|
|
HJ Andrews LTER offers research experience for teachers, students and artists |
|
Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 02:16 PM |
Research Experience for Teachers (RET)
Larry Byman, a Biology and Environmental Field Studies teacher in Longview, Washington, worked with Andrews Forest scientists during the 2006 field season to learn about long-term data collection and data management techniques. Based on what he learned at the Andrews Forest, Byman developed an environmental curriculum for use at the Longview District’s Wake Robin Outdoor Learning Center. “This ranks as one of the absolute best learning experiences I’ve had during my teaching career,” said Byman. His lessons cover topics such as litter decomposition, moth diversity, soil seed bank, stream cross sections, and tree growth rates. Byman’s lessons are available through the Wake Robin Outdoor Learning Center’s website, www.longview.k12.wa.us/wr/LTER.
Kurt Cox, a junior high science teacher from the McKenzie School District, developed a set of research activities on the McKenzie High School grounds which is based upon research being conducted at the Andrews Forest. The seventh and eighth-graders will visit the Andrews LTER site in the fall and spring to conduct vegetation surveys, examine log decomposition, and measure stream structure.
More information on educational activities of the Andrews Forest program is available at www.fsl.orst.edu/lter/edu/schoolyard/ret.cfm?topnav=156.
SMILE Teachers workshop
The Science and Mathematics Investigative Learning Experiences (SMILE) Program of Oregon State University provides science, technology, engineering, and mathematics enrichment and mentoring to historically underserved student populations, providing support for them to pursue higher education. Through the National Science Foundation supported Schoolyard LTER program, the Andrews Forest LTER is working with the SMILE Program to bring its research and expertise to SMILE teachers. Andrews’ scientists have participated in teacher workshops since 1994, providing technical expertise and talking with teachers about designing schoolyard investigations.
The SMILE Program hosted a teacher professional development workshop on the Oregon State University campus in February. Seventeen teachers from twelve school districts in Oregon attended the workshop. The goal of the workshop was to support SMILE teachers in planning activities for their after-school clubs. Some of the activities, such as those on plant physiology and bird migration, are designed specifically to model long-term data collection projects similar to those taking place at the Andrews Forest LTER. For more information, visit www.fsl.orst.edu/lter/edu/schoolyard/smile.cfm?topnav=125
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
Allie Luftig, a senior at the University of Oregon, Honors College, was a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) student at the Andrews Forest in the summer of 2006. Ms. Luftig worked with Drs. Dave Shaw and Judy Li from Oregon State University. She studied the vertical distribution of arthropods in the forest canopy to examine patterns that would help understand the forest canopy ecosystem. Her work showed that there was no significance in proportion of arthropods at different levels of the canopy, suggesting that no vertical stratification occurred when the data from all sample weeks were examined together. The strongest pattern of arthropod distribution was found among arthropods 2mm or less in size. Significantly more arthropods of this size class were found during the day than the night; however larger arthropods were not significantly different in proportion from the day to the night. Allie has applied to Teach for America and hopes to teach science to high school students in New Orleans next year.
Andrews Forest featured on “The Natural World” radio show
The Andrews Lookout Old-growth Trail was featured on John Cooney’s weekly radio show, The Natural World. The show aired on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s KLCC on November 9, 2006, and is still available for listening online. To hear the program and the sounds of the Andrews Forest, click on the “A Hike Through Old Growth at H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest 11/9/06” link at www.klcc.org/listen/NaturalWorld.html
Long Term Ecological Reflections
The Long-Term Ecological Reflections program continues to grow, as the 12th writer in residence arrives in Spring 2007. In Fall 2006 writers from across the Northwest gathered at Andrews Forest for sharing of ideas and energy in what is planned to be a biennial event.
Here is an excerpt from the poem “The Web,” published in Orion (2007), by recent writer-in-residence Alison Hawthorne Deming (see the Andrews Forest webpage for more of Deming’s writings, www.fsl.orst.edu/lter/research/related/writers.cfm?topnav=167):
Is it possible there is a certain
kind of beauty as large as the trees
that survive the five-hundred-year fire
the fifty-year flood, trees we can’t
comprehend even standing
beside them with outstretched arms
to gauge their span,
a certain kind of beauty
so strong, so deeply concealed
in relationship—black truffle
to red-backed vole to spotted owl
to Douglas fir, bats and gnats,
beetles and moss, flying squirrel
and the high-rise of a snag,
each needing and feeding the other—
a conversation so quiet
the human world can vanish into it.
By Lina DiGregorio, Education Coordinator AND
|
 Printer Friendly  Email Story
|
|
|
