![]() ![]() Then, peering closely through handheld magnifiers, they compare their samples against photos and scientific illustrations on laminated field guides, trying to distinguish “shredders,” “collectors,” “grazers” and “scrapers” – aquatic invertebrates like caddis flies, crayfish, damselflies, pond snails – that live and feed in healthy Northwest streams. One late-September afternoon in the shade of Philomath’s student-planted trees, 15 high school teachers from Astoria to Roseburg scoop samples from the slippery riverbed with long-handled nets. This partnership between the university’s Oregon Natural Resource Education Program and the Andrews Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program is helping educators guide their own students toward authentic, meaningful discoveries – and activism – within their local communities. Oregon science teachers are getting hands-on lessons in environmental research through a two-year-old Extension program called Teachers as Researchers. Now an OSU initiative is helping to re-forge those links. We need to restore that literacy in forestry, wetland biology and watershed dynamics.” But with urbanization and electronics, people have lost track of the land and how it works. “My generation were farmers and foresters. “A whole generation has lost their connection to the land,” observes Mitchell, a longtime practitioner of environmental field studies at Philomath High School. The riparian restoration that Jeff Mitchell and his biology students accomplished 10 years ago stands as a testament to the power of natural resources education and community collaboration. But in fact, the 3,000 towering trees shading the east bank of Marys River in Philomath grew from the vision and dedication of a science teacher and his students. The dense grove of willow, ash, maple and alder looks like 100 percent nature’s doing. of Science and Mathematics Education and provides opportunities for K-12 students through SMILE, 4-H, the Environmental Health Sciences Center and pre-college programs. OSU trains science teachers through the Dept. Kari O’Connell and Susan Sahnow of Forestry Extension’s Oregon Natural Resource Education Program train high school teachers through Teachers as Researchers. To provide environmental field experiences for their students, teachers need hands-on instruction in field research methods. ![]()
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