Main Body of the 2001 Schoolyard LTER Proposal  
(submitted January 31,2001)

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Dr. Henry Gholz
Long Term Ecological Research Program
Division of Environmental Biology
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA  22230

31 January 2001

Dear Dr. Gholz:

We request funding supplemental to the Shortgrass Steppe LTER project (DEB-9632852).  As you requested, we are combining all supplement requests into one proposal this year.  We are requesting funding for (1) central LTER equipment and data management ($25,000 maximum), (2) 3 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) students to work with LTER scientists ($15,000 maximum), (3) development of Schoolyard LTER programs ($15,000 maximum), and (4) Research Assistantships for Minority High School Students (RAMHSS [$15,000 per year maximum]).

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3.  Schoolyard LTER:
 

Shortgrass Steppe LTER investigator Dr. John Moore (University of Northern Colorado – UNC) will again, as in years past, take the lead on the Schoolyard LTER program.  Dr. Jrene Rham (UNC), a faculty member in the Department of Educational Psychology at UNC with expertise in assessing the effectiveness of outreach programs on K-12 education, will be involved this year as well.

Program overview:  We established with funding from NSF-DUE (spring 1998) Schoolyard LTER demonstration plots on the campus of UNC that mimics an experiment at the SGS LTER site.  Baseline vegetation and soil samples were taken in the summer of 1998, treatments were imposed in the fall of 1998, and students have sampled the plots for vegetation and soil biota each year.  The samples taken to date have been analyzed by first-generation low-income high school students that are part of the UNC Upward Bound Program (funded by the DOEd) and that are receiving fellowships from the 1998 through 2000 RAMHSS supplements, and undergraduates and graduate students taking courses at UNC (ecology, microbiology, mycology, and botany). We have also submitted lab modules based on these efforts for publication and dissemination to the schools (Moore et al. 2000).

Teacher involvement is critical to the impact of the Schoolyard LTER effort on systemic change in science education.  Supplemental funds have solidified our efforts; brought teachers onboard, and provided tangible products (the plots, web pages and curricula) that can be used as instruments of change.  The Schoolyard LTER effort played a prominent role in an NSF GK-12 proposal that was recently funded.
 
We will continue to involve 5 schools from school districts along the Northern Front Range of Colorado, the K-12 Laboratory School on the campus of UNC, and the Poudre Learning Center that operates through a collaboration of schools within the Greeley area.

The following schools are participants in the program: 

• Plot and database development:  In 2001, we will continue to develop our sites and databases.  To date, science teachers from the schools have met with SGS-LTER graduate students and scientists during a workshop in March 2000 and a follow-up workshop in August 2000 at the SGS LTER site and UNC demonstration plots.  The group discussed potential experiment designs, data collection, database maintenance, and means by which the projects can be integrated into curricula.  Teachers submitted plans to SGS scientists for review and feedback.  We propose a follow-up workshop for 2001 that would include new schools and our current participants. We do not request funding for the site visit for fiscal year 2001 since we have funding from other awards.  At this workshop will decide on the type of experiments to be conducted at each school, guidelines for supplies and equipment, determine the variables to be sampled, and establish a protocol for data collection and dissemination.  Several schools have already made progress on this front.  Trademark High School of Greeley, CO and the UNC Laboratory School decided to use the UNC demonstration plots since the school is within walking distance of the UNC campus.  The remaining schools developed plots patterned after LTER experiments.  Weld Central High School of Keensburg, CO secured an abandoned agricultural field adjacent to the school and is studying old-field succession. 
  

• Web Pages:  Our goal is to have all materials developed from the projects, databases and a profile of the projects objects and participants incorporated into the web pages for the Shortgrass Steppe - LTER, the Center for Precollegiate Studies and Outreach at UNC, and those of the participating schools (if they have one).  The Outreach and Education coordinator for the SGS-LTER has developed a web page (http://sgs.cnr.colostate.edu/EdWeb/EdWebHomePage.htm) and will take the lead on Schoolyard LTER data management.   
  

• Curriculum Reform: LTER scientists and the teachers will work to incorporate Schoolyard LTER into curricula.  We will use the guidelines proposed by NSF and the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1996) to develop curricula and lab modules that are age-appropriate and inquiry-based.   This is an ongoing process.  Given the current discussions nationally, the mediocre performance of US high school students in the Third International Math and Science Survey, and the desire to reform math and science curricula, it is imperative that this program be used as one of several forums to initiate discussions.  To this end, we have published a laboratory module based on work conducted at the plots and elsewhere (Moore et al. 2000).  We proposed to Kendall/Hunt Publishers a curriculum based on the soil ecology that is being conducted at the plots and the connections between this work, research at other LTER sites, and the ease by which the work could be tied to state and national standards. Last year we received word from the publisher that they are interested and to proceed with a full proposal to formalize the agreement.  We will submit the proposal to Kendall/Hunt this year.

Moore, J.C., B.B. Tripp, R. Simpson, and D.C. Coleman (2000).  A springtail in the classroom:  Folsomia candida as a model for inquiry-based laboratories.  American Biology Teacher 62:512-519.

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