Credit: K.Stepnitz, Michigan State University

LTER recognizes the value of sustained interactions between students, teachers, and scientists, and strives to integrate LTER science with K-12 education. Most LTER sites conduct individual programs at the local level, and the network supports centralized approaches to educational initiatives.

Education/Outreach goals include:

  • Utilizing LTER resources to enhance hands-on science learning for students
  • Developing long-term research sites on or near school yards
  • Facilitating communication between LTER scientists, formal and informal science educators, and school teachers
  • Helping ecology education make best use of long-term studies
  • Fostering understanding of the Earth’s ecosystems, including local ones
  • Promoting outdoor, inquiry-based learning
  • Stimulating interdisciplinary, collaborative science learning
  • Integrating long-term and multi-factorial studies into education reform
  • Promoting broad understanding of long-term ecological processes and the earth’s ecosystem

Committee membership is identified by sites (at least 1 per site). Meetings are scheduled monthly and attendance is voluntary and dependent on individual members’ schedules and availability.

2024 Accomplishments (May 2023-May 2024)

This committee continues to be active with high engagement. Many sites have been very active in education, outreach and broader impacts in both P-20 and community outreach in the areas from data literacy to teacher professional development. A Sampling of Site Updates:

  • JRN completed their 11th Desert Data Jam! With 54 projects in the final competition, the open house and award ceremony was in person for the first time since 2019.
  • NES completed their 5th Data Jam. From 30 full Data Jam projects (116 students) and 6 Mini Jam projects (23 students), 3 high schools, 2 middle schools.
  • HFR has many cool things going on (including giving out teacher awards for 15 years of field data contributions in a workshop.
  • SEV/LUQ had their 9th Luquillo-Sevilleta Virtual Webinar (Spanish Symposium) with middle and high school students presenting to each other on the long-term data collections in the forests of El Yunque and the Middle Rio Grande Bosque + Data Jam Symposium (50 projects and 175 students @ El Portal in the El Yunque rainforest)
  • BEMP/SEV had their BEMP Crawford Symposium where K-12 and university students presented their work in BEMP and SEV alongside community speakers.
  • Site-wide RET Share June 21
  • Coastal Ecosystems BIORETS site at FCE offered PDs and welcomed other LTER RETs to join by Zoom.
  • DataNuggets workshops with KBS
  • Luquillo Data Jam Workshop(25 teachers)
  • Climate Data Artworks created by 8th graders with NWT personnel featured in a juried Climate Change Art Exhibit at National Center for Atmospheric Research.
  • Discussion of Resources for disseminating and publishing our science education products.
  • 3 RETs and 3 REUs are finishing up at VCR next week; we are preparing for our turn as a case study on the AISL stakeholder engagement grant (the one Sarah Garlick helped bring to fruition).
  • CDR/MSP conducted two teacher professional development workshops in July and August connected to science practices of modeling and data analysis.
  • HF received funding for an in person data jam in the spring. They’ll be supporting four classrooms throughout the year (range of elementary-high school).

Conferences. A number of sites EOCs presented at conferences in 2023-2024:

  • Steven McGee (LUQ)- National Science Teachers Association
  • Kara Haas (KBS) SEEDS is attending and presenting about teachers’ creative insubordination to overcome barriers to teaching outdoors in urban schools
  • Amanda Morrison + 5 RETs from ARC, AND, FCE and KBS sites submitted abstracts(ARC)-American Geophysical Union
  • Luquillo is presenting their NARST paper at National Science Teachers Association
  • Alex (NWT/MCM) also presented on Data Art initiatives at the NSTA

