Session 4: Stakeholders and Sustainability
- Teaching for sustainability transformations: Engaged pedagogy to address complex problems
- Citizen Science and Stewardship
Session 4A – Teaching for sustainability transformations: Engaged pedagogy to address complex problems
Morning session – Capitol Room (North Wing, 2nd floor)
Co-chairs: Aaron Strong, School of Marine Sciences, UMaine; Bridie McGreavy, Dept. of Communication & Journalism, UMaine
What are the best practices for teaching sustainability to the next generation of environmental managers, scientists, leaders and advocates in Maine? How can we incorporate insights gained from community-engaged and service learning pedagogies to advance sustainability solutions? For those interested in finding meaningful ways to address contemporary social and environmental challenges, ranging from climate change adaptation to land use planning to solid waste management, our classrooms and living laboratories present an opportunity to teach students in ways that advance real-world problem solving. By focusing on the intersection of community engaged teaching and learning and sustainability science, the presenters in this session will share their practices and experiences about what makes for effective, community-engaged approaches to teaching sustainability. The session will draw on insights from an interdisciplinary suite of courses and program currently being offered in Main. To maximize a focus on pedagogical approaches that involve community engagement and seek to teach sustainability concepts, we invite proposals from both formal and informal learning environments, post-secondary and K-12 teaching contexts. By convening a community of practicing educators, we hope also to identify gaps and barriers to the wider uptake of engaged sustainability pedagogical practices across Maine.
8:30AM – 8:55AM
Community-engaged research in Dartmouth College’s Environmental Studies Program: From the Upper Valley of New Hampshire to the Namib Sand Sea in Namibia
Karen Hutchins Bieluch1, Nicholas Reo2, Doug Bolger3, Flora Krivac-Tetley4
1 Dartmouth College, Environmental Studies Program, Hanover, NH
2 Dartmouth College, Environmental Studies Program and Native American Studies Program, Hanover NH
3 Dartmouth College, Department of Biological Sciences, Hanover, NH
Capstone courses typically aim to provide culminating experiences for students that bring together concepts from program courses, push students to apply their learning, and help them develop skills critical for transitioning to their professional life after college. In environmental studies programs, helping students transition from a problem analysis to a problem solution orientation and move from an independent to a collaborative approach to addressing problems is especially important for training the next generation of environmental managers, scientists, leaders, and advocates. Dartmouth College’s Environmental Studies Program determined that community-engaged, field research that requires students to struggle with the messiness of the social-ecological system (SES), to identify their place in and opportunities to impact the SES, and to do their work in collaborative groups of students, faculty, and community partners was essential for achieving the capstone goals outlined above. During this presentation, we will share the pedagogical, research, and ethical challenges we face in our two unique capstone experiences with communities in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont and the Namib Sand Sea in Namibia, Africa. We will also highlight student experiences and community-academic team progress in the SESs in which we work and explore how flexibility, risk taking, and adaptability by all parties have influenced course successes. We conclude with questions we have about community-engaged teaching to address environmental and sustainability issues and opportunities for adaptation and growth, at Dartmouth and at other colleges and universities.
9:00AM-9:25AM
Applying sustainability principles in the real-world: a case study of full-circle learning between college students and small businesses
Lora Winslow, Ethel Wilkerson
Manomet, Sustainability Economies Program, Brunswick, ME
U360 is an experiential internship program designed to increase college students’ understanding of applied sustainability, while helping small businesses improve their sustainability practices. U360 launched in 2016 and is now underway at eight universities in New England (including five in Maine). Over forty students have completed the program that includes sustainability workshops; career skills trainings; interviewing small businesses and administering an assessment to evaluate their sustainability practices; creating a sustainability action plan for a small business; and presenting the action plan at a competition judged by small business leaders. In our experience, to best prepare students for tackling complex environmental challenges, classroom learning is ideally coupled with experience in the practical application of sustainability. Also, small businesses often don’t have the time or resources to focus on sustainability. U360 addresses these two needs by using a “full-circle learning” model that is beneficial to both participating parties: students learn from business owners how sustainability principles are applied in the real world, and the business owners learn how to improve sustainability practices through the structured assessment. Additionally, by helping future environmental managers and business leaders develop vital career skills, they are better prepared to work in these fields. Over 40% of participating businesses say they are very likely to make changes to their business after their conversation with a U360 student, while 100% of students report an increase in business sustainability knowledge and essential career skills. Our presentation will include examples of our “full-circle learning” model and evaluation metrics of this program.
