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Invasive Species and the National Parks ...to venture in, and to care. Building Partners with Your National Parks - Establishing A Network of Community Resources and Professionals The Curriculum Overview speaks to methods of inquiry whereby students can contribute scientific data as Citizen Scientists. For students to truly benefit from their experience there must be a way to see how the data is used, and ultimately, for the students themselves to be involved with the social change that may arise from use of that data. The approach to solving invasive weed problems has often utilized students and communities in the role of social service rather than in the larger role of social change. Getting kids out to pull noxious weeds is an example of social service; it may temper an alien invasion during one season in one locale, but it does not address the larger issues of how humans may have initially altered the ecosystem to cause the invasion or how we, as a community, will perceive our relationship with the land in concert with a diverse and healthy ecosystem. Addressing the latter relationship involves social change. Involving students in social change begins with building healthy partnerships. The National Park Service believes that its employees are not only technical stewards of the land, but are also leaders in our communities. A Discovery 2000 session report, Leadership Beyond Park Boundaries, speaks directly to the role that Park personnel might have in assisting teachers to help students understand how student contributions (data, public awareness, etc.) can affect social change. The key focus of the NPS report is building connections with communities outside of the Park boundaries. Building partnerships, however, is not a one-sided endeavor, it is the coming together of many groups and individuals who share common goals. Teachers who use the Aliens curriculum can involve themselves and their students with partnerships that address the common goals of a healthy ecosystem in their own community. Given the burden of the normal classroom, building partnerships may sound like a daunting addition to a teacher's life, but it need not be, because in the course of studying the science of invasive weeds in the Aliens curriculum, the students will naturally be involved with local, state and federal resource people who can also become members of this partnership. Using the guidelines below, teachers should be able to draw out the partnerships within their own community when students investigate invasive weeds through the collected lessons of Aliens. Your local NPS resource or education specialist may also be available to help your students with the process of building partnerships. In some cases this process begins at the start of the school year, and then the Alien lessons would be geared towards understanding the particular invasive weed problems and addressing the goals of the partnership. Work Together - Consult with your NPS resource specialist to identify invasive weed problems that may serve as the focal point for using the Aliens curriculum. Wherever possible, you may also involve other local groups (conservation groups, Native Plant Societies, environmental centers), agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife or county offices such as local weed boards or extension services. Emphasize that you wish to have your students conduct investigations as part of their regular science curriculum and contribute valid data and information about the invasive weed problem(s). Assess Needs - Develop a checklist of questions about what the children might do to contribute as Citizen Scientists. The Alien Curriculum provides an outline of lesson plans that can serve as a guide to areas the students will be investigating and what needs might be addressed by their studies. Survey Resources - Poll the contact people from the organizations above to find out what other resources might be available in the community. Some of the resources might include experts who can come to the school and give presentations, groups that have access to GPS and other field data collection equipment, community college or university resources, or supplies for the Aliens lessons. Share Information - Find out about available activities and events that the students might participate in such as Weed Awareness Week, local festivals where the students might put up a public awareness display, or speaking opportunities for the students. Let the community know that your students are researching a problem that affects the entire community! Set Goals - Set clear goals about what the individual partners will do, what the students will be contributing, and what might be the long-term goal or benefit of a weed education program might be. Decide on Measures of Success - Based on your goals, how do you
know you were successful? More importantly, how will the students know
that their investigations provided useful information to resource managers
and scientists, and how will that information be used to affect the problems
caused by invasive weed species? One of the key goals of this
curriculum is that the student's education be meaningful within their own
community... how will students know that the community values their
contributions? Sources of additional information: The Montana Heritage
Project (MHP) is dedicated to teaching young people to think clearly and
deeply about the world they face. Students are asked to explore their
community... the following two resources from MHP provide teachers with ways
to involve students and ask important questions: Connect For Kids
- a website of building communities for kids and families. Two case
studies that illustrate the important role students can provide are:
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