An Undergraduate Laboratory Program for Spatial Ecology

空间生态学本科实验室项目

• 批准号: 9751491
• 负责人: Paula Sanchini
• 金额: $ 7.49万
• 依托单位: Coe College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1997
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1997-06-01 至 1999-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9751491&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Undergraduate; Laboratory; Program; Spatial; Ecology

This project provides global positioning system (GPS) field survey stations and a geographical information systems- (GIS) capable computer laboratory that allows the Biology Department to integrate new instrumentation and a contemporary analytical method into the introductory laboratory series. Development of a GPS/GIS-based curriculum in landscape and spatial ecology and incorporating GPS and GIS is a high priority of the Biology Department and the college. Demonstrated student interest in GPS/GIS-based ecological research now exceeds the ability to deliver instruction through the summer research program. Professional interest in GIS and GPS is also very strong locally as well as in the larger context of the ecological community of scholars, where use of GPS and GIS in field ecological study is pervasive. Undergraduate biology departments that expect to provide qualified graduates to job candidate pools and graduate programs must furnish access to these tools. There are significant reasons why this education should occur in a liberal arts context rather than more technical or discipline-based academic settings. The strength of the liberal arts perspective stems from use of a critical and self-critical framework for developing knowledge. A liberal arts approach to science emphasizes the utility of hypothesis testing performed by a skilled but skeptical practitioner and evaluated by an experienced but self-critical theoretician. This liberal arts approach is at the base of the Inclusive Science Research Experience. Students learn to use quantitative information to evaluate the quality of data. The investigative activities that use GPS field stations from this project and GIS analyses performed in the new laboratory can adopt this approach. GPS data contains within it indications of quality that can be used to develop data quality standards for any project. Geostatistical procedures exist that can evaluate the quality of GIS maps and provide confidence intervals for analyses performed across themes. This project's two-step program produces students who know how to assess GPS and GIS data quality and can provide research designs that achieve high-quality results. *

该项目提供全球定位系统(GPS)实地勘测站和一个具有地理信息系统(GIS)能力的计算机实验室，使生物系能够将新的仪器和现代分析方法纳入入门实验室系列。开发基于GPS/地理信息系统的景观和空间生态学课程，并将GPS和地理信息系统结合在一起，是生物系和学院的高度优先事项。学生对基于GPS/GIS的生态研究的兴趣现在已经超过了通过暑期研究项目进行教学的能力。对地理信息系统和全球定位系统的专业兴趣在当地以及在学者的生态社区的更大背景下也非常强烈，在那里，全球定位系统和地理信息系统在野外生态研究中的使用非常普遍。希望为求职者人才库和研究生项目提供合格毕业生的本科生生物学系必须提供使用这些工具的途径。这种教育应该在文科背景下进行，而不是更多地以技术或学科为基础的学术环境，这是有重要原因的。文科观点的力量来自于使用一个批判性和自我批判性的框架来发展知识。文科的科学方法强调假设检验的效用，假设检验由熟练但持怀疑态度的实践者执行，并由经验丰富但自我批判的理论家进行评估。这种文科方法是包容性科学研究体验的基础。学生学习如何使用量化信息来评估数据的质量。使用该项目的全球定位系统外勤站的调查活动和在新实验室进行的地理信息系统分析可以采用这种方法。GPS数据中包含可用于为任何项目制定数据质量标准的质量指标。地统计程序可以评估地理信息系统地图的质量，并为跨主题进行的分析提供可信区间。该项目的两步计划培养出知道如何评估GPS和地理信息系统数据质量的学生，并能够提供获得高质量结果的研究设计。*