Discussing Discussions: How to facilitate engaging and inclusive group discussions

Suzanne Webster ·
2 May 2019
Environmental Literacy | Science Communication | 

This is the second blog in a short series of posts reflecting on professional development workshops that I recently attended at the University of Maryland Teaching & Learning Transformation Center (TLTC). This second workshop was called “Planning & Facilitating Small (and Large!) Group Discussions”. The workshop was held in the Edward St.

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Supporting collaborative learning: Teaching tips for facilitating group work

Suzanne Webster ·
30 April 2019
Environmental Literacy | Science Communication | 

Over the last few weeks, I attended several workshops at the University of Maryland Teaching & Learning Transformation Center (TLTC). The TLTC provides training, consultation, and various other resources to students and faculty who wish to improve their teaching. The first workshop I attended was called “Equitable and Successful Group Work”. This workshop was held in the Edward St.

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Monitoring conferences in 2019

Caroline Donovan ·
25 April 2019
Environmental Literacy | Science Communication | Learning Science | 

This past March I had the pleasure of attending both the Citizen Science Association’s biennial conference (CitSci2019) and the 2019 National Monitoring Conference. Going to back-to-back monitoring conferences presents an opportunity to highlight the similarities and differences within one seemingly homogeneous topic. I attended the CSA 2019 conference with Alexandra Fries and Suzi Spitzer.

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Western Lake Erie environmental literacy

Bill Dennison ·
23 April 2019
Environmental Literacy | Environmental Report Cards | Science Communication | Learning Science | 

Lake Erie is one of five Great Lakes between the United States and Canada. The Great Lakes form the largest freshwater system on the planet, containing approximately 1/5 of the world's freshwater supply. Lake Erie is the southern most Great Lake located downstream of Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron, but upstream of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway. The great lakes at night from above. Photo National Weather Services.

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Future Earth Coasts Goes to Bremen!

Heath Kelsey ·
19 April 2019
Environmental Literacy | Science Communication | 

The first in person meeting of the new Future Earth Coasts International Project Office (FEC IPO) was in Bremen 27-29 March 2019. It’s an exciting time to be involved in Future Earth Coasts; the organization has a new home centered at the Liebnitz Center for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen, and additional offices distributed among several institutions in China, Australia, the United States, and Germany.

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Uncovering five values of citizen science at CitSci2019

Suzanne Webster ·
15 April 2019
Science Communication | Learning Science | 

Last month, Caroline, Alex, and I attended the Citizen Science Association (CSA) conference, CitSci2019, from March 13-16th in Raleigh, North Carolina. This conference was a great opportunity for us to learn more about what is happening in the field of citizen science, network with other professionals, and share updates on some of the projects that we are involved in at IAN.

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Chesapeake Bay SAV Watchers: A new citizen science program for monitoring Bay grasses

Suzanne Webster ·
12 April 2019
Learning Science | 

Last month we put the finishing touches on a year-long effort to develop a monitoring program for volunteers who collect data on submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) throughout the Chesapeake Bay. The new program is called Chesapeake Bay SAV Watchers. Throughout this project, we collaborated with various stakeholders, including SAV experts, volunteer monitoring coordinators, and citizen scientists.

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IAN as a Boundary Organization

Bill Dennison ·
8 April 2019

My first reaction to being invited to talk about Integration and Application Network (IAN) as a boundary organization was to ask, “What is a boundary organization?”. I looked up some definitions and liked the one that described a boundary organization in the following manner: “Organizations that facilitate collaboration and information flow between diverse research disciplines and between the research and public policy community”.

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We are Trailblazers: The Chesapeake Bay Program in 2019

Bill Dennison ·
5 April 2019
   1 comments

As part of the “Rounding the Curve on Adaptive Management” meeting in Richmond, VA, I gave the opening plenary talk. Kristin Saunders told me that the title and topic of the talk should be “We are Trailblazers”. The term “trailblazer” is described well by Ralph Waldo Emerson who said “Do not follow where the path may lead.

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Spanning boundaries at the Society for Applied Anthropology conference

Suzanne Webster ·
1 April 2019
Applying Science | Learning Science |     1 comments

Earlier this month, Bill, Katie May, Vanessa, and I travelled to Portland, Oregon to attend the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) conference from March 19-23. We were all excited for the opportunity to learn from researchers and practitioners who work in the social sciences, and to absorb new ideas and approaches that will help us enhance IAN’s capacity to do work that spans natural and social science disciplines.

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