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

美国国家科学基金会长期生态研究站点教师的真实研究体验（ARET@LTER）项目让高中教师进行实地和实验室研究，重点研究新兴环境压力因素（如洪水、干旱和热浪）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）边缘化群体学生的学校招募成对的教师，并驻扎在LTER的三个研究地点。在18个月的时间里，选定的教师将与教师和研究生一起进行研究，并通过虚拟会议和聊天将他们的经验与驻扎在其他LTER站点的同事进行比较。这种队列方法将允许教师相互支持和学习。这三个LTER站点涵盖了地球上不同的关键栖息地类型，包括北极（北极LTER）、温带山地森林（安德鲁斯LTER）和海洋沿海生态系统（圣巴巴拉沿海LTER）。在国家生态分析与综合中心的顶点亲身体验将进一步使教师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经验让学生参与真实的科学学习活动，并根据他们的真实研究经验开发一个Data Nugget或类似的数据产品，该产品可用于项目中的任何RET，也可通过免费的Data Nuggets网站在K-12和本科教室中使用。该项目的目标是培训教师掌握全球变化生态学的相关技术，了解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些经验和数据的方法。该项目是科学家和教师之间的合作，在思想和实践的交流中丰富了科学和教育。该项目有可能对教师实践、学生参与和学习产生广泛影响，并覆盖美国多个社区，为传统上在STEM领域代表性不足的学生提供服务。该项目更广泛的影响可分为五类：教师实践的改变；历史上被排除在STEM之外的学生的参与和成就；提高科学家对课堂环境的理解；发展教师和科学家之间的长期伙伴关系；以及在地方、区域和国家各级开发和传播数据产品。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.