2013GK-12 Belize ProgramRebecca Sanders-DeMottRyan Keser

Program Goals

1) Engage firsthand in global change research

2) Develop K-12 curriculum modules for classrooms in both the US and Belize

3) Create partnerships between K-12 teachers and students in Belize and the US

4) Afford graduate students opportunity to broaden their research

Participants

BOSTON Nathan Stewart: BU Researcher Assistant ProfessorRyan Keser: Science Teacher, BrooklineScott Hess: Science Teacher, BrightonMargaret Hendrick: BU Glacier FellowRebecca Sanders-DeMott: BU Glacier Fellow

BELIZE Eden Garcia: UB Biology InstructorCarolyn Williams: UB Faculty, Education Jonelle O’Brien, UB Pre-TeacherLoretta Sorano, UB Pre-Teacher

Itinerary

Days 1-5: La Milpa Research Center, Rio Bravo Conservation Area

Day 5: Belize Zoo

Day 6-10: Calabash Caye Field Station, Turneffe Atoll near Belize Barrier Reef Reserve

Experience-Based Curriculum Design Process

• Research Experience • Cultural Experience• Mind Mapping• Backwards Design Process• Curriculum Writing and Editing

La Milpa EcoLodge and Research Center• Rio Bravo Conservation Area• Semi-deciduous subtropical moist upland forest• La Selva Maya

– includes areas of Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize as the 2nd largest continuous tropical rainforest with 240 tree species

Research Experience

- Identification of birds, amphibians, herbs, trees, insects- Biomass assessment: Tree height and circumference- Ecological indicators: Old growth and new growth

Rio Bravo Conservation Area Carbon Sequestration PlotsEstablished in 1996 under the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation, in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy, We Energies, and U.S. energy companies as a 40-year project

Cultural ExperiencesMennonite farming and Belizean food economy

Ancient and modern Mayan civilization and culture

Calabash Caye Field Station• Belize Barrier Reef - 280 km, 2nd Largest in world• Turneffe Atoll, seagrass beds, mangroves• Habitat for threatened American crocodile, Hawksbill

sea turtle, Antillean manatee and Nassau grouper.

Research Experience

- Identification of invertebrates, fish- Community survey transects- Ecological indicators: parrot fish and Diadema

• Research and monitoring– Coral reef, mangrove, seagrass ecosystems– Coral bleaching monitoring– Coral spawning– Monitoring of reef herbivores

• parrotfish and Diadema– Lionfish monitoring– Seagrass Net monitoring

• Inventories and environmental assessments • Biodiversity and environmental monitoring• Restoration and rehabilitation monitoring

Environmental Research Institute Ongoing Research

Boston University establishing long term monitoring sites

Cultural Experiences

Sustainable conch shell fishing

Garifuna dancing…

• Environmental issues in Belize– Conservation and Economics• Energy Independence• Food security• Tourism industry

Mind mapping Connecting the big ideas

Backward Design Process

Students will explore the role that trees and forests have in global carbon sequestration.

Establish learning goals

Backward Design Process1. The increase of green house gasses in

the atmosphere is causing climate change, which is changing ecosystems-

2. When in tact, natural carbon storage provides an ecosystem-service that currently tempers climate change, as humans go about their activities.

3. Human activities are significantly affecting land, ocean, and atmosphere and those changes are altering global climate patterns. Human choices have the power to modify the current trajectory of global climate change.

4. Some systems are experiencing change at a more rapid rate than others. Certain species in these systems can be monitored as indicators of change.

Establish learning goals

Identify “Big Ideas”

Backward Design Process

1. Where is carbon produced (sources) and stored (pool) and how do humans perturb this cycle?

2. How do different ecosystems respond to long-term changes in climate?

3. How do our energy choices impact climate change?

4. Are there choices you, as a global citizen, can make to mitigate human impact on climate?

Establish learning goals

Identify “Big Ideas”

Develop essential questions

Curriculum Writing and EditingPartner-Teams• Lesson Introduction• Teacher Instructions• Student Worksheets

Group EditingPost-trip Processing

Program Outcomes

Unit 1: Forest Carbon Sequestration Unit SummaryUnit OutlinePart 1: Measuring UpPart 2: Model MeasuresPart 3: Stand and Deliver

Unit 2: Marine Carbon SequestrationUnit SummaryUnit OutlinePart 1: What’s Going On?Part 2: Who Eats Who?Part 3:Walk the Line.Part 4: Making Sense of Data. Part 5: Make a Model

Background Information and Teacher Instructions

Materials and Student Worksheets

Assessments

Where are we going?

• Finalize curriculum• Implement in classrooms• Disseminate to broader community (NSTA)• Develop new themes and experiences for new cohorts