The Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) is supported by the NSF Office of Polar Programs as part of the NSF LTER Program. The Palmer LTER is constrained by the logistics required for Antarctic field work and  national policies governing research associated with an internationally governed continent. Education efforts by Palmer LTER initially took the form of  investigators giving individual classroom and meeting presentations. This outreach has grown as investigators respond to requests for interviews by the press or NSF sponsored media, for video taping by broadcasting and multimedia companies, for information by educational groups generating activities, curricula and an online internet presence, and for coordination with programs to put students and/or teachers in the field. A brief history of Palmer LTER education outreach is summarized as the timeline found in the Lists and Figures section of this report.

The LTER Network has focused attention on LTER Education Outreach efforts through  supplemental education grants and a workshop held at the Biosphere in October of 1998 (see Appendices for workshop final report and contacts). The workshop was successful in bringing together LTER site teams of teachers, informal educators and scientists in order to discuss science education outreach, national standards, inquiry-based science, and assessment. Although differing individual site dynamics creates a diversity of outreach approaches, such a forum provides an opportunity to coordinate on larger education issues. Seed funding in the form of two LTER Schoolyard Supplements (1998-1999 and 1999-2000) has provided the resources for each site to consider a site-initiated education outreach plan and to expand upon existing efforts.

The LTER Schoolyard Supplemental funds have been used by the Palmer LTER to re-establish ties with a past 'Teacher Experiencing Antarctica' (TEA) participant (Besse Dawson) and to establish ties with a new TEA participant (Mimi Wallace). NOTE: the procedure linking TEA teachers with researchers does not address researchers requesting specific teacher assignments early in the process.  Following contact with the TEA program office, we were assured that if teachers currently affiliated with Palmer LTER successfully apply for the TEA program, they will be matched with Palmer LTER researchers.

Supplemental funds also supported a working group held in San Diego in March 1999 to set the stage for a larger Palmer LTER Education Forum held in Santa Barbara in collaboration with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in July 1999. The appendices include the forum announcement, agenda and participant list along with a participant survey handed out in order to determine relevant participant technology including computer and weather equipment. Responses revealed a broad range of equipment, underscoring the need to avoid asumptions regarding computing and communication equipment accessible to partners. Lists containing vocabulary, URL summaries, weather collection options and potential products are incomplete but included as a starting point for further discussions.

The main body of these proceedings comprises the sections on Forum goals, discussion topics and two prototypes.  The exchange of information and insights during discussions stimulated the development of two prototypes identified as important for future outreach efforts.  Although the group was focused specifically on polar research, the prototypes as written are independent of ecosystem type in order to be relevant for the broader LTER community. These two prototypes are:

LTER Education Outreach Goals
As the phrase "Long-Term Ecological Research" becomes more commonly used, it is important to recall that the easily said "LTER" actually encompasses three broad concepts. The outreach goals specifically address these three topics: long-term research (LT), ecology (E), and research (R).

Guidelines on Creating a Long-Term Perspective in Classroom Science
The concept of long-term research is not self-evident and thus requires time and experience to establish an appreciation for and understanding of long-term ecological views. The approach for developing an understanding of this type of research is to immerse students in the actual experience of long-term research including collection activities, instrument calibrations, record keeping, data archiving, sampling design, and consideration of variable relationships.

Speakers at the forum frequently alluded to the complexity of relationships involved in determining optimum outreach strategies. Discussion of the conceptual diagram of the Palmer LTER food web suggested the value of constructing a conceptual diagram for learning environments in order to portray visually the interrelatedness underlying effective teaching and educational research.

The description of how the four goals for the Palmer LTER Education Forum have been met is summarized by the content of this proceedings. The forum was instrumental in identifying some existing education programs and partnerships that could serve as instructive models. The workshop generated some suggestions for future Palmer LTER educational outreach directions of interest. In the near term, Will Winn, as Goleta Valley Junior High representative in the Science Partnership for School Innovation (SPSI), plans to share the "long-term" concept with the existing SPSI network of teachers in Goleta/Santa Barbara (CA); Besse Dawson will be exploring the installation and use of the Davis weather station purchased by the Palmer LTER for Pearland High School in Pearland (TX); and Mimi Wallace will be considering how to apply long-term concepts to a recirculating stream currently set up in her classroom, in addition to developing new activities that will bring her upcoming Antarctic field experience in January 2000 directly into the Montwood High School classrooms in El Paso (TX). A return visit to UCSD/SIO this fall has been proposed for Mimi Wallace and the Montwood Synergy Team technology representative to explore technology issues salient for interfacing the Palmer LTER project and the school classroom.

An important milestone is the establishment of the Palmer LTER Education Associates Group. The  initial members, Besse Dawson, Mimi Wallace and Will Winn, helped create this report and will continue to help define the Associates concept. Note that joint development of an "ice chest" as an Palmer LTER kit of materials and artifacts to be exchanged among teachers was discussed as a potential next project. A web site for the Associates could serve as an effective communication platform.

As in the original LTER Education Workshop, the Forum participants identified the paramount importance of the dialogue among teachers, education researchers and scientists.  To facilitate this dialogue and eventually to implement outreach programs, a liaison position, such as outreach coordinator, seems essential.  For this forum Karen Baker and Dawn Rawls fulfilled the coordination function in addition to their functions as LTER information manager (Baker) and informal science educator (Rawls).

The active participation of high school and middle school teachers was the keystone upon which the forum depended. The forum benefited greatly from collaboration with National Center for Ecosystem Analysis and Synthesis and their outreach coordinator Scott Bell, overview talks provided by the Palmer LTER scientists Robin Ross and Sharon Stammerjohn, and the summary presentations made by UCSB Education Department participants Gregory Kelly and Candice Brown. Thanks are also given for the cross-program explorations made possible by discussions, tours and demos by Eric Solomon, Shiela Cushman, Fiona Goodchild, and Bruce Caron.
 
 

Karen Baker and Dawn Rawls
Palmer LTER Education Outreach