Leveraging expertise and opportunity: The EOC continues to expand successful Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) programs. Collaboration around RETs-Cross-site collaboration continued between Andrews Forest (AND), Arctic (ARC) and Santa Barbara Coastal (SBC) successful submission of NSF Award # 2147138 Research Experiences for Teachers Sites in Biological Sciences (BIORETS) proposal: Authentic Research Experience for Teachers at LTERs (ARET@LTER). After the successful completion of year 1 research experiences with Cohort #1 for the project, lessons were developed based on the RET and piloted in the participants’ classrooms. Cohort #2 teachers were selected and coordination has begun for Summer 2024 field work. In addition, Cohort #1 teachers will be attending “Datapalooza!” in Santa Barbara in collaboration with the LNO. KBS will be leading Data Nuggets workshops to develop ARETs data into “nuggets.” J

RN, BLE/NGA, VCR, NWT, HFR piloted a new initiative to leverage Schoolyard Books and promote ecological observation and literacy.

The “Eco PenPals” project invited 5th grade classrooms near their 5 LTER sites to make observations about their schoolyard habitats and write postcards to each other. We plan to expand the project next academic year to include more students and other LTERs.

Active Subcommittees or Working Groups

After the committee decided, last year, to revise our working groups to make them more useful as a source of information and expertise within the EOC, meetings have regularly included “Theme Teams” presentations, which are comprised of representatives from multiple sites with expertise in a given area. Theme Teams:

  • Art and Data Visualization
  • Teacher PD/SciCom Training
  • REUCommunity Development
  • Literature/Schoolyard Books
  • Marketing/Social Media
  • Collaboration w/Offsite Groups

2023 Accomplishments (Dec. 2021-May 2023)

This committee continues to be active with high engagement.This past year we have been excited to continue towards a“new normal.”With the return of in person ASM at Asilomar, the committee enjoyed the value of getting together, networking, and forging new relationships. In addition to the EOCs connecting at ASM, a number of sites were able to bring a total of 12 RET candidates to the conference, as well. Kara Haas (KBS) and her RETs wrote a blog post: https://lter.kbs.msu.edu/2022/10/building-relationships-by-the-ocean/. The committee also elected a new co-chair, Alexandra Rose (NWT-MCM), who took over for the exiting Kara Haas (KBS).

The committee decided to revise our working groups to make them more useful as a source of information and expertise within the EOC. “Theme Teams” are comprised of representatives from multiple sites with expertise in a given area. They are expected to present once a year with examples of their work and to populate a folder on the shared drive with resources relevant for other sites wishing to grow their expertise or work in that area.

  • 2023 Theme Teams:
    • Art and Data Visualization
    • Teacher PD/SciCom Training
    • REU Community Development
    • Literature/Schoolyard Books
    • Marketing/Social Media
    • Collaboration w/Offsite Groups
  • Research Experiences for Teachers: bioRET proposal submission (see 7c).
  • Data Literacy:
    • Dataspire workshops for ARETs Teachers
    • LTERdatasets R package with Allison Horst and Julien Brun
    • Continued collaboration between multiple sites that host Data Jams. Discussions included judging rubrics and procedures and evaluation.
    • Data Nuggets completed first efficacy study, funded by NSF DRK-12. Continuing program evaluation through new NSF IUSE study.
    • Professional Development: Online workshops, e.g. see 7biii

Priorities for the coming year:

  • Increase cross site collaborations
  • Develop shared resources available on-line (G Drive) for mid-term site reviews and renewal proposals, as well as other documents that can serve as helpful examples for sites starting new programming that currently exists at other sites.
  • We will also be supporting theme teams by devoting meeting time to key topics.
  • Dissemination of digital products and virtual workshops to more participants.

2021 Accomplishments (May 2020-Nov. 2021)

This committee continues to be active with high engagement. During Covid this was an important space for reflecting on what was happening across our country and for sharing ideas for supporting our constituents. Through virtual programming we have been able to expand our spheres of influence and audience nationally and globally. As a committee we are reflecting, as we seek a ‘new normal’, on best practices and how to build hybrid (in person and virtual) experiences for our expanded target audiences.

