Think Globally, Learn Locally (TGLL): Neighborhood Ecology in a Global Perspective

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PROJECT ABSTRACT FOR UTAH GK-12 GRANTThe Think Globally, Learn Locally: Neighborhood Ecology in a Global Perspective (TGLL) program is a collaboration involving graduate students and faculty from the Departments of Biology, Geology & Geophysics, Atmospheric Sciences (formally Meteorology) and the Utah Museum of Natural History, together with teachers and students from elementary schools in the Salt Lake City School District. TGLL will train 9 Graduate Fellows per year to develop and lead Inquiry-Based Activities (IBAs) for fourth, fifth and sixth grade students. These activities will focus on five major environmental issues: (1) habitat alteration, (2) pollution and disturbance, (3) invasive species, (4) climate change, and (5) disease. Students will learn the science behind these issues, their practical implications, and how individual lifestyle choices scale up to affect the relevant processes on a global scale. TGLL Fellows will serve as scientific role models and mentors to young students at a critical stage of their intellectual and emotional development, and will show them how to become citizen scientists with the outlook and preparation needed to engage productively with complex, emerging environmental issues.The TGLL program will make science accessible to a wide audience by targeting schools and neighborhoods with high minority populations and actively recruit TGLL Fellows from underrepresented groups. The IBAs developed in the TGLL program will be integrated with the Science Core Curriculum of the State of Utah for fourth, fifth and sixth grades. By working with TGLL Fellows K-12 teachers will gain confidence in scientific teaching, and become active members of a research and teaching network.