defined by the LTER community) and scientific practices.
Biotic structure rank-dominance curves, life-history traits Long-term “press” e.g., N deposition, species invasions, temperature Short-term “pulse” e.g., fire, storms Human behavior (society, policy, economics) Ecosystem functioning 1/ 2 production, decomposition, nutrient cycling Ecosystem services food, pest/disease control, erosion control, soil fertility Understanding Science Content
Reasoning from evidence (inquiry): Finding patterns in observations and constructing explanations for those patterns Observations (experiences,data, phenomena, systems and events in the world) Patterns in observations (generaliz-ations, laws, graphs, tables, formulas) Models (hypotheses, models, theories) Reasoning from models and patterns (application): Using patterns and models to describe, explain, predict, design Understanding Science Practice
A Role for LTER Long-term ecological sites have 3 important assets that are essential to teaching for environmental literacy: • Research communities with long histories of interdisciplinary work on environmental issues. • A network linking those research communities to one another and to educational systems through both personal contact and information technologies. • Place-based, long-term, spatially distributed data sets and resources for acquiring data.
GOAL 1: Teaching and Learning • Improve environmental literacy in K-16 and the general public. • Create network-wide, multi-age communities of practice that involve scientists, local experts and the general public, present and future teachers, and students. • Change perceptions about ecology, ecologists and other scientists and the way they work (e.g., collaboration).
GOAL 2: Research and evaluation on what we need to know to effectively reach a diverse audience • Conduct cross-site comparisons of how people of different ages, cultures, socio-economic status, etc. learn and understand key concepts of environmental literacy • Implement long-term evaluation of materials, practice, etc. using multiple measures • Move beyond recruitment of a diverse student body to retention of a diverse workforce in environmental science
GOAL 3: Impacting the broader education system • Contributing current science research knowledge and practice to education policy discussions and decisions; including state/national standards • Infuse multi-site research into widely distributed teaching resources (e.g., textbooks, simulations, on-line supporting materials) • Integrate research and education in future faculty development programs
Key Features & Immediate Goals • Recognizes that developing an understanding of coupled human-ecosystem interactions is an appropriate goal both for science and for education. • Takes advantage of existing knowledge and strengths of LTER education programs and national initiatives • Can expand beyond existing network • Begin with a large-scale study of environmental literacy, including moving beyond just offering opportunities to participate to being more strategic in our efforts to seek out and include diverse perspectives.
Date of leaf-out in Fairbanks (Chena Ridge) 1974-1998 Data courtesy of J. Anderson