OS21D-01 INVITED 08:00h
Why and How Does a Faculty Member Do Education and Outreach?
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and other geoscience funding agencies have recently mandated faculty participation in K-14 education and outreach (E and O) efforts as part of funded research projects. Many university researchers may at worst view these requirements as a distraction from research or at best may be unsure about how to approach them. Once you have decided that you want to participate, and you may have little choice if you want funding, there are numerous steps you can take to make the most of your time and effort. First, talk to your local education and outreach professional, in the nearest COSEE center or elsewhere, and if you do not have one find one. Second, be prepared to devote about 10 percent of your budget to these education and outreach activities, especially for larger grant programs like NSF Biocomplexity, Microbial Observatories, or similar competitions. If you meet with your E and O colleague early enough in the proposal process, they may help to design a large part of your E and O program themselves. Also give them significant prominence in the proposal; if they do not qualify to be a PI, certainly they can be listed in another professional role. The E and O component of a borderline proposal can give it the competitive edge for funding, so take this part of the proposal seriously. Finally when you get funded, be prepared to devote some time to the E and O effort, though continuing interaction with your education and outreach professional should help to limit this. This is especially true if your E and O colleague can coordinate or otherwise be directly involved in some of these activities, and not just serve as a middleman between you and the K-14 teachers. Ultimately, however, you must participate for your own satisfaction in helping the next generation of scientists and scientifically literate citizens. While your E and O efforts may help you to get funding, do not expect many accolades from your university.
OS21D-02 08:15h
It's not that {\it Education and Outreach} is an afterthought, it's just the last thing I do before I submit my proposal
We've all seen the extensive reports about slipping public science literacy and the overwhelming need to improve the bridge between the science and education communities. By comparison, this is a report from the trenches. They'll be no federal acronyms (other than to recognize NSF for support), just some tried and proven tips, extracted from the Ocean Institute's Center for Cooperation in Research and Education, that Earth scientists can employ to more effectively meet broader impact objectives. We'll share some key lessons that have emerged from an NSF-funded informal science education project {\it Sea Floor Science}. {\bf Choose Good Partners.} Finding capable and competent partners that share some benefit from your recent findings (these include some you'd expect like K-12 school districts, informal science organizations and a few you wouldn't, like art museums, libraries and Boy Scouts) is a great way to leverage your work, save you time and money. We'll share some successful examples. {\bf Be Prepared to Simplify your Work for Lay Audiences.} We've learned how much scientists loathe this necessary part of the process. Our exhibition on {\it Slopes, Slides and Tsunamis} became FIRST about investigations in instability and THEN scaffolded into increasing competency in content, skills, science processes and attitudes toward science. We'll show you how to be smart without being condescending, how to simplify without compromising integrity. {\bf In the End it's about Efficiency.} There are emerging translation models that will help you convert your work into something that can help K-12 students meet new rigorous science standards. We'll share our `efficiency' model with you. {\bf Involve Your Graduate Students.} We'll argue that communication is a necessary part of their training and an efficient way to translate your science. (Besides, it's either them or you). {\bf Don't Undersell the Budget.} Good outreach is scalable. Pick your comfort range and recognize that money invested in broader impact does not necessarily take away from your research money. {\bf Take Some Risk and Have Some Fun.} Developing high quality broader impact solutions is an emerging new field and you have the chance to be a pioneer. We'll show you the part of the process that scientists really liked, in some cases, too much!
http://www.ocean-institute.org
OS21D-03 08:30h
A Tale of Two scientists and their Involvement in Education & Outreach
Many scientists, when faced with developing an education and outreach plan for their research proposals, are unclear on what kinds of impacts they can have on broader non scientist audiences. Many scientists feel their only options are to develop a website or invite a teacher to get involved in their sampling or research cruises. Scientists, who are constrained by time and resources, are not aware of the range of education and outreach options available to them and of the great value their involvement can bring to the public. In an recent survey at the National Science Foundation sponsored ORION conference (January 2004), respondents stated that the greatest public benefits to having scientists involved in public education are (1) that they can present the benefits and relevance of research (26%), (2) focus awareness on environmental issues (26%), (3) serve as models for teachers and motivators for children (25%) and (4) increase public understanding, awareness and appreciation of science (about 22%). As a member of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (MACOSEE), the Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences (IMCS) at Rutgers University is dedicated to helping scientists and educators realize the benefits of working together to advance ocean discovery and make known the vital role of the ocean in our lives. A website called "Scientist Connection" (www.macosee.net) was developed to help busy scientists choose a role in education and outreach that will make the most of their talent and time. The goal of the web site is to help scientists produce a worthwhile education project that complements and enriches their research. In this session, the author will present two case studies that demonstrate very different but effective approaches to scientist's involvement in education and outreach projects. In the first case, we will chronicle how a team of biologists and oceanographers in the Rutgers University, Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory (or COOLroom) developed the education and outreach capacity to serve thousands of boaters, fisherman, and tourists daily with their real-time data products from experimental coastal observing systems. We also will touch on how scientists and educators at IMCS leveraged additional grants to support the translation of data and information from the coastal observatories into an instructional product called COOL Classroom, usable by educators and the public. This case study will show how MACOSEE is striving to use observing systems to provide the scientific backbone for an integrated program of science and education that improves user access to, and understanding of, modern ocean science and how it affects our daily lives. In the second case, we will show how Rutgers scientists are working with print media to support education and outreach. We will tell the story of how a small newspaper pilot project grew into a university wide mechanism for scientists to reach a half a million newspaper readers for minimal cost and time investment to the scientist.
