Collaborative Research: BIORETS: Authentic research experiences for teachers at Long-Term Ecological Research sites: climate change and biodiversity across ecosystems

NSF长期生态研究站点教师真实研究体验(ARET@LTER)项目邀请高中教师进行实地和实验室研究，重点关注洪水、干旱和热浪等新出现的环境应激因素对不同生态系统中当地生物多样性的影响。将从拥有大量科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)边缘群体(STEM)学生的学校招聘教师，并分别派驻LTER三个研究地点。在18个月的时间里，两对被选中的教师将与教职员工和研究生一起进行研究，并通过虚拟会议和聊天与其他LTER站点的同事比较他们的经验。这种分组方法将使教师能够相互支持和学习。这三个地点包括地球上不同的关键生境类型，包括北极(北极LTER)、温带山地森林(Andrews LTER)和海洋沿海生态系统(Santa Barbara Coastal LTER)。在国家生态分析与综合中心的巅峰面对面体验将使教师进一步接触到当今网络化和数据密集型科学的实践、过程和社区。教师将根据他们的RET经验让他们的学生参与真实的科学学习活动，并基于他们真实的研究经验开发数据块或类似的数据产品，该产品可以被项目中的任何一个RET使用，以及通过免费可用的数据块网站在K-12和本科生课堂上使用。该项目的目标是培训教师有关全球变化生态学的技术，科学家如何研究和描述气候变化对生物多样性的影响，并探索教师与学生分享这一经验和这些数据的方法。该项目是科学家和教师之间的合作，科学和教育都在思想和实践的交流中丰富了内容。该项目有可能对教师实践、学生参与和学习产生广泛的影响和影响，并覆盖美国各地的多个社区，这些社区服务于传统上在STEM中代表性较低的学生。该项目更广泛的影响分为五类：教师实践的变化；STEM历史上被排除在外的学生的参与和成就；科学家对课堂环境的更好理解；教师和科学家之间长期合作伙伴关系的发展；以及地方、地区和国家层面数据产品的开发和传播。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Authentic Research Experience for Teachers at NSF’s Long Term Ecological Research sites (ARET@LTER) project engages high-school teachers in conducting field and laboratory research focused on the impact of emerging environmental stressors such as floods, droughts, and heat waves, on local biodiversity across diverse ecosystems. Pairs of teachers will be recruited from schools with large populations of students from marginalized groups in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and stationed at each of three LTER research locations. Over an 18-month period, pairs of selected teachers will work with faculty and graduate students to conduct research and compare their experiences with colleagues stationed at other LTER sites through virtual meetings and chats. This cohort approach will allow teachers to support and learn from one another. The three included LTER sites span diverse critical habitat types on Earth including the Arctic (Arctic LTER), temperate montane forests (Andrews LTER), and marine coastal ecosystems (Santa Barbara Coastal LTER). A capstone in-person experience at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis will further expose teachers to the practice, process, and community of today's networked and data-intensive science. Teachers will engage their students in authentic science learning activities based on their RET experience and develop a Data Nugget or similar data product based on their authentic research experience which can be used by any of the RETs in the project as well as across K-12 and undergraduate classrooms through the freely available Data Nuggets website. The goals of the project are to train teachers in the techniques involved in global change ecology, how scientists study and describe the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, and to explore ways for teachers to share this experience and these data with their students. The project is a collaboration between scientists and teachers, with both science and education enriched in the exchange of ideas and practice. The project has the potential for broad reach and impact on teacher practice and student engagement and learning and reaches multiple communities across the U.S. that serve students traditionally underrepresented in STEM. The project’s broader impacts fall into five categories: change in teacher practice; engagement and achievement of students historically excluded in STEM; improved understanding of classroom context for scientists; development of long-term partnerships between teachers and scientists; and development and dissemination of data products at local, regional, and national levels.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.