See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242329571 Bridging Scientific Research and Education Through Research Learning Centers - Featured Presentation Conference Paper · January 2011 CITATIONS READS 0 48 2 authors: Susan Teel Joy Marburger National Park Service Purdue University Northwest 18 PUBLICATIONS 7 CITATIONS 40 PUBLICATIONS 279 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Population Genetics of Sarracenia purpurea View project California Channel Islands research View project All content following this page was uploaded by Joy Marburger on 27 October 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.
Bridging Scientific Research and Education Through Research Learning Centers Susan Teel and Joy Marburger National Park Service Research Learning Centers National Science Teachers Association Conference San Francisco, CA March 2011
Learning By Doing!
ENGAGE, ENLIGHTEN, EMPOWER THROUGH SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY IN NATIONAL PARKS!
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MISSION "...to promote and regulate the use of the...national parks...which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ORGANIC ACT OF 1916
RESEARCH LEARNING CENTERS
RLC MISSION AND GOALS US National Park Service Research Learning Centers (RLCs) are designed to increase the effectiveness and communication of scientific research and education in the national parks to: • Facilitate the use of parks for scientific inquiry. • Support science-informed decision making. • Communicate the relevance of and providing access to knowledge gained through research. • Promote resource stewardship through partnerships.
EDUCATION PILLARS • New Audiences: Invite all people to learn about the natural and cultural resources in parks. • New Technologies: Share park science using appropriate and relevant technologies. New Standards: Set clear, measurable, and meaningful standards for quality. • New Partners: Work with partners to provide high-quality programs and services. • New Evaluations: Learn from the various partners to improve programs and science communication.
RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PARTNERS • Museums • Nature Centers • Botanical Gardens • Local, County, and State Agencies • Federal Public Agencies NATIONAL PARK UNITS (394 – 84.4 million acres) FISH AND WILDLIFE REFUGES (553 – 150 million acres) NATIONAL FORESTS (155 – 90 million acres) USGS – major research arm of the Dept. of Interior ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (245 million acres, surface lands)
WHERE CAN THE RESEARCH BE DONE? Research in Single Parks Research in Multiple Parks Research across NPS Park Boundaries
FOSTERING SCIENCE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION THROUGH: Internet Media: Web-based Citizen Science Research Internships Workshops
WEBCASTS: DISTANCE LEARNING
APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS SCIENCE LEARNING CENTER GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS SCIENCE LEARNING CENTER
CALIFORNIA MEDITERRANEAN RESEARCH LEARNING CENTER (2001-2013) CMRLC is conducting virtual field trip programs -Live Interactive Virtual Explorations (LIVE)- with the Biscayne Coastal RLC (FL), researchers with High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network, UCSD, SDSU, and University of Miami, and many other partners. The LIVE distance education field trips allow real-time 2-way video and audio. http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/LIVE/ The High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN) is a National Science Foundation funded network research project.
CITIZEN SCIENCE: Fostering Public Involvement in Scientific Monitoring and Research
ENGAGING SCIENTISTS AND THE PUBLIC TO INVENTORY ORGANISMS IN NATIONAL PARKS All Taxa Biological Inventories (ATBI) and Bioblitzs SLIME MOLDS (University of Arkansas - NSF) BIOBLITZS INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE May 15-16, 2009
APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS SCIENCE LEARNING CENTER Middle School Students Assisting Researchers Adranes lecontei Brendel (Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) GSMNP “Beetle Blitz" Dr. Chris Carlton (painting by ATBI volunteer artist Nancy Lowe) Louisiana State University
CALIFORNIA MEDITERRANEAN RESEARCH LEARNING CENTER ( 2001-2013) A small submarine (Remotely Operated Vehicle-ROV) can be deployed underwater and transmits real time video during the field trips. This site allows the public (students and teachers) to participate directly through the internet: http://www.researchlearningcenter.org/StSS/
OLD-GROWTH BOTTOMLAND FOREST RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER Congaree National Park, SC Spider blitz Birdathon Middle school students learn about soils …Involves different age groups and different levels of training.