  • Several sites have new EOC Reps which we on-boarded this year, including: Holly Menninger (MSP), Liz Schultheis (KBS) and Monique Franco (CAP). Sharing resources and examples from site reviews is one of the ways we support each other, which is particularly helpful for new members.
  • In response to COVID, EOC members continued to share online resources to support our target audiences. There are many examples across each site, but here is a small sample:
    • Using YouTube to reach audiences: SBC created VitualREEF YouTube Channel
    • Book series, revived and digitized for the Covid era
      • SBC developed and held Virtual Teacher PD workshop built around the science of the site and the children’s book Golden Forest
      • JRN developed a video series and activities related to Jornada book Asombro | One Day in the Desert
    • Using new platforms, such as webinars, to serve existing and new audiences.
      • KBS and HFR co-hosted a Data Nuggets workshop, over 80 people from Michigan and New England attended.
      • NES, LUQ, JRN and BES hosted virtual DataJams with students and teachers.
    • Leveraging expertise and opportunity to expand successful Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) programs. Collaboration around RETs-Cross-site collaboration between Andrews Forest (AND), Arctic (ARC) and Santa Barbara Coastal (SBC) submission of NSF 21-584 Research Experiences for Teachers Sites in Biological Sciences (BIORETS) proposal: Authentic Research Experience for Teachers at LTERs (ARET@LTER)

Active subcommittees or working groups:

  • Research Experiences for Teachers: bioRET proposal submission (see 7c).
  • COVID resources: e.g. see 7b.
  • Data Literacy:
    • i. LTERdatasets R package with Allison Horst and Julien Brun
    • ii. Continued Data Jam evaluation through a shared instrument
  • Professional Development: Online workshops, e.g. see 7biii

2020 Accomplishments (May 2019-May 2020)

EOC hosted speakers, including from UFERN (cross-site undergraduate initiative), who shared resources – such as broad reach teaching platforms or data support interfaces – with site coordinators. The Children’s Book Series committee submitted a cross-site proposal for expanding support, plus development of new books. Subcommittees convened on seasonal schedules to share best practices and explore cross site coordination for research experiences (RET, REU).

Active subcommittees or working groups:

  • Children’s Book Series
  • Research Experiences for…. (RET, REU, etc)
  • Professional Development
  • Data Literacy
  • Citizen Science

2018-2019 Accomplishments:

Major activities or accomplishments for the year: EOC developed multiple ASM workshops focused on education / outreach topics, including data literacy, stakeholder engagement and social science research, children’s book series curriculum, and integration of sciences and humanities. EOC also supported the initiation of a cross-site REU program, including introductory webinars, sponsored ASM attendance, and the first Schwarzschild Memorial Award for Science and Communication.

2019-20 Planned activities:

Planned activities for the coming year: synthesis paper/book chapter about LTER education history, expansion of cross-site activities including webinar and common K-12 data collection on soil decomposition, development of cross-site Children’s Books as a new initiative in the series.

2019 Subcommittees:

  • 40-Year Review
  • Assessment and Metrics
  • Children’s Book Series
  • Citizen Science / Common Data
  • Data Literacy
  • Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
  • Professional Development
  • Research Experiences For…… (RET, REU, higher ed)
  • Synthesis Paper

2018 Subcommittees:

  • Ecological Data Literacy
  • Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
  • Children’s Book Series
  • Assessment
  • Citizen Science
  • Higher Education

2017 Subcommittees:

  • Ecological Data Literacy:  Alan Berkowitz (BES), Kari O’Connell (AND)
  • Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS):  Steven McGee (LUQ)
  • Children’s Book Series:  Adrian Howkins (MCM)
  • Higher Education:  vacant
  • Citizen Science:  Elena Sparrow (BNZ)
  • Professional Development:  Kara Haas (KBS)
  • Guide to the Education and Outreach Committee:  Jill Haukos (KNZ), Marty Downs (NCO)

Graduate Student Representative:  Alix Conway (BNZ)

Description: Committee of education representatives from each LTER site.  

Updated