Global Change Education Using Western Science and Native Observations

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

9912019 SPARROW This project will provide Alaska teachers and students opportunities to engage in original global change research and to promote global change education in Alaska. Teachers and students in grades 5-12 will conduct large scale, long-term data collection and analysis. Teachers and students from rural school districts serving Alaska's five distinct native cultures (Yupik, Inupiaq, Aleut, Athabascan, and Tlingit/Haida) will participate. Eighteen teachers per year will be trained in the GLOBE program's procedures. The teachers will then be guided in expanding these studies to include locally significant observations and knowledge from local experts (which will include scientists and tribal elders). The new research projects, for which students will collect and analyze data, include a tree growth /tree ring study, a lake and sea ice study, and a global change in growing seasons study. Teachers will initiate research in the summer and continue the research during the academic year, staying in contact with scientist mentors via the Internet. The proposed project will provide teachers and students the opportunity to conduct research locally and to translate scientific research into meaningful classroom activities. Native observations relevant to the local environment will be used to motivate student interest in science, and to support and extend their awareness of global climate change.