9:30AM – 9:55AM
What If They’re Right? Responding to Climate Change in the University Classroom
Nico Jenkins, Tom Stone
Husson University, Bangor, ME
The issue of climate change will define the next century, and increasingly this one, and as such it is the essential, existential question facing human civilization. How we respond will be both complex and simple; our transition must be interconnected and singular, tentative and bold, as well as personal and systemic. Every discipline and field, from the sciences to the humanities, using both critical and creative responses, are necessary to prepare for what seems a very different future. In exploring potential responses, we recently introduced a co-taught course, What If They’re Right? Individual Responses to Climate Change. This course addresses, through both a philosophical and scientific lens, various responses to climate change at the individual level, in order to empower the student to better respond to the challenges this changed world will require, as well as make greater contributions at the community level and higher. Our main result is a more engaged student that not only learns about climate change and environmental stewardship from a number of (sometimes contradictory) points of view, but also thoughtfully responds with some type of individual action, as well as a university or community scale action. We teach the course jointly, placing quantitative and qualitative responses on equal footing. We will present the overall structure of the course, pedagogical techniques, student feedback, successes, and failures. Having run once, the course is still in the formative stages and so we are also seeking feedback and discussion from the audience.
10:00AM – 10:25AM
What We Can Learn from the Multiple Citizen Science Projects in Maine: The Latest Maine Policy Review Issue
Linda Silka
Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainable Solutions, UMaine, Orono, ME
Maine has become one of the leading states in the nation in citizen science projects. The latest Maine Policy Review is devoted to providing information about many of these projects that have become models for work around the country. This presentation by the executive editor of Maine Policy Review and leader of the Citizen Science Association Working Group on Diversity will highlight how looking across the many projects, we can see emerging questions and important opportunities for strengthening and expanding citizen science. Projects covered include many topics: Signs of the Season: A New England Phenology Program, Citizen Science and Wildlife Conservation, Vernal Pool Initiatives in Maine, the Maine Bumble Bee Atlas and Citizen Science, Collecting Data on Charismatic Mini-Fauna, Citizen Science in High School, Citizen Science for Maine’s Classrooms: The Case for Improving STEM Learning, Next Generation The Power of Place in Citizen Science, Citizen Science Using Anecdata, Design Principles of Online Citizen Science, and Citizen Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Values of Inclusion in the Wabanaki Youth Science Program. The presentation will provide guidance regarding what people will find in the issue and will suggest how the different articles can be used in planning state-of-the-art citizen science projects.
Session 4B – Citizen Science and Stewardship
Afternoon session – Capitol Room (North Wing, 2nd floor)
Co-chairs: Mary Ellen Dennis, Maine Department of Environmental Protection; Roberta Hill, Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program
Presenters are indicated in bold type.
0.5 credits are available for this session through APA AICP. Please check the APA website for details.
Citizen science—the active engagement of trained citizens in the collection of meaningful scientific data—has become a widespread, and rapidly growing global phenomenon. Historically, the primary goal of citizen science was to augment existing, professionally-led research by training non-professionals to collect certain types of scientific data more intensively, more frequently, and over a larger spatial scale than researchers would have the time or resources to collect otherwise. Over time, however, numerous additional, equally-valuable benefits of citizen science have become clear. Engaging citizens directly in the collection of scientific data provides an excellent way to educate the public and increase scientific literacy at the community level. With quality training, technical support, and direct hands-on experience, citizen scientists become empowered to ask important questions, and to share what they have learned with others in their communities. As their knowledge and experience grows, many citizen scientists find themselves taking on important stewardship and leadership roles in their communities: serving as local experts, community organizers, and helping to inform local decision-making and problem-solving. Presentations in this session may include: local success stories, academic research, and citizen science programs that actively engage citizens (i.e. beyond data collection).
