Facilitating K-12 Selection in an Annotated Rich Media Library of Animal Behavior

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This services project is making the online Macaulay Library which hosts the world's largest collection of animal sounds and animal behavior videos more accessible to many segments of the public and is providing tools to K-12 teachers enabling them to readily incorporate these animal resources into the curriculum. The three principal items resulting from the project activities are: 1. geographic mapping tools overlaying the digital Macaulay Library collection; 2. a collection of voucher specimens that are facilitating teachers in choosing appropriate recordings for inclusion in classroom activities; 3. library users being able to link animal recordings with geographic locations. The natural allure of animals is allowing animal behavior to be used as a springboard for teaching all STEM disciplines. This project is focusing on the development and implementation of four mechanisms for facilitating the selection of annotated recording segments that meet specific K-12 needs: 1) providing online tools that allow teachers to restrict searches to recordings from their immediate or other limited geographic locales; 2) pre-selecting authenticated "typical examples" of illustrative behaviors of favored species; 3) establishing a "double-broker" collaboration system in which curriculum developers, (the education brokers), and a Macaulay staff member expert in animal behavior and the content of the collection, (the content broker), work together to bridge the gap between what is needed and what is available; and 4) implementing a resource management architecture on top of the existing Macaulay Library infrastructure. For example, the use of these tools is being demonstrated by collaborative development of teaching modules for K-12 that use animal behavior as the focus for teaching physics.