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SEPA Scientist-Mentor Workshop

Location: MDI Biological Laboratory (travel information)
Contact Education Office

MDI Biological Laboratory and Dartmouth College, in collaboration with multiple partners in Maine and New Hampshire, are launching a new project called: “Data to Action: A secondary school-based citizen science project to address arsenic contamination of well water”.

Scientist-mentors from Maine and New Hampshire INBRE institutions will be partnered with high school and middle school science teachers in both states who are interested in engaging their students as citizen scientists by integrating well water monitoring into their science curriculum.

Our overall goal is to provide teachers and students with the tools, skills and support to make sense of well water data so that their analyses can inform actions at the community level, resulting in positive public health outcomes.

Scientist mentors will participate in an orientation and mentor training workshop at MDI Biological Laboratory before getting involved in classroom projects. Register now for the November training. Please communicate with the Education Director at MDI Biological Laboratory if you have not previously been in contact regarding participation in this project.

After the workshop, scientist-mentors will

  • Meet their teacher in person at the start of their project
  • Follow up with teacher by e-mail, phone, Skype, or in person
  • Make at least one classroom visit to meet students –which can involve talking about their own research and the kind of data they collect–as well as a discussion about the students’ arsenic data
  • Attend a community meeting with teachers and students, to support their outreach and education efforts

This project is supported by a Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) to MDI Biological Laboratory in collaboration with Dartmouth College.

Partner

Workshop Directors

  • Jane E. Disney, Ph.D.
    Senior Staff Scientist; Director of Research Training; Director, Community Environmental Health Laboratory
    MDI Biological Laboratory
  • Bruce A. Stanton, Ph.D.
    Andrew C. Vail Memorial Professor of Physiology
    Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Workshop Leaders

  • Anna Farrell
    SEPA Program Coordinator
    MDI Biological Laboratory
  • Molly Schauffler, Ph.D.
    Science Coordinator
    University of Maine

Friday, November 2, 2018:

12-1 PM, Dining Hall: Lunch for early arrivals; free time until afternoon session

3-5 PM, Maine Center for Biomedical Innovation (MCBI) Second Floor: Workshop Introductions and Project Context

“Data to Action: A secondary school-based citizen science project to address arsenic contamination of well water in Maine and New Hampshire”

  1. Bruce Stanton, Ph.D., Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth: The problem with arsenic.
  2. Jane Disney, Ph.D., MDI Biological Laboratory: Overview of the project
    • School-based citizen science: emerging models
    • The value of Student-Teacher-Scientists Partnerships (from the literature)
    • Perennial struggles with data management and analysis (Based on a 2-year EPA-funded pilot of this Data to Action project)
    • Understanding well water data and communicating with the public
    • Scientist-mentor roles in teacher and student success and aspirations
  • Round Table Discussion; Meet Mentor Training Specialists

5:30-7 PM, Dining Hall: Reception and Dinner with Mentor Training Specialists 

Saturday, November 3, 2018:

Before 9 AM, Dining Hall: Self-serve breakfast

9-10 AM, MCBI Second Floor: Case Study Presentations. Experiences of three teachers in our EPA-funded pilot project

  • Sarah Dunbar, Mt. Desert Elementary School
  • Sarah Hall, College of the Atlantic
  • Ruth Poland, MDI High School

10-10:30 AM: Break

10:30-12:00 PM, MCBI Second Floor: Mentor Training with Julie Meltzer and Paige Collins from MDIRSS:

  • What does mentoring look like in student-teacher-scientist partnerships?
  • How will a generative leadership model serve these partnerships?

12-1 PM, Dining Hall: Lunch with Mentors and Teachers

1-2 PM, MCBI Second Floor: Data Management Workshop: Duncan Bailey, Systems Developer and Anna Farrell, SEPA project coordinator, MDI Biological Laboratory

  1. Anecdata.org. What is it? How will we be using it in the project?
    • Students enter Metadata into Anecdata, a citizen science data portal developed here at MDI Biological Laboratory, including location and source of water sample, type of well etc.
    • Water sample results are received from Dartmouth Trace Element Analysis Core and uploaded into Anecdata by SEPA Project Coordinator
    • Data in Anecdata are routinely pulled into TUVA, a data literacy software program being used by teachers, and are then ready for analysis
    • Anonymous data are analyzed by students
  2. All About Arsenic website: What is on it? How will it be used in the project?
    • Preview Teacher Resources
    • Review News Items
    • Initiate communication on the Discussion Forum with Teachers

2-3 PM, MCBI Second Floor: Data Literacy Workshop: Molly Schauffler, education consultant with Tuva.com

  • What kinds of data sets will teachers and students be grappling with?
  • How does TUVA work?
  • How can mentors support teachers and students in understanding data?

3-3:30 PM: Break

3:30-5 PM, MCBI Second Floor: Practice and Discussion

  • Practice using TUVA software to analyze data sets
  • Discuss challenges and suggest changes or additions

5-6 PM, MCBI Second Floor: Meet with Project Evaluators

  • Discuss mentor’s role in the evaluation plan

6-7 PM, Dining Hall: Dinner with Evaluators

 

Sunday, November 4, 2018:

9-10 AM, Dining Hall: Breakfast wrap-up, discussion, and departure

Mentors can request on campus housing in winterized dorms and apartments.

Funded by the NIH SEPA grant, grant number 1R25GM129796-01.
Project title: Data to Action: A Secondary School-based Citizen Science Project to Address Arsenic Contamination of Well Water

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