Cathlyn Stylinski

Restarting the conversation: challenges at the interface between ecology and society

The exchange of information between researchers, resource managers, decision makers, and the general public has long been recognized as a critical need in environmental science. We examine the challenges in using ecological knowledge to inform society and to change societal actions, and identify a set of options and strategies to enhance this exchange. Our objectives are to provide background information on societal knowledge and interest in science and environmental issues, to describe how different components of society obtain information and develop their interests and values, and to present a framework for evaluating and improving communication between science and society. Our analysis strongly suggests that the interface between science and society can only be improved with renewed dedication to public outreach and a wholesale reconsideration of the way that scientists communicate with society. Ecologists need to adopt new models of engagement with their audiences, frame their results in ways that ar...

Synergistic Use of Citizen Science and Remote Sensing for Continental-Scale Measurements of Forest Tree Phenology

There is great potential value in linking geographically dispersed multitemporal observations collected by lay volunteers (or “citizen scientists”) with remotely-sensed observations of plant phenology, which are recognized as useful indicators of climate change. However, challenges include a large mismatch in spatial scale and diverse sources of uncertainty in the two measurement types. These challenges must be overcome if the data from each source are to be compared and jointly used to understand spatial and temporal variation in phenology, or if remote observations are to be used to predict ground-based observations. We investigated the correlation between land surface phenology derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) data and citizen scientists’ phenology observations from the USA National Phenology Network (NPN). The volunteer observations spanned 2004 to 2013 and represented 25 plant species and nine phenophases. We developed quality control procedures that removed observations outside of an a priori determined acceptable period and observations that were made more than 10 days after a preceding observation. We found that these two quality control steps improved the correlation between ground- and remote-observations, but the largest improvement was achieved when the analysis was restricted to forested MODIS pixels. These results demonstrate a high degree of correlation between the phenology of individual trees (particularly dominant forest trees such as quaking aspen, white oak, and American beech) and the phenology of the surrounding forested landscape. These results provide helpful guidelines for the joint use of citizen scientists’ observations and remote sensing phenology in work aimed at understanding continental scale variation and temporal trends.

The Inquiring with GIS (iGIS) Project: Helping Teachers Create and Lead Local GIS-Based Investigations

Local environmental investigations can engage students with science content, while helping link prior knowledge to new understanding. Geospatial technologies offer a powerful visualization and analysis tool for these community-based activities; however, they present many challenges for classroom teachers. The Inquiring with GIS (iGIS) project sought to take advantage of the benefits of geospatial technologies as a tool for teaching and learning while addressing these challenges. Local investigations are a valuable and effective approach to learning, and this project draws on that theory alongside established features of effective teacher professional development: focus on content knowledge, proximity to practice (including curriculum-link training), active learning, coherence, collective participation, extended duration, and access to necessary classroom resources. This approach helped ensure high participant retention and classroom implementation. The findings indicate that, with the appropriate resources, teachers new to GIS can adapt GIS-based investigations for their local communities. The results also highlight the value of integrating informal education experience within K-12 teacher professional development. Ultimately, education practitioners and researchers need to better understand the long-term impacts of technology-based professional development on teaching practices as well as understand how effective strategies support the integration of geospatial technologies in the classroom.

Impacts of a comprehensive public engagement training and support program on scientists’ outreach attitudes and practices

ABSTRACT Scientists are increasingly being called upon to play a more prominent role in the interface of science and society by contributing to science literacy in ways that support two-way exchanges with the public. However, many remain reluctant to participate in public engagement activities in part because they feel they lack relevant skills and experience. We surveyed scientists trained on engagement through a nationwide program called Portal to the Public and examined how participation in the program may have influenced their self-efficacy, commitment and attitudes about outreach, and perceived benefits from conducting outreach based on two-way exchange with lay audiences. Participating scientists who responded to the survey reported being deeply involved in and highly committed to hands-on interactive public outreach, felt their engagement skills had improved, and even viewed benefits of their engagement training that extended into university teaching and career development. Our findings suggest a comprehensive engagement training model, which incorporates learning theory, helps scientists build their own outreach strategies, provides opportunities to practice, and offers easy access to audiences, can have a sustained impact on disposition, perceived skills, and type of outreach conducted by scientists interested in deeper engagement with the public.