LTER Supplement 0102 - Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research 
REU, Schoolyard and Information Management Development 
	   
Raymond C. Smith, PI and Karen S. Baker, Co-PI

Introduction

This proposal is a supplement to the original LTER Palmer proposal 
(Smith et al., 1996) and, as with past supplements, incorporates 
Antarctic marine science and emphasizes the concept of long term research.  

Schoolyard Education: Sustaining Teacher-Researcher Partnerships

Support for education outreach is requested to develop interaction
with local schools and education partnerships, to sustain existing
teacher interactions and projects as well as to gather multimedia 
materials for outreach efforts such as online presentation, 
conference presentation, and network synthesis.  An overview of 
Palmer LTER education outreach efforts is provided online at
(http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/lter/education) including working groups, 
publications, milestones and teacher-on-board programs. 

TO DRAW UPON TEACHER EXPERTISE, we will continue to work to identify
teachers in schools where Palmer LTER PIs are already involved as 
parents or mentors. Existing teacher-researcher interactions have 
been largely determined by partnering with TEA program selected 
teachers regardless of geographic location.  Local individual 
educators identified in an earlier Palmer LTER education forum 
(Baker et al, 1998) will be contacted as potential Palmer teacher-researcher 
partners while technology and education centers identified will 
be re-contacted to assess potential synergies.

TO PARTNER AND COORDINATE WITH ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS, we will continue 
ongoing collaborations with developing Schoolyard LTER (SLTER) and
the established NSF Teacher Experiencing the Arctic and Antarctica (TEA).
Participation in the All Scientist Meeting Schoolyard Workshops and
with the SLTER Working Committee identified potential site-coordinated 
activities as well as education-information management partnership 
opportunities.  As host for the December00 Schoolyard Meeting at the
Supercomputer Center and as an SLTER working committee member, the 
Palmer LTER Information Manager and Education Liaison Karen Baker, 
created and maintains a working web page for SLTER activities 
(http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/lter/education/slter). 
A Palmer Education Outreach poster was presented at the August 2000 
LTER All Scientist Meeting (Baker et al).  Both data and images will 
be needed to support additional activities and conference presentations 
at education forums such as the Ecological Society of America education 
symposium (August 2001).

The TEA program provides support for teachers to work with scientists
in the field.  This requested LTER supplement will provide the support 
needed to continue communications with teachers who have interned with 
our research group and to develop the full range of field activities 
inspired by teachers who have been in the Antarctic. Some of  the
activities initiated this year which appear promising for sustained 
support include:
-Digital photographs from Swanson field season (Nov-Dec 2000) 
-Video segments featuring ice fish and penguin rookeries 
-Palmer LTER Outreach Trunks to be augmented with pertinent education 
materials such as books, posters, videos, CD's journal publications, 
and artifacts

Karen Baker, Palmer LTER Information Manager and TEA Advisory Board 
member, will continue to interface with the TEA Program. Topics 
of common interest include communications among LTER sites and TEA, 
educational metadata extensions as well as program evaluation 
instruments.  Past TEA participants began a suite of multimedia projects
focused on the Antarctic ecosystem which will require further support 
to develop into ongoing outreach rather than one-time outreach 
activities. Support is requested to coordinate continued interaction 
with past TEA participants mentored by Palmer LTER, specifically 
last-year's participant Bill Swanson.  Continuing activity will 
build on his internship last fall at UCSD and UCSB using the 
extensive digital photographs, videos and artifacts collected during 
past teacher field activities.

MULTIMEDIA EFFORTS
Digital photographic materials involving landscape, seascape,
and artifacts will be collected into a single location.  These
products will be sorted, catalogued and annotated by Swanson
during a return visit to UCSD and/or UCSB and with the help 
of existing staff familiar with multi-media equipment and materials.  
Although the Palmer brochure completed last year provides a glimpse 
of Palmer activities, a Palmer LTER overview slide presentation 
for use by education partners will be developed. 

Digital image materials will be developed in such a way to coordinate 
with existing Network Office image collection activities.  Thus 
the use of Extensis Portfolio Image software and the exchange of materials 
with the LTER Network Office will be explored.  Coordination with the
Schoolyard Activities will involve selected data sets and their 
annotation within a specified thematic context.

The ultimate goal is to establish self-sustaining schoolyard LTERs that
include classroom materials, field measurements, data handling and
inquiry-based analyses incorporating long-term data sets from other schools
and/or other LTER sites. Sustainable schoolyard LTERs require a high level
of understanding, cooperation and organization among LTER PIs, local
administrations and local teachers. We plan to continue use of the very
practical "sustainability through compatibility" strategy by focusing on
partnerships where we can augment existing classroom curricula and
education programs.