Scientist/Educator Partnerships: A Paradigm for Successful Education and Public Outreach Programs I
Presiding: J R Thieman, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; M F Ireton, Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
ED12A-01 10:30h
Forging Successful Partnerships: Improving Collaborative Efforts Between Scientists and Science Education Professionals
Forming required partnerships for funding programs can appear straightforward and relatively easy, at least in the initial stages, but forming a longer term bond that crosses disciplines and education approaches can be more difficult. The question is frequently asked as to why some partnerships are more successful than others? As scientists, we frequently want this quantified into a set of instructions or guidelines, or even better, as a simple mathematical formula. Any of these approaches would leave out an important ingredient in human relationships that could easily be labeled as compatibility, but perhaps a better term is mutual respect. For example, interaction between scientists and education specialists can be problematic because the people in each group will see the resolution of a problem differently. Educators may concentrate on the form of the delivery, while scientists may be more concerned about the accuracy of the scientific information. For example, if a scientific concept such as evolution is oversimplified, important details, at least in the scientists' minds, could be lost. The scientists will worry about this while the educators may not understand why the scientists are concerned. Resolving such issues takes patience, time, and shared experiences by both parties, putting aside egos and preconceived ideas of who knows more or who knows best. Respect is not the sole answer; the answer is more complex. First, successful partnerships require good communication between the partners. This requires meetings every four to eight weeks, e-mails that inform the partners of new information or opportunities, a lead or principal investigator that facilitates, but treats all partners as equals and does not micromanage . The most important requirement here is commitment by all of the partners. The last may be interwoven with a specific agenda, but as long as everyone understands the extent of the commitment, the partnership will work. Again, communication is important. A lead or PI must listen carefully to what your partners are saying and remember body language can be as important as the spoken word so schedule as many face to face meeting as possible. If you perceive a problem, there probably is a problem, and you will need to call or see one or more of the partners as soon as possible. Above all, do not use e-mail as voice inflections are lost and e-mail does not replace one-to-one personal interaction. A variety of effective communication skills must be used to facilitate good working partnerships.
ED12A-02 10:45h
Geoscientist/Educator Partnerships at the University of Colorado: Strategies and Examples
According to a study about the factors that engage and hinder scientists' involvement in education and outreach (Andrews et.al., 2005), the presence of a dedicated outreach coordinator who can provide a point of contact and lessen the burden on scientists is one of the keys to success. For the past nine years, research scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) have worked in partnership with just such a coordinating team, the CIRES Education and Outreach group. As funding agency emphasis on education and social impacts has increased, so have the opportunities to develop educational projects intrinsically linked to current geoscience research. One such effort is Ocean Interactions, a project which began as a ship-shore student communication opportunity at the initiation of the researcher. The roles of each contributor to the partnership will be described, along with the framework through which CIRES supports scientist/educator partnerships of this sort. Andrews, Elisabeth, Alexandra Weaver, Daniel Hanley, Jeff Hovermill, Ginger Melton. 2005. "Scientists and Public Outreach: Participation, Motivations and Impediments." Journal of Geoscience Education in press May 2005.
http://cires.colorado.edu/education/k12/
ED12A-03 11:00h
Mediating the Message: The Team Approach to Developing Interdisciplinary Science Exhibitions
Museum exhibition developers can take advantage of a wide range of methods and media for delivering scientific information to a general audience. But, determining what information to convey and which medium is the best means of conveying it can be an arduous process. How do you design an exhibition so a visiting fifth grade school group learns basic scientific concepts while an amateur naturalist finds enough rich content to warrant coming back in a few months? How much or how little media should be included? What forms of media are most appropriate? Answering these questions requires intensive and iterative collaboration and compromise among a team of educators, scientists and designers. The National Museum of Natural History's Forces of Change Program uses a unique team approach that includes scientific, exhibit design, and education experts to create interdisciplinary science exhibitions. Exhibit topics have explored the dynamics of a grasslands ecosystem, global impacts of El Nino, climate change in the Arctic, the functions of the atmosphere, and soil composition. Exhibition-related products include publications, scavenger hunts, interactive computer kiosks, educational CD-ROMs, animated cartoons, web sites, and school group activities. Team members will describe the team process and the iterative discussions involved in developing these products so they are as scientifically sound and engaging as possible.
