New Resources for Community Science in Schools
Sierra Streams Institute and the UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science are pleased to announce the launch of final products from the Our Forests project, all available on a comprehensive website for teachers, school administrators, education practitioners and the general public at large. Our Forests is a National Science Foundation funded project to implement a forest based community and citizen science project in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in Nevada County CA and to research the benefits of student science learning for such a project.
In a five-year Research-Practice Partnership project Our Forests examined elementary students’ understanding of, and agency with, environmental science content knowledge and practices through their participation in a year-long forest monitoring program in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Students collected data about forests, conducted analysis, and shared findings with meaningful audiences.
A wide variety of teachers,
administrators, community partners, researchers – and of
course students! — contributed to this work. Beyond the lasting
local impacts this project will have in Nevada County, we are
also proud to share the broader insights and research findings
that could be of use to anyone interested in doing community
science in schools.
This new website contains all of the major products produced during the life of the Our Forests project. These products include:
- 3rd-5th Grade Youth Community Science and Action in Our Forests Curriculum for students and teachers to meet NGSS and other standards through collecting forest health and fire risk data. The curriculum is self-contained modules with lesson plans that include standards addressed, field trip and classroom lessons, and scaffolded activities from start to finish. Each grade level builds on the next so students can do the programming year after year.
- Forest Health Monitoring Protocols for Students- these include step by step instructions and data sheets, and are scientifically sound yet modified for age appropriate-ness.
- The Guide for Designing Environmental Community Science Programs with Schools for anyone interested in setting up their own environmental monitoring program with students. The guide provides excellent background information and recommendations for how to design and implement an effective program with students and collaborating with scientific community partners.
- Education Research- See the evidence of what and how kids learned about their forests, how to do science, and other important learning outcomes from participating in this project, by checking out our Research Briefs and research articles
We hope you enjoy exploring the website and find the products of Our Forests enlightening and useful! You can also view the Center’s Our Forests webpage here.
