The Desert Research Institute will take 90 Nevada high school science teachers and their top students into the field on research projects over the next three years as part of a new program to enhance science education in the state's high schools. Known as the Nevada Science Teacher Enhancement Program (N-STEP), the $638,000 program is funded by the National Science Foundation and will begin selecting participants in December of this year.
Under the direction of DRI archaeologist Paul Buck, N-STEP will train 30 sophomore and junior students and 30 teachers each year, using both classroom and field settings. Five summer field research projects based on research conducted by scientists from DRI, the University of Nevada campuses in Las Vegas and Reno, and Northern Arizona University will expose participants to genuine research experiences.
"We want to emphasize science as a process, rather than a dry, simple six-step sequence resulting in narrowly focused facts," Dr. Buck said.
He said the program will include "spring training" in research methods and an understanding of the scientific objectives of the field projects before taking summer field trips to conduct research with scientists. In the fall following the summer work, scientists will continue to interact with the students on data analysis, interpretation and presentation of results. The projects range from studies of the effects of zooplankton genetics in isolated ecosystems of the Ruby Mountains in northeastern Nevada, to a search for archaeological evidence of why the ancient Anasazi abandoned their 13th Century civilization at a site in northwestern Arizona.
"By giving the teachers this experience, we hope they will be able to reorient their existing curricula into a more inquiry-based approach," Buck said.
DRI videoconferencing capabilities will be used to link the teachers and students in schools scattered across the state. Buck said a special project website will be developed by DRI to link each school's participating teachers and students into a "research community." Teams will be taught how to search the Internet for scientific information, and will be able to track progress and post results from the five research experiences on their web pages.
Dr. Susan Moore, DRI's Distance Education and K-12 Coordinator, who will oversee the state-wide introductory training program, noted "distance education capabilities such as videoconferencing have proven to be an excellent way to deliver a variety of programs to a statewide audience--particularly in a state as geographically large as Nevada." She will assist UNR education professor David Crowther who will use distance education facilities to provide advance training in research methods to participants.
The five field experiences involved in the N-STEP program include a study of the record of climate change found in the Amargosa River/Death Valley Lake System. This project will be headed by Dr. Diana Anderson, a former DRI graduate research assistant and now a geologist at the University of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.
Buck will direct the study of the Anasazi site near Mt. Trumbull in Arizona, teaching archaeological field techniques, and Dr. Peter Starkweather, a UNLV biology professor will direct the study of genetics of mountain zooplankton, microscopic lifeforms in high mountain lakes in the Ruby Mountains.
Dr. Scott Tyler, a hydrologist with joint appointments at DRI and UNR, will lead a Lake Tahoe project looking at the influence of ground water entering the lake on the declining clarity of the lake. Dr. Melanie Wetzel, an atmospheric scientist at DRI, will lead a project looking at the variability of ultraviolet radiation--UVB--in the Great Basin. Wetzel's study will overlap with Starkweather's group in examining the affects of UVB on zooplankton and other simple lifeforms at higher altitudes.
Project evaluation will be conducted during and after the field studies by Dr. John Cannon, of UNR's College of Education.