National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
PUBLIC OUTREACH PROJECT

SUMMARY

The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), in partnership with the Los Marineros marine education program for fifth grade students in the Santa Barbara School District, will establish "Kids Do Ecology!," a model for structuring and implementing environmental research with children. Focusing on methods for defining problems and for collecting, recording, and analyzing data, this unique education project will help in fostering a greater understanding of our marine environment.

STAFF AND COORDINATION

A graduate student, Brice Semmens, will be hired as the outreach coordinator and will begin work immediately on the project. The position will require approximately 20 hours per week (50% time) until May of 1998. All project activities will be coordinated through the Los Marineros marine education program, which is administered by the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

SCOPE AND STRUCTURE

At the outset of the project, the outreach coordinator will meet with Los Marineros staff and a small committee of Los Marineros teachers to discuss potential student activities and projects. Student abilities and limits will be determined and project ideas will be outlined. The project will align closely with national and state science education standards. At the beginning of the 1997 school year, a more structured presentation to all of the Los Marineros teachers will foster their support and involvement. Kids Do Ecology! activities will be shaped by the progress of this project and will evolve as it progresses.

DATA COLLECTION

To enhance the learning experience for the students, data collection and analysis activities will focus on results that show clear relationships between variables. The results of data analysis will relate to concepts taught in the classroom and to national and state science standards. Brice will work closely with the Los Marineros staff to refine and improve current data collection practices to ensure students are generating useful and significant data sets.

STUDENT INTERACTION

The outreach will involve presentations in Los Marineros classrooms and participation in data collection trips to local marine sites. The classroom presentations may involve topics such as sources of error in data collection and management, the uses of modeling in ecological assessment, or techniques of data presentation. The intent of these classroom lessons will be to give students an understanding of data collection and analysis. In the fall of 1997, a Student Ecology Advisory Committee, comprised of a student representative from each of the 30 Los Marineros classes, will meet with Los Marineros and project staff to discuss and give valuable input about the project.

WEB SITES AND DATA MANAGEMENT

Web pages will be created for the purposes of processing and presenting data in an educational manner suitable for classroom use. The web pages will also evolve throughout the project. Possibilities include, but are not limited to: data entry over the Net, data analysis and presentation, interactive lessons, identification quizzes, and "virtual" tours. Two undergraduate students will be hired over the next year to help with the construction of the pages, and to create a system for data management. These pages will be linked with the NCEAS, Museum, and Sanctuary homepages, and will be available to students of all ages under the banner name "Kids Do Ecology!"

EVALUATION

Upon the completion of "Kids Do Ecology!", teachers and Los Marineros staff will provide comment and feedback for NCEAS. A final report assessing and summarizing the project will be prepared by the outreach coordinator and submitted to the director of NCEAS for review. As a result of the project, the outreach activities of NCEAS will be significantly defined and developed to insure long-term continuation.