Collaboration and Outreach from California to Connecticut

Spreading the Word and Sharing Inspiration with Educators from all over the Country and Back Home in New England

Long Term Ecological Research (L.T.E.R.) Network

 All Scientists Meeting 

Pacific Grove, California                                              September 29-October 4, 2018

Harvard Forest  Director of Education, Clarisse Hart, announced the winners of the  national Undergraduate Poster Contest to over 400 participants in the LTER A.S.M.   She helped organize in honor of former Virginia Coastal LTER Educator, Arthur Schwarzschild.

Teacher, Melanie McCracken, of Groton-Dunstable H.S. presented  how she engages students in working with data from the HF Schoolyard Ecology  "Buds, Leaves and Global Warming" project.  Melanie showed examples of how students struggle to accurately record and represent project data. She discussed strategies she uses to improve data literacy among her students, as part of a conference workshop focused on Data Literacy.

A Teacher from the Luquillo LTER site  also shared her strategies in using LTER Education projects to enhance data literacy among her High School Students in Puerto Rico.   

A mix of Educators, Scientists, Data Managers and Graduate Students participated in this series of  workshops organized by the  LTER Ed. and Outreach Committee.  HF Data Manager, Emery Boose, Project Coach, Fiona Jevon, and Schoolyard Coordinator, Pamela Snow also participated in these workshops.  

And, Yes, we got to play outside too!  Scott Simon of the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER, led the Education group in a hands on exploration of tide pools.




"Our Changing Forests" Project Coach, Fiona Jevon, (center of left photo) shares her Poster about the process of creating a "Data Nugget" lesson plan about Harvard Univ. Scientist, Bill Munger's, Eddy Flux Tower Research. Data Nugget Staff Melissa and Elizabeth are pictured on either side of Fiona.

The link to this Data Nugget can be found at:  DataNuggets.org/2018/08/harvard-forest-climate-change/


Audrey Barker-Plotkin-Senior Ecologist, (right photo) Site Manager and "Our Changing Forests" Project Ecologist shared a poster showing a summary of major research and education efforts at Harvard Forest.

 Groton Dunstable H.S. Teacher, Melanie McCracken shared a poster about her work developing curricula to broaden understanding of land use change from study plot  to town scale, using a combination of Harvard Forest-created Land Use Change Maps for her schoolyard and town as well as online tools such as Google Earth time slider, etc.

This curricular unit and others using these maps can be found on our website at:

 McCracken-YourTownHowWillitGrow- Map Curricula-2018.pdf

 For More on the LTER Network go to :

Back East

 Glen Urquhart School Teacher, Emilie Cushing, presenting at the Mass.  Assoc. of Science  Teachers  Conference in November.

Conference attendees participated in a hands-on activity calculating the approximate amount of carbon being stored in a variety of schoolyard sites  in Massachusetts and Connecticut using a learning activity developed by Emilie through the Schoolyard Ecology program.

GIS maps of Land Cover Change, that were used for this activity, were created by Research Assistant Joshua Plisinski from the Future Landscape Scenarios lab run by Ecologist, Jonathan Thompson.

Massachusetts  Association of Science Teachers Conference
Boxborough, Ma.
November  2018

 Connecticut

Belchertown High School Teacher, Louise Levy shared her land cover change activities at the  Connecticut Science Teachers Association Conference in Southbury, Ct.

This activity also involved calculating the amount of carbon being stored in schoolyards and towns using the GIS Land Cover Change Maps generated at Harvard Forest.

Louise also brought in other complimentary learning activities related to land use and mapping to build understanding around these themes.

Find Out More at:

Your Town; How Will it Grow? Lesson Plan. Mccracken-2018.pdf

Broadening Student Understanding Lesson Plan-Cushing-2018.pptx

Making Sense of Land Use Maps Lesson Plan. Levy-2018

HF Schoolyard/Town Land Use Change Maps

The New England Landscape Futures Project

Connecticut Science Teachers Association Web Page

Mass. Association of Science Teachers Web Page

 Long Term Ecological Network (LTER) Website

Many thanks to our funders, The National Science Foundation LTER Program; The Highstead Foundation, and Private Donors for allowing us to participate in these conferences. 

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STAY TUNED....

Looking at Data, Teacher Workshop coming up at Harvard Forest Jan. 4, 2018