Research framework

Education

Background

Faculty Contacts

Background

Addressing global changes that threaten today’s biodiversity requires an engaged and well-informed citizenry that actively understands the science of global change and participates in conserving biodiversity. Our goal is to enhance education and outreach in global change biology by strengthening formal and informal science education programs inside and outside the University. In particular, we want to focus on fostering life changing experiences for our undergraduates, including field courses and internships, as well as strengthening the broader public’s connection with scientists and global change research opportunities. We believe that in the long term, these type of programs will produce significant returns by educating the public about the scientific process, developing scientific skills within an informed citizen base, and ultimately changing behaviors toward science and the environment.

We propose the following specific objectives and associated programs to meet our education and outreach goals.

  1. Improve the undergraduate and graduate student experience at Berkeley by consolidating and enhancing core course offerings in global change biology, providing field study opportunities, and increasing real-world experiences and mentoring opportunities for students through a guided internship program.
  2. Support partnering institutions who are already involved in informal science education by expanding their capacity to address issues related to global change biology.
  3. Support existing K-12 programs.
  4. Increase the level of public involvement in scientific research by developing a citizen science web portal to promote participatory and co-generated research between professional and trained citizen scientists.
  5. Engage journalists and the general media on how biological responses to global change biology have social and environmental consequences.
    Education research has clearly demonstrated that the best science learning occurs through interactive engagement in which the learners experience the research process, ask questions, and influence the outcomes (Falk 2001). We take this to heart in prioritizing education and outreach activities for the Global Change Biology Initiative. Efforts that foster this type of learning in and outside the University include participatory research, student internship programs, field courses that include independent research projects, volunteer monitoring, and citizen science programs.

To this end we identified areas where improvements could be made to the undergraduate curriculum, including the possibility of creating global change biology minor as along with a large, introductory level non-majors course covering topics in global change biology. We also will examine the addition of a new field course focused on California global change that would require students to design, implement, and carry out a field biology study and teach them how to design effective ecological monitoring programs. These courses will rely heavily on visits to UC reserves#. Support would also be provided for undergraduate and graduate students to study global change biology internationally at the UCB Gump Research Station in Moorea, where the forces of change can be readily measured along the reef (NSF Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research site) and tropical upland forest communities. In sum, a solid global change biology curriculum is within reach and by enhancing field and practical opportunities global change biology would make an excellent area of concentration or minor for Berkeley undergraduates.

In order to foster a continuum between the undergraduate education experience and the importance of outreach to the public, a well-supported internship program should be implemented. This would greatly enhance student opportunities for experiential learning (insert figures from the UCSC Env. Studies intern program here). Such a program would also provide important interactions between the public and more advanced undergraduates and graduate students involved in global change research. Internship opportunities would span working with citizen scientists, resource agencies, K-12 science learning, private research entities, and local informal science learning centers. The sponsoring organizations would include non-profit and for-profit organizations and businesses that focus, for example, on science education, environment, energy, water and agriculture.

The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education, funded by NSF, reported that public participation in science contributes to the participants’ awareness, knowledge, and/or understanding of key scientific concepts. The level of engagement achieved using this approach results in excellent science-related skill development including interpreting data and refining new studies. Through participating in science, “even individuals who decide that they do not want to become scientists may become better consumers of science as both their understanding and attitudes change.” (CAISE study 2009). For these reasons, we propose to develop a citizen science portal through an existing UC statewide public education program that would connect scientists interested in soliciting participation by citizen scientists to track global change and other data collection efforts. Communications tools will also foster informal conversations between citizen scientists and senior and graduate student interns which are likely to foster collaborative participatory science and possibly even co-generate scientific investigations of relevance to local interest groups dealing with the environmental impacts of global change. A good example of where this concept of science outreach is working well is the Cornell Ornithology Lab.

Finally, materials and workshops will be designed to better communicate the essential concepts and relevant findings of global change biology to science journalists by collaborating with the Berkeley School of Journalism and the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science.

Faculty Contacts

Group Leaders: Adina Merenlender

Participating Faculty & Staff:

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