ED12A-04 11:15h
Teacher, Student, and Scientist Collaboration for the Benefit of Education and Science: GLOBE ONE.
GLOBE is a partnership between students, teachers, and scientists in more than 100 countries designed to benefit science and education. Participating students learn about Earth's systems by collecting atmosphere, soils, hydrology, land cover, and seasonal data at the local level and sharing it. In 2004, GLOBE began an intensive new field campaign in Black Hawk County, Iowa: GLOBE ONE. Students and local volunteer citizens collect a structured data set of environmental measurements that is being used for research and publication. Students participating in the program have multiple opportunities to meet with GLOBE scientists in both large and small group settings. Educators in the program have frequent training opportunities and ongoing support from GLOBE scientists and the local GLOBE partner. Kelen Panec's eighth grade students at Central Middle School, in Waterloo Iowa are working directly with Dr. David Brooks and other GLOBE scientists to study the atmosphere. The students are collecting temperature, precipitation, aerosol, cloud type, cloud cover, and contrail data on a daily basis. Participation in the program provides students with experience doing real science, as evidenced by Kelen's students who are now working on answering atmospheric research questions of their own. GLOBE ONE is a model for partnering students, teachers, local community members, and scientists to benefit science and education.
ED12A-05 11:30h
Designing Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance Monitors -- a Unique Collaboration Between Scientists and Educators
Funding agencies such as NASA and NSF encourage E/PO programs to provide local educators with research experience. However, many researchers have neither the time nor the expertize nor the training resources to effectively incorporate an educator into their computer- and numerical-analysis-based research environments. Stanford's Solar Center has been experimenting with a unique project that teams community college and high school educators with research groups to develop a hands-on instrument that the educators's students can, in turn, use to conduct their own research. With support from the researchers, the Educators design, develop, and classroom-test a VLF radio receiver that monitors changes to the Earth's ionosphere caused by solar activity. The educators bring to the table their knowledge of classroom needs plus their amateur background in electronics. Stanford's Electrical Engineering Department's Very Low Frequency Group provides EE resources and knowledge of ionospheric research. Stanford's Solar Observatories Group completes the team with their expertize on the Sun and solar activity. Together, the project team has designed and developed two forms of monitors: 1) an inexpensive Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance (SID) monitor that can be produced in quantity and made available to high schools and community colleges around the nation; and 2) a research quality SID monitor, nicknamed AWESOME, that can be placed in selected schools and will return data of sufficient quality and sensitivity that it can be used both by the students and for ionospheric research.
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/SID
ED12A-06 11:45h
The CloudSat Education Network: A Model for Worldwide Scientist/Student/Teacher/Community Partnerships
CloudSat, a NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Mission, will launch into orbit the world's most advanced weather radar designed to measure properties of clouds that are essential for accurate understanding of Earth's weather and climate processes. Providing the first vertical profiles of global measurements of cloud thickness, height, water and ice content and a wide range of precipitation data linked to cloud development, CloudSat measurements will fill a critical gap in understanding how clouds affect climate (http://cloudsat.atmos.colostate.edu/). Any mission of this nature requires extensive ground-based reference data. The CloudSat Education Network provides the opportunity for schools around the world to partner with the CloudSat Science and Education Teams. The Network will use proven science and education programs such as GLOBE (http://www.globe.gov) to link together scientists, students, teachers, and their communities to give students meaningful, authentic and contemporary high quality educational experiences. Student activities and learning outcomes designed within the program have been chosen to meet both general education outcomes and specific standards or objectives from local school curricula. The main focus of the knowledge development component of the project is to help students better understand long-term climate change and the climatic processes that maintain the Earth's Energy balance. Scientists will receive research-quality data in support of the mission and in return interact with students, teachers and their students to promote interest in science. Launch of the CloudSat satellite is anticipated for mid 2005. Participation in the network throughout the duration of the project will be monitored and schools will need to maintain levels of participation in order to maintain "Membership" in the network. The base level of participation is the reporting of environmental data identified in the project every 16 days coinciding with the CloudSat satellite overpass. The data requested will include cloud cover, cloud type, temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and barometric pressure. The CloudSat Education Network when fully complete will contain 100-150 schools from target sites around the world. Thailand and South East Asia, New Zealand and Australia, West Africa, Europe and Brazil have been identified as target sites for the Network and most already have participating schools.
http://cloudsat.atmos.colostate.edu