REU Site at the Blandy Experimental Farm--University of Virginia

布兰迪实验农场是弗吉尼亚大学的一个生物实地研究站，它举办了一个为期10周的项目，本科生们在这里学习：1)环境生物学的基本原理；2)科学家们用来增加我们对自然世界的理解的方法；3)科学研究的基本要素以及如何将这些要素放在一个旨在教育公众关于研究和生态学的背景下。目标是教会学生，无论他们的专业研究领域是什么，如何“做”科学，让他们有机会在教师的专业领域进行原创的、很大程度上独立的实地研究，并将结果打包成一种可以用来教育公众关于科学探究的形式。该项目是跨学科的，以研究个人、群体、社区、生态系统过程为特色，由五名科学家和两名教育工作者组成的多元化团队建立。学生的个人研究侧重于基础科学和/或应用重要性的主题（动物行为、种群动态/相互作用、景观生态学和生物地球化学循环），特别是那些具有高启发式或社会价值的主题。为了与布兰迪实验农场的使命保持一致，该计划正式将科学研究与环境教育相结合。学生将经历三个阶段：第1- 1阶段——为期一周的正式讲座和“动手”练习，详细介绍科学方法、假设检验、实验设计、统计和基本教学法的介绍；第二阶段-8周的数据收集、数据分析、定向研究和实验；第三阶段——1周的数据分析、解释和结果交流。该项目包括来自不同文化背景、兴趣和家庭机构的学生。学生们居住在一个野外研究站，是一个更大的研究社区的一部分，这个社区有15-25名其他学生在上课，研究生在写论文，博士后研究人员和其他教师。实地考察、每周研讨会和期刊俱乐部增加了学生的经验。每年都会对项目进行离职和后续面谈。

The Blandy Experimental Farm, a biological field stations of the University of Virginia, hosts a 10-week program where undergraduates learn: 1) basic principles of environmental biology, 2) methods by which scientists increase our understanding of the natural world, and 3) essential elements of scientific research and how to put these in a context that is intended to educate the general public about research and ecology. The goal is to teach students, no matter what their major field of study, how to "do" science, give them an opportunity to conduct original, and largely independent field research in areas of faculty expertise, and to package the results in a form that can be used to educate the public about scientific inquiry. The Program is interdisciplinary, features research on individuals, populations , communities, ecosystem processes, and is built around a diverse team of five scientists and two educators. Individual student research focuses on topics of basic scientific and/or applied importance (animal behavior, population dynamics/interactions, landscape ecology, and biogeochemical cycles) and especially those topics that have high heuristic or societal value. In keeping with the mission of the Blandy Experimental Farm, the program formally combines scientific research with environmental education.Students progress through three phases: Phase I-1- week of formal lectures and "hands-on" exercises detailing the scientific method, hypothesis testing, experimental design, statistics and an introduction to basic pedagogies; Phase II-8 weeks of data collection, data analyses, directed study, and experimentation; and Phase III--1 week of data analysis, interpretation, and communication of results. The program includes students from a diversity of cultural backgrounds, interests, and home institutions. Students reside in a field-station setting and are part of a larger research community of 15-25 other students taking courses, graduate students working on theses, post-doctoral researchers, and other faculty. Field trips, weekly seminars, and journal clubs add to the student experience. Exit and follow-up interviews are used to assess the program each year.