http://www.macosee.net
OS21D-04 08:45h
Scientists Involved in K-12 Education
The publication of countless reports documenting the dismal state of science education in the 1980s, and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) report (1996) called for a wider involvement of the scientific community in K-12 education and outreach. Improving science education will not happen without the collaboration of educators and scientists working in a coordinated manner and it requires a long-term, continuous effort. To contribute effectively to K-12 education all scientists should refer to the National Science Education Standards, a set of policies that guide the development of curriculum and assessment. Ocean scientists can also specifically refer to the COSEE recommendations (www.cosee.org) that led to the creation of seven regional Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence. Scientists can get involved in K-12 education in a multitude of ways. They should select projects that will accommodate time away from their research and teaching obligations, their talent, and their interest but also contribute to the education reform. A few examples of effective involvement are: 1) collaborating with colleagues in a school of education that can lead to better education of all students and future teachers, 2) acting as a resource for a national program or a local science fair, 3) serving on the advisory board of a program that develops educational material, 4) speaking out at professional meetings about the value of scientists' involvement in education, 5) speaking enthusiastically about the teaching profession. Improving science education in addition to research can seem a large, overwhelming task for scientists. As a result, focusing on projects that will fit the scientist's needs as well as benefit the science reform is of prime importance. It takes an enormous amount of work and financial and personnel resources to start a new program with measurable impact on students. So, finding the right opportunity is a priority, and stepping-in pre-existing programs to contribute right away without having to re-invent the wheel is a good approach. Education and outreach sessions are expanding at professional, scientific meetings such as AGU, and provide an excellent start for those in search of new educational experiences. Contacting a regional COSEE is also a very effective way to get involved.
http://www.cosee.net
OS21D-05 09:00h
What Researchers Should Know and be Able to do When Contemplating Involvement in Education and Outreach
At some point in their careers, many researchers are motivated to share what they have learned with a wider audience. As their studies mature, and national awareness for more effective integration of research and education intensifies, researchers are increasingly directing efforts toward informal and pre-college educational sectors. Each initiative comes with good intentions, but many fall short of intended benefit. Quality education and outreach programs develop from the same precepts that shape research programs of high professional standing. A researcher is most likely to make useful contributions when they are willing and able to implement familiar research principles to broader educational endeavors. As with research endeavors, principles of significance, literacy, design, feasibility, analysis and dissemination need to be regarded as essential indicators of education program quality. It is helpful to provide researchers who are contemplating more active educational involvement with more than casual understanding of the purposes underlying their pending contributions. Such understanding is premised on the tenet that education and research are always in the public service and therefore inextricably bound at all levels. Both research and education have, as their ultimate goal, enhanced scientific literacy of the citizenry. By example, it can be shown that the best-supported programs, within government and academia, recognize that the way they translate knowledge and make it available to scientific organizations and the public is critical to their intrinsic societal value and level of support. As education conjures up a host of operational meanings arising from one's own values and experiences, the knowledge researchers bring to pre-college and informal educational settings is often based on personal experience rather than on education research, practice and policy. Researchers may believe that because they spent 13 years in school, an additional 4 years at a university, and many more years in graduate studies, that they know about teaching and how educational establishments operate. But the world of elementary and secondary schools, museums, parks and educational broadcasting is different from the worlds of national laboratories, universities and other research institutions. Researchers contemplating educational involvement frequently consider what they have to offer without a clear sense of what is truly needed. A needs assessment, based on state and national standards, frameworks, learning modalities and other related programmatic elements, is a pre-requisite for project design and project usefulness. The tendency for researchers to present data sets and background information with "potential" for instructional use, but not yet ready for instructional use, is understandable but ineffective. Teachers, similar to medical doctors, need to be viewed as practitioners not developers. As with much of today's research, developing useful instructional material requires an enterprise approach. At the outset, an honest assessment of what is required in the way of time, resources and ability is required in order to establish program feasibility and to avoid common educational pitfalls and ineffectiveness. Examples illustrating how others present their research in an educationally structured manner provide helpful guidance as well as sense of wider professional pertinence. Opportunities should be constantly explored to link singular activities to the broader efforts of professional organizations. Establishing academic, organizational or agency partnerships drives more focused attention to important national needs while providing greater project dissemination, visibility and impact.
