PARENT SESSION
Thursday, August 10, 5:00-6:30 pm
Poster Session 25 - Ecological and science education
Exhibit Hall, Ballroom Level, Cook Convention Center
Sustaining the impact of scientist − educator partnerships: Montana ECOS Program.
Brewer, Carol*,1, Alaback, Paul1, Fontaine, T.J.1, Hailer, Kate1, Loehman, Rachel1, Machura, Mike1, Maclean, Johnny1, McBride, Brooke1, Perkins, Alison1, Rosier, Carl1, Steir, Sam1, Threlked, Bruce1, 1 University of Montana, Missoula, MT
ABSTRACT- The Ecologists, Educators and Schools (ECOS) GK-12 Program creates partnerships between K-12 educators and University of Montana graduate and undergraduate fellows to provide authentic research experiences for students in their own schoolyards and nearby open areas. ECOS fellows model what ecologists do by immersing themselves and their student and teacher collaborators in ecological investigations in schoolyard and classroom laboratories. Through ECOS, teams have built outdoor classrooms in schoolyard habitats such as a cottonwood grove, grassland, and dryland forest; some even have new seating and work stations. At one school, fellows developed learning centers to address behavioral ecology, Native American medicinal plants, and the interaction of the physical sciences with ecology. Participating teachers and students learn about local ecology though specially developed curricula that link directly to their schoolyards while fellows learn how to communicate with non-scientist audiences. ECOS has enlisted the assistance of government agency partners to develop insectaries on schoolyard weed patches where students can extend baseline research on biological control agents, and collaborated with local merchants to provide materials for building outdoor learning labs. An extensive Guide to the Ecology of the Northern Rockies (www.bioed.org/ecos) features natural history information on the plants, animals and geologic features of the region, and supplements schoolyard investigations. The ECOS partnership model has proven highly successful, engaging dozens of teachers and hundreds of K-12 students in western Montana in its first two years. One fellow reported that, "I believe that [ECOS] experiences, beyond just changing the ways I can work, have changed the ways I want to work." By getting involved in the education of K-12 students, ECOS fellows and K-12 teachers are fostering learning that provides students a strong sense of place and connection to local environments, and a deeper understanding of ecological processes and relationships in these environments and beyond.−
Key words: education, gk-12 program, partnerships