Biodiversity Initiative – Education
Climate Science Learning Project
The Climate Science Learning Project is a joint research and education initiative of the Lloyd Center for the Environment. Grants from the Motorola Solutions Foundation, Dominion Education Foundation and the Adelard and Valeda Lea Roy Foundation have helped support new curricula development and implementation in selected public schools.
This project is focused on the local impact of climate change on the ecology of southern Massachusetts. The overall project is designed to further strengthen science education and understanding of the region’s ecology among students and families alike.
In view of the anticipated effects of climate change, the project involves participants in collecting data through field observations of the biodiversity of the Slocum and Westport River watersheds. This data is merged with existing data collected by research staff and interns into a single, easily accessible website Database for all data, or a list by school can be found under Partners.
A Climate Science curriculum has been developed for classroom-based and school-time field activities. In-class curricula provide background information about how projected climate change will affect local biodiversity, ecology, and human experience of the natural world. Age-appropriate educational materials are provided to assist students in communicating to their families what they are learning. The Lloyd Center’s Education Department works closely with the Center’s Research Director to ensure consistency of data collection.
Students in elementary, middle and selected high schools, as well as participants in the Lloyd Center’s annual internship program, are provided with hands-on biodiversity research experience, appropriate to their age and education levels. These experiences are focused on assisting local and Lloyd Center scientists, along with visiting scholars, in cataloging all species now living in the regional ecosystem. As co-researchers, the students come to understand the importance of their individual contribution to this critical and time-sensitive research project. For more information about how your school can get involved please contact the Lloyd Center’s Education Department at (508) 990-0505 x11.
Directions for participating schools:
- Click on the ‘Partners’ heading under Research: Biodiversity Initiative
- Click on your school name for your school’s data collection spreadsheet
- Click on ‘Photo Galleries’ (under construction) heading under Biodiversity Initiative for digital images of organisms (Gallery pictures are sorted by habitat)