PARENT SESSION
Symposium #9: Uncertainty and information in ecological forecasting.

Organized by: JS Clark and C Brewer
Tuesday, August 6. 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Crystal Ballroom, TCC.

Training ecologists to think with uncertainty in mind.

Brewer, Carol^*,1, ¹ University of Montana, Missoula, MT

ABSTRACT- Anticipating the causes and consequences of global change requires development of new ways to understand the role uncertainly plays in ecological and physical processes. How do we integrate and synthesize new conceptual knowledge and, at the same time, create opportunities in our undergraduate and graduate courses for students to develop reasoning skills that are necessary to make substantive contributions in field of ecology forecasting? Our challenge is to craft curricula AND pedagogical strategies in which thinking skills and conceptual understanding are inextricable linked. What, then, will we accept as reasonable expectations for learning and application at the module, course, and curriculum levels in this rapidly developing area in ecology? How will we measure student achievement? And how will we know new educational methods and approaches work? Using the perspectives presented during this symposium on Uncertainty and Information in Ecological Forecasting we will 1) distill the essential grounding concepts, processes, skills, and attitudes that are needed by current and future students to incorporate uncertainty in ecological estimation and modeling studies, and 2) suggest appropriate pedagogical strategies and 3) propose criteria to judge the impact of programs designed to train ecologists to think with uncertainty in mind.

KEY WORDS: forecasting, curricula, assessment, education