With great interest from a wide spectrum of individuals and institutions, LTER has formed a new Education Committee to lead K-12 educational involvement in LTER. The Committee’s efforts are well supported by both the Division of Environmental Biology and Education and Human Resources at NSF, and the committee’s membership reflects this interdisciplinary approach.
The Education Committee will have its first meeting in Fort Collins, concomitant with the spring Coordinating Committee meeting, where planning will take place for a larger meeting and, eventually, a national seminar to get the effort fully underway. Preliminary goals include:
- Developing a program(s) for K-12 teacher enhancement that involves a research experience component at LTER or similar sites (e.g., Biological Field Stations).
- Facilitating development of School LTER programs that can serve as satellite sites for standardized measurements and experiments as well as collaboration with the LTER Network.
- Facilitating the development of scientific tools and techniques for use by K-12 School LTER sites.
- Facilitating the use of internet and web sites to share School LTER data.
- Developing funding efforts for K-12 teacher programs and school participation.
- Developing publication materials (electronic and printed) on these LTER K-12 activities for outreach and promotion.
- Developing a minority-outreach effort.
Chairing the new committee is Diane Ebert-May, who is currently the director of the Science and Mathematics Learning Center at Northern Arizona University and faculty member in the Biology Department. Diane has a long history with LTER and has conducted her alpine plant ecology research at Niwot Ridge. She became deeply involved in science education upon accepting the position at NAU and is the chair-elect of the Education Section of ESA. Diane’s recent biology education research appears in Bioscience (October 1997).