Full-scale Development: FOSSIL--Fostering Opportunities for Synergistic STEM with Informal Learners

佛罗里达大学的这个项目建议在全国各地的业余和专业古生物学家之间建立和发展一个网络和实践社区(COP)。如果这个项目成功，它将把全国各地的40名专业古生物学家和23个业余古生物学俱乐部聚集在一起。这个组织的优势将是促进标本的共享(在网上以数字方式)，相互教育，最重要的是，使每个俱乐部的公共宣传更加有效。虽然每个俱乐部都有标本，但这个网络将提供超过1亿份数字化样本。这个收藏的网络基础将由佛罗里达大学在PI的指导下进行管理。该项目的研究部分将确定专业人员和业余人员之间有效学习所需的基本要素，以及COP如何提高业余学习和推广效率。项目计划包括一个中央组织，以初步形成实践社区，召开大会，出版通讯，并在来年在佛罗里达大学组织一次大型会议。此外，项目团队将就项目如何帮助成员发展以及如何改进组织进行评估。在古生物学领域教育个人通常是一种积极的经历。该项目将促进俱乐部个人成员之间的知识积累，这将增强他们的视角，使他们能够接触到他们所在社区的成员。将在各个层面对该项目进行评估，以确保现有的扶轮社被纳入该项目，同时也欢迎和参与新的扶轮社。

This project from the University of Florida proposes to derive and develop a network and community of practice (CoP) among amateur and professional paleontologists across the country. Should this project be successful, it would put together 40 professional Paleontologist with 23 amateur Paleontology clubs across the country. The advantage of this organization would be to facilitate sharing of specimens (digitally on the web), educating each other, and most important, making the public outreach from each club more effective. While each club has specimens, this network would provide access to over 100 million digitized samples. The web-base for this collection will be managed at the University of Florida under the direction of the PI. The research portion of this project will determine what the essential elements necessary are for effective learning between professionals and amateurs and how the CoP enhances amateur learning and outreach efficacy.The project plan includes a centralized organization to initially form the community of practice, call general meetings, publish newsletters and organized a large meeting at the University of Florida in the coming year. Further, the project team will conduct evaluation on how the project is helping members develop and how the organization can be improved.Educating individuals in the field of paleontology is generally a positive experience. This project will facilitate knowledge building among the individual members of the clubs, which will enhance their perspective and enable them to reach out to members of their communities. The project will be evaluated at every level to ensure that the existing clubs are incorporated into the project and new clubs are welcomed and engaged as well.