Proposal for continued support for the LTER Schoolyard Book Series

长期生态研究网络正在开发一系列儿童读物，作为其将科学研究与科学教育相结合的广泛努力的一部分。这些书籍通过反映长期生态研究(LTER)站点进行的研究的叙述，让儿童和他们的家人了解地球的生态系统。该项目将通过完成另外三本书的制作和扩大所有12本书的出版格式，包括电子书和互动EPUB3版本，从而加强和推进LTER‘校园’系列图书。选定的书籍将被翻译成西班牙语。作者和出版商将与LTER通讯办公室密切合作，以提高该系列丛书的知名度，并开发可供全美教育工作者使用的丰富材料资源。每本儿童书的叙事背后的科学主题是LTER研究人员调查的主题；它使用这种方法来吸引来自广泛背景的幼儿。这种方法是基于对儿童如何感知当地环境的理解，并鼓励幼儿培养对他们生活的生态系统的同理心。这种同理心可以引起更大的兴趣，更多地了解他们自己的当地环境，随着学生的成熟，他们会对其他更遥远的环境产生兴趣。这个不起眼的奖项将在三个不同的方面推动LTER校园丛书的发展。首先，目前正在开发的三本图书将完成，使现有的儿童图书数量达到12本。这些书籍将代表一半正在进行的LTER项目，将不同生态系统的知识带给中学生。其次，研究人员将对这些书籍作为教育工具的成功程度进行正式评估，包括它们与新的科学标准的关系。第三，首席调查员将与作者、泰勒贸易出版商和LTER通信办公室合作，为未来的出版物制定业务计划。在综合体中，这三个目标将加强一系列已经被证明既受欢迎又有效的教育书籍。

The Long Term Ecological Research network is developing a children's book series as one component of its broad effort to combine scientific research and science education. The books engage children and their families in learning about the earth's ecosystems through narratives that reflect the research conducted at Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. This project will strengthen and advance the LTER 'schoolyard' book series by completing production of three additional books and by expanding the publication formats of all 12 books to include both eBooks and interactive ePub3 versions. Selected books will be translated into Spanish. Authors and the publisher will work closely with the LTER Communications Office to increase the profile of the book series and to develop a rich resource of materials that can be used by educators throughout the US. The science theme underlying the narrative of each children's book is a topic investigated by LTER researchers; it uses this approach to engage young children from a broad range of backgrounds. This approach is based on an understanding of how children perceive their local environment and encourages young children to develop empathy for the ecosystem in which they live. This empathy can then lead to greater interest in learning more about their own local environments, progressing to interest in other more distant environments as a student matures. This modest award will advance the LTER schoolyard book series in three distinct ways. First, three books currently in development will be completed, bringing to 12 the number of children's books available. The books will represent half of the active LTER projects, bringing knowledge of diverse ecosystems to middle school students. Second, the investigator will develop a formal assessment of the success of the books as educational tools, including their relationship to new science standards. Third, the lead investigator will work with authors, Taylor Trade Publishers, and the LTER Communications Office to develop a business plan for future publications. In the composite these three goals will strengthen an educational book series that has already proved both popular and effective.