PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #21: Education.
Wednesday, August 8, 2001. Presentation from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Exhibition Hall
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A Student/Scientist Partnership to study forest ecology in the Adirondacks.
Twery, Mark1, Evans, Celia2, Wade, Gary1, Bureau, Sandra3, 1 2 3
ABSTRACT- In an ongoing collaboration among the US Forest Service, the Adirondack Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC), Paul Smiths College, and local school groups, we are designing a Student/Scientist Partnership (SSP) to examine effects of a range of silvicultural treatments on various aspects of the forest community including density and species composition of amphibians, snails and slugs, and ground beetles. Our education goals are to provide experiential education opportunities and support materials leading to an understanding of forest complexity and the influences of applying management techniques. Additionally students will become familiar with the process of scientific inquiry. Students will visit the VIC for a one-day data collection activity that is the centerpiece in a 3-5 day classroom unit addressing one of the available topics. Data will be collected according to specified protocols from permanent sample locations within adjacent 2-ha forest treatment plots (clearcut, shelterwood, single-tree selection and control) with the help of teachers, VIC staff, and Paul Smiths College faculty and students. Forest scientists will collect additional abiotic and biotic data to supplement student-collected data. This localized SSP model allows for accurate and complete data collection and reduces the problem of variability in site characteristics, but does not allow the examination of regional ecological questions. However, the improvements in data quality control and reduction in site characteristic variability should greatly increase the likelihood that results will be publishable and that students will be able to draw better conclusions regarding the question they are researching.
KEY WORDS: student scientist partnership, forest ecology education, Adirondack Park, forest management