1:30PM – 1:55PM
Mobile Citizen Science using the new Anecdata.org app
Jane Disney, Duncan Bailey, Anna Farrell, Ashley Taylor
MDI Biological Laboratory
Anecdata.org is a free online citizen science platform developed by the Community Lab at the MDI Biological Laboratory. We have just released a new free Anecdata mobile app, which allows anyone to create projects and share or browse observations from the field. Up until now, most citizen science apps have been purpose-built for specific projects or for certain limited realms of data, while Anecdata supports a wide range of observation types. Anecdata.org is already home to projects ranging from the Community Lab’s own water quality and eelgrass monitoring projects to Mass Audubon’s Eastern Meadowlark Survey, Schoodic Institute’s Acadia Learning Snowpack project, and South Carolina Aquarium’s Litter-Free Digital Journal. This app is a powerful tool for educators, community organizations, and others looking for an easy way to engage citizens in meaningful science.
2:00PM – 2:25PM
Above and Beyond: Brewer, Maine’s MS4 Program Success Story
Philip Ruck1, Ken Locke2
1 Stillwater Environmental Engineering, Inc., Maine
2 City of Brewer, Maine
The City of Brewer, Maine has been regulated by the Maine DEP’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Program since 2003. As one of 30 permitted MS4 communities in the State, Brewer is obligated to minimize their impact to receiving waters through a set of minimum control measures. These measures include, but are not limited to, educating and involving their residents about the impacts of stormwater pollution. While many municipalities struggled to come to grips with the new regulations back then, Brewer hit the ground running and has not looked back since. This presentation highlights their proactive approach to build a model MS4 Program for other communities to follow, and specifically their hugely popular annual community stream cleanup event. Ken and Phil will cover in depth, strategies to build and sustain a successful community involvement activity that promotes clean water.
2:30PM – 3:00PM
Afternoon Break – Auditorium
3:00PM – 3:25PM
The Dragonfly Mercury Project: Engaging citizen scientists in biodiversity discovery supporting air and water pollution research in US national parks
Megan Hess1, Sarah J. Nelson1,2, Colleen Flanagan Pritz3
1 Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Maine
2 School of Forest Resources and Maine RiSE Center, University of Maine
3 Air Resources Division, National Park Service
* Presentation not available. Please contact Sarah J. Nelson with any questions.
The Dragonfly Mercury Project (DMP) engages citizen scientists in collection of dragonfly larvae for mercury analysis in national parks, allowing for national-scale assessment of this neurotoxic pollutant. The scientist team at the University of Maine, US Geological Survey, and National Park Service enlist park staff or community partners, who lead teams of citizen scientists in collection of dragonfly larvae. The results provide the national parks and professional scientists data regarding the distribution of mercury at broad spatial scales. DMP goals for citizen scientist engagement are to (1) provide opportunity for biodiversity discovery; (2) connect people to parks; and (3) provide a vehicle for mercury education and outreach. Over 90 parks and 3,000 citizen scientists have participated in the project. Here we summarize information about citizen groups who participated in 2014–2016. High school students (20%), interns and youth groups (24%), and local community groups (15%) comprised the majority of participants. Results indicated that deep engagement in the biodiversity discovery objective was an overwhelmingly important aspect of the project, with several participants citing “getting kids outdoors” as a highlight of the program. At Acadia National Park, expanded sampling allowed for multiple citizen science expeditions, with ~700 participants during 2013–2017. Park liaisons reported that the project achieved internal and external communication that otherwise would not have occurred. Opportunities for improvement included further curriculum and workforce development. Ultimately, citizen scientists gained new perspectives and practiced civic skills while project scientists and resource managers gained data and insights regarding mercury in foodwebs.
3:30PM – 3:55PM
Building a citizen science partnership for research and stewardship
Hannah Webber1, Seth Benz1, Elizabeth Orcutt1, Richard Feldman2
1 Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park, Winter Harbor, ME
2 Centro de Investigación Científicia de Yucatán
A research team works to understand whether songbirds are becoming mismatched with their food (insects and fruits) during fall migrations. Land trusts seek to meaningfully engage the community in conservation. Can a citizen science partnership successfully address the goals of both? Project BESt (Birds Eating Stuff) brings together a team of migratory bird researchers and conservation organizations in Downeast Maine. Using widely available citizen science applications-Nature’s Notebook, iNaturalist, and eBird-the project extends the geographic range of data collection while training local volunteers to collect ecological data in support of managing and monitoring land trust resources. Understanding the capacities, knowledge, and goals of each partner is essential to building out a small project sustainably. There is attention given to data quality, quality of experience, learning outcomes, and supporting adoption of citizen science, beyond this project, as a credible conservation tool. We describe the partnership framework and activities used to address the multiplicity of partner inputs and goals and share progress made toward program sustainability.