KONZA
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION PROGRAM (KEEP)
SCHOOLYARD LTER Workshop
June 21-24, 1999
Final Report
The Schoolyard LTER program began in the fall of 1998 when NSF, through the LTER supplemental funding, granted funds to 12 LTER sites to begin a preliminary program of science education for K-12 students. The funds were to be used to develop programs that would allow teachers in local school districts access to LTER sites and/or personnel for the purpose of teaching the process of science using methods unique to the long-term research ecologist. Students would carry out research projects parallel to the work going on at Konza or in addition to a particular researcher's work. The latter type of project would allow the students to give something back to the site by generating new data that would be of value to researchers.
The data collected by the students are placed in data bases that accumulate through the years, showing the long-term trends unique to LTER research. Although individual students in the early years of data collecting may not see these trends, teachers would bring their classes back over several years or other teachers will continue with the same process so that the data bases grow. The students will input their data directly into KEEP programs especially designed for the purpose by teachers and LTER personnel. They will be able to manipulate the data, produce graphs and reports from their classroom by logging onto the KEEP web site.
Ten
teachers took part in the first Schoolyard LTER Workshop at Konza Prairie (see
teacher profiles). Their
enthusiasm (present from the first moment) grew as the possibilities opened
before them. Konza Prairie as a resource and a site to do hands-on science
with their class was a dream come true. They
already carried a love for the prairie that they wished to pass on to their
students. Not all of their dreams
were the same but with appropriate alternatives offered, they each found
something that would fit with their classroom and curriculum.
GOALS
One
of the major goals of the first workshop was to bring teachers, researchers and
education program personnel together to develop the program for Konza Prairie.
LTER principal investigators, researchers, and docents joined the
discussions and clarified the process. In
the final evaluation, teachers were particularly vocal about the importance of
the positive role researchers played in the workshop, in the activities and the
discussions. The network formed is
an unusual resource available to teachers, not only with each other, but also
with Konza Prairie personnel. All
of the goals were accomplished, including number 10:
"Have fun!"
PROJECTS
The
teachers were given a list of nine possible activities/research projects and
asked to decide which would be the best to incorporate into the Schoolyard LTER
program. They carried out each
activity with Konza staff and evaluated it for clarity, appropriateness, and
possible improvements. For the
final list, they chose three major categories with sub-categories as follows:
Long-term inventories of stream invertebrates and monitoring long-term changes in stream channels
Long-term inventories and collections of tall grass prairie insects
Grasshoppers
Monitoring
the effect of fire on plant diversity.
For
a more complete description of the activities, see "Final Project List" in the Attachments.
Long-term
inventories and collections can readily be carried out by children.
The teacher ties the activity to the classroom as a regular part of the
curriculum. For example, collecting
insects on a transect as done by the LTER researchers, allows a real field
experience for a high school entomology class,
helps them develop their required class collection, helps Konza acquire a
reference collection of grasshoppers and involves scientists with the students
because faculty, staff and graduate students help carry out the activity,
talking about their own research and teaching the students how to pin and
identify the insects collected.
GUIDELINES
Other
outcomes of the workshop included a "Guidelines
for Teachers" when bringing students to Konza Prairie.
This document outlines the role and responsibilities of teachers in the
LTER science activities, the "briefing" of parents, as well as how
students could be rewarded for their work.
The KEEP docents would be backed up by 2 other adults for each group of
ten children, one more than required for a trail hike.
Participating parents receive education and briefing before the activity
begins.
DOCENTS
Docent
training has already incorporated some of the Schoolyard LTER program activities
(i.e. the effect of fire on plant diversity).
Through in-service training, regular docents and new docents will be able
to do the activities themselves so that they can help with the program in the
future. Classes coming to Konza for
the Schoolyard LTER will be incorporated into the regular schedule of visits so
there will be no increase of work load for the docents.
CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
Each
teacher was asked how he/she would incorporate a Konza Prairie activity into the
classroom. Time was given during
the workshop and some teachers worked further on their curriculum at home.
Write-ups varied from detailed to outline form.
A variety of approaches were taken, depending upon what the teacher was
already emphasizing in the classroom. Teachers will bring their classes to Konza
in the coming school year.
EVALUATION
Each science activity, as well as the entire workshop, were evaluated by the teachers. Comments about activities were helpful in understanding what age child could understand and handle the data collection. It also helped the teachers to articulate how they could use the activity and in what way it might be improved.
The
overall evaluation of the workshop by the teachers was very positive.
Of the ten teachers, seven rated the workshop as "excellent",
two as "good", and one rated it between excellent and good.
They felt that the background information, hand-outs and demonstrations
were helpful. One of the excellent
suggestions was that a vocabulary list be prepared so teachers could review
terminology before and during the workshop.
Some
specific comments were:
"The variety of jobs which could be involved with a research area like this was amazing to me, and would be exciting and mind-boggling to students."
"I think the students will have more pride in their work knowing they will be helping actual researchers, rather than just collecting data ... and never putting a face on a researcher."
"The knowledge to be gained from the researchers is invaluable. Having them right here to answer questions is worth more than all the books we could buy."
Another
workshop will be held next year.
ATTACHMENTS
