Harvard LTER Schoolyard Program
Real Science - Real Scientists - Real Issues
- Students participate in authentic field-based ecological research
- Teachers are given direct access to Harvard ecologists
- Research projects address important current environmental issues
Learn about and initiate ecology research in your classroom and schoolyard. Your students can learn to collect data on important long-term ecological issues and processes. Student data will be posted on the Harvard Forest website.
Participating Schools: Names Locations Map
Research Projects
- Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming (SY001)
- Woolly Bully: The Invasive Pest, the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (SY002)
- Water in the Landscape: Vernal Pools (SY003)
- Water in the Landscape: Streams (SY004)
Resources for All Projects. Lesson plans, presentations, analytical tools, suggested reading, slide shows, and other information common to all projects.
Workshops
Summer Institute for Teachers. The Harvard Forest offers a forest ecology training institute for teachers of grades 2-12. Learn how to implement field studies of local ecosystems right in your schoolyard. Sign up now for the next workshop (August 10, 2009):
- Buds, Leaves and Global Warming (SY001)
- Woolly Bully: The Invasive Pest, The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (SY002)
- Water in the Landscape: Vernal Pools (SY003)
Data Workshops. Teachers are enouraged to particpate in our data workshops in late fall to learn how to input, manage, and analyze project data. The Level I Data Workshop is designed for first year teachers. The Level II Workshop is for experienced Schoolyard teachers.
Spring Workshop. Teachers are invited to learn from Harvard ecologists about project protocols in the spring and to share ways in which teachers are integrating project themes into their curricula.
Contact Pamela Snow, Schoolyard Coordinator at (978) 756-6146 or email (hfkto12@fas.harvard.edu) to begin a hands-on, long-term ecological research project.