OS21D-06 09:15h
Fundamentals of Education and Outreach for Busy Scientists.
The focus of this talk will be to offer scientists some ideas and information that you can readily use, or adapt & use, and also give you a realistic picture of what's involved in designing and implementing effective educational programs. The discussion will elaborate on essential elements of E and O other than money, e.g. choosing an audience, enlisting complementary educational & scientific expertise, settling on ways to effectively deliver concepts & content, and striving for enduring value in the resources you create. A number of examples will be provided ranging from the ineffective to very effective.
http://www.mbari.org/education
OS21D-07 09:30h
Eliminating the OUCH in OUtreaCH
``I'm a scientist who knows how to conduct research, not an expert in teaching pre-college students!'' is a common complaint within the scientific community in response to recent funding agency mandates that research proposals explicitly address education, public outreach or other broader impacts. Yet, these new requirements address several important goals - fostering public support for research funding in the Earth and Space sciences, recruiting the next generation of talented geoscientists in the face of declining student enrollments, and educating the citizenry for informed decision making and advocacy, chief among them. Further, the phrase ``broader impacts'' is not meant to be synonymous with outreach to pre-college students and teachers - agency program managers actually encourage many different types of activity for meeting these obligations. AGU and its Committee on Education and Human Resources (CEHR) are committed to offering an array of programs that facilitate our members' ability to meet these new education, outreach, and broader impacts criteria in support of the research enterprise. CEHR has an on-going need for scientists willing to speak about their research in Geophysical Information for Teacher (GIFT) Workshops, sponsored lectures at annual and regional conventions of the National Science Teachers Association, special symposia for minority high school students attending annual AGU meetings, and career planning workshops for students and early career investigators. More extensive involvement as meeting mentors for minority undergraduate and graduate students is available through AGU's partnership with the new MSPHDS initiative (A. Pyrtle, P.I.). A new AGU outreach web site now under development will make available scientist biographies and abstracts derived from recent scientific articles originally published in AGU journals, which have been rewritten for a public audience. This resource is expected to serve as an important vehicle for AGU members looking to broadly disseminate their research results to the general public, students and teachers, but its success will require significant volunteer contributions in building and maintaining the quality of the collection. As volunteers for CEHR's activities and programs, AGU members can fulfill their broader impacts obligations without the sting of straying too far from their main mission of conducting scientific research. This is a win-win situation for all.
http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/educ.html
OS21D-08 INVITED 09:45h
The New Oceanographic Research Institution: Scripps in the ``Broader Impact'' Era
Things are changing at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Long renowned for excellence in Earth, ocean, atmospheric and interdisciplinary research as well as graduate student training, the Institution is now being called upon to address a new set of challenges. Opportunities to address diverse societal needs abound, and we at Scripps are prepared to respond. As the problems facing the globe in reconciling human and economic development with the limitations of the Earth system become more and more pressing, the potential impact of Scripps research on society grows. The full value of our work cannot be realized unless we share it with established and future economists, international relations specialists, public policy experts, and business leaders. To help our scientists realize this goal while maintaining their research excellence, Scripps has committed to: 1) expanding its faculty's role in undergraduate teaching; 2) establishment of the Center for Educational Outreach Connections that will enable Scripps scientists to participate in educational outreach efforts locally, regionally, nationally and internationally; 3) pursuing joint education programs with other elements of the UCSD community; and 4) launching a new interdisciplinary Center for Earth Observations and Applications in which scholars from throughout the university will develop new collaborations, new technologies, and new knowledge in many fields affecting the environment. Our ambition is to generate a continuous awareness of how Earth is behaving - an awareness that could be an integral part of all kinds of decisions about the environment. Scripps is not alone in recognizing and responding to societal needs. Funding agencies are increasingly requiring scientists to articulate how their research has impact beyond the academic community. With the establishment of the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence, NSF has led the way in assembling and leveraging the intellectual and organizational resources to link scientists and educators for the benefit of both groups, as well as society. Scripps is proud to be a part of this growing national network. By stimulating students' interest in the Earth sciences, COSEE-facilitated educational outreach will increase the pool of bright students who pursue advanced degrees and careers in the Earth sciences. NSF funding has also enabled Scripps to launch a new interdisciplinary graduate program in marine biodiversity and conservation involving economics and international relations faculty as well as experts from the San Diego Supercomputer Center. And, recognizing the need for training people with both science and management skills, a collaborative program in ocean science and management is being developed by Scripps and the UCSD Rady School of Management.
http://sio.ucsd.edu/