Integrating Research & Education in Paleontology & Marine Ecology:An Inquiry-based Grade 6-8 Curriculum that Investigates Spatial & Temporal Patterns in Naticid Gastrop

这个奖项是通过促进地球科学教育（AFGE）计划颁发给博士的。西华盛顿大学的托尔·汉森和北卡罗来纳大学威尔明顿分校的帕特里夏·凯利。该奖项提供资金，组织来自美国沿海地区学校的6-8年级学生学习海洋生态系统的生态学和古生态学，并通过参与真实的科学调查来了解科学的运作。学生们将帮助PI收集月亮蜗牛（一种食肉腹足动物）现代捕食习惯的数据。月螺通过在猎物的壳上钻出独特的斜孔，留下了它们进食的诊断痕迹。学生们将收集带有钻孔的贝壳，以帮助科学家们确定首选受害者的特征，如大小、形态和年龄。钻孔还提供了以下信息：1)捕食者的身份和大小（根据钻孔的大小）；2)捕食者的效率（通过分析钻孔在猎物壳上的位置）；3)攻击的成功与否（基于洞是否完全穿透受害者的外壳）。月螺及其猎物留下的化石记录为检验有关捕食者-猎物关系进化的假设创造了一个极好的体系。凯利和汉森目前对酸化系统的研究，利用从墨西哥湾和大西洋沿岸平原沉积物中收集的146,000个软体动物样本的数据库，验证了酸化系统升级的假设。为了完成对化石记录的研究，PI需要来自现代样本的数据。他们提议与美国各地的学生合作收集这些数据。PI已经招募了教师与他们一起工作。他们将在为期两周的研讨会上培训教师，并将根据收集的贝壳制定课程。每节课的数据将被发布在一个共同的网站上。学生们将成为真正科学研究的组成部分。PI将与各种各样的学校合作，包括许多有大量印第安人的学校（见支持信）。

This award was made via the Awards to Facilitate Geoscience Education (AFGE) program to Drs. Thor Hansen, Western Washington University and Patricia Kelley, UNC Wilmington. The award provides funds to organize grade 6-8 students from schools around the coastal U.S. to learn about ecology and paleoecology of marine ecosystems and gain an understanding of the workings of science by participating in an authentic scientific investigation. The students will help the PI's collect data on the modern predation habits of the moon snail, a carnivorous gastropod. Moon snails leave a diagnostic trace of their feeding by drilling distinctive beveled holes in the shells of their prey. The students will collect shells with drill holes in them to help the scientists identify the characteristics of the preferred victims, such as size, morphology and age. Drillholes also provide information on; 1) identity and size of the predator (based on the size of the hole that is drilled); 2) the efficiency of the predator (by analyzing the siting of the borehole on the prey's shell); and 3) the success of the attack (based on whether the hole completely penetrates the victim's shell).Fossil records left by the moon snails and their prey create an excellent system for testing hypotheses concerning the evolution of predator-prey relationships. Current work by Kelley and Hansen on the naticid system tests the hypothesis of escalation using a database of 146,000 mollusc samples collected from Gulf and Atlantic coastal plain sediments. In order to complete the study of fossil records, the PI's need data from modern samples. They propose to work with students from across the U.S. to collect this data. The PI's have recruited teachers to work with them. They will train the teachers in a two-week workshop and will develop a curriculum based on the collection of shells. Data from each class will be posted on a common web site. The students will be an integral part of a real scientific investigation. The PI's will work with a variety of schools, including many schools with substantial Native American populations (see letters of support).