GREAT LAKES RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore • GLREC located within a 2-hour drive of a diverse population of over 16 million people in the Chicagoland region
RESEARCH FACILITIES: FIELD RESEARCH STATION
GLREC NETWORK 10 GREAT LAKES PARKS
RESEARCH INTERNSHIPS: The Link Between Formal and Informal Education in National Parks
GLREC NETWORK PARKS Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Northern Michigan University Masters Candidate Hair Sampling of Black Bear for DNA Population Characterization
PACIFIC COAST SCIENCE LEARNING CENTER
PACIFIC COAST SCIENCE LEARNING CENTER Point Reyes National Seashore Undergraduate and Graduate Science Communication Interns Interns preparing to board a boat for some harbor seal capturing and tagging.
RESEARCH-FOCUSED TEACHER WORKSHOPS National Park Service partners support park research, teacher-training, incorporating research methods. NSF funded university partnerships with the GLREC Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum University of South Florida (web-based inquiry using Excel and 8 national parks as information base); 7 other RLCs involved Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Local Extinctions: A 300-Year Experiment Brown University (RI) and the University of Wyoming (high school student and teacher training) Dispersion and Mixing Caused By Near-Inertial Waves in Lake Michigan Purdue University, West Lafayette (IN) (ROV, and coastal processes teacher training) USGS-NPS partnership funding and in-kind support Purple Loosestrife research and workshop Cattail population genetics research in Great Lakes parks
USGS-NPS RESEARCH: INVASIVE PLANTS WORKSHOP AND CITIZEN SCIENCE RESEARCH PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE POPULATION DYNAMICS http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/special/purplel/index.htm
RESEARCH NEEDS • Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation • Aquatic and Wetland Resources Protection and Rehabilitation • Contaminants Remediation • Emerging Diseases and Pests • Invasive Species Management and Control • Landscape Corridors for Wildlife • Restoration of Terrestrial Habitats
GREENHOUSE EFFECT Greenhouse gases include: CO 2 , N 2 O, CH 4 , O 3 , H 2 O, aerosols Facts: CO2 has increased from 280 to 390 ppm since the 1800s. Considered over a 100 year period, N 2 O has 298 times more impact per unit weight than CO 2 . Methane has
CLIMATE CHANGE Significant effects are happening in public lands right now. Scientists expect disappearance of Glacier National Park’s glaciers Blackfoot (left) and Jackson (right) glaciers, Glacier National Park, were joined along their within a decade. margins in 1914, but have since retreated into separate alpine cirques. Melting of glacial ice is a major contributor to sea level rise. Photos by E. B. Stebinger, Glacier National Park archives (1911), and Lisa McKeon, USGS (2009).]
CLIMATE CHANGE Catastrophic fire and insect Researchers at the University outbreaks claimed up to 18 of Arizona predict the worst- percent of the high- altitude case scenario showing that forests in Arizona and New the American southwest could Mexico in the past 24 years. experience a 60-year stretch Climate models indicate that the of heat and drought unseen 21st century will be increasingly since the 12th century. arid and droughts more severe and prolonged. Forest and woodland mortality due to fires and pathogens will increase. PNAS Dec. 13, 2010
CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH AND MONITORING ANIMAL AND PLANT PHENOLOGY WE CAN OBSERVE CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS NOW THROUGH LONG-TERM MONITORING OF PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE HISTORIES OR CYCLES. “Phenology…is perhaps the simplest process in which to track changes in the ecology of species in response to climate change.” (IPCC 2007)
Edith's checkerspot butterfly Euphydryas editha quino ovipositing on blooming Plantago erecta . Despite its juicy appearance, this plant is likely to senesce in less than a month, thereby starving the caterpillars: an example of phenological asynchrony between closely-interacting species. (See Singer & Parmesan, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences pp. 3161 – 3176).
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