National Science Foundation Awards University of Montana Ecologists Program Nearly $2 Million to assist Missoula County schools

Missoula County students will get a chance to explore ecology in their own schoolyards through a new University of Montana program.

UM’s Ecologists, Educators and Schools (ECOS) program recently received a National Science Foundation grant worth nearly $2 million.

http://www.umt.edu/urelations/releases/2004/021104ecol.htm

Carol Brewer, a UM associate professor of biological sciences and the director of ECOS, said the NSF grant will be used to send teams of UM graduate and undergraduate students into area schools to help teachers with schoolyard ecology lessons.

“We asked teachers what they needed,” Brewer said. “The one clear message we got was they needed someone in the classroom and school who could help them teach ecology.”

The grant provides ECOS funding for the next three years. Brewer said any K-12 school in Missoula County can apply to take part in the program. Each year five schools will be chosen to participate.

Five teams – each consisting of two graduate students in biology or forestry and one undergraduate student – will be assigned to each school. Brewer said the UM teams of “Ecologists in Residence” will spend 10 to 15 hours per week at the school, helping with ecology lessons. UM students will be rewarded with fellowships for taking part in the program.

Two lead teachers at each school will receive a stipend for heading up the program, and every school will receive up to $1,500 to support ECOS.

Brewer said the idea for the ECOS grant came from an NSF -funded schoolyard ecology program that UM and area schools have been involved in since 1994. “The premise for the program was that schoolyards in western Montana were either nearly wild places themselves or within short walking distance of wild places,” Brewer said.

“The notion was that they didn’t need a school bus to go on a field trip to study nature. We wanted to focus on schools as outstanding local resources for teaching science.”

UM is currently in the process of recruiting graduate and undergraduate students to work in the schools. This summer teams will begin working with lead teachers to identify potential schoolyard ecology sites.

“If schools are near fire sites, then maybe they will take a look at the burned areas,” Brewer said. “Our teams will help teachers set up outdoor research labs.”

Curriculum for the program will be tailored to different grade levels at each school.

“The great thing is there is no financial cost to schools,” she said. “We will make sure they have everything they need.”

And Brewer said educators believe the program could have a long-lasting impact on young minds.

“Through partnerships among teachers and scientists and students, we can demystify science and the process of scientific studies,” Brewer said. “These partnerships may be the best hope for moving toward an ecologically literate public.”

Along with Brewer, other educators involved in the grant proposal were Paul Alaback , a UM forestry and conservation associate professor; Lisa Blank, a UM associate professor of curriculum and development; and science teachers Dave Oberbillig of Big Sky High School and Mike Plautz of Hellgate Elementary School.

Contact: Carol Brewer, director, UM ECOS Program, (406) 243-6016 .