Promoting field science in Puerto Rico: Towards a new paradigm in the teaching of tropical ecology

Background/Question/Methods

 The Luquillo LTER Schoolyard Program in Puerto Rico shares the environmental science goals of the Puerto Rico Department of Education: to educate youth and develop curiosity for the study of nature, to enunciate environmental problems, and to propose solutions. For more than twenty years, the Luquillo LTER Schoolyard approach has been to promote field experiences that provide teachers and students with ecological research skills in posing questions, data collection and analysis.  Three public high schools in Puerto Rico have been actively participating in the Luquillo LTER Schoolyard Program:  Pablo Colón Berdecía (Barranquitas), Francisco Morales (Naranjito), and Juan Ponce de León (Florida). Each school has established nearby secondary forest plots where it structure and growth data, between other parameters, are collected by students to investigate how forest structure (basal area and species composition) change through time.  After several years of data collection and student and teacher turnover, the need became obvious to standardize data collection and management in order to make effective cross site comparisons. Therefore, in November 2006, the First High School Student Internship was held at El Verde Field Station in the Caribbean National Forest, now named El Yunque National Forest. The internship introduced twenty students to the importance of long term research for conservation and management of forest resources.  We combined field research with environmental education in five different workshops aimed at the use of global positioning systems, measurements of tree growth and basal area, limnological studies, pitfall trap sampling of terrestrial macro-arthropods, and data management and analysis.  The environmental education content emphasized the concept of resilience as a mechanism to assess the fragility of tropical forest ecosystems.  The training in data management and analysis has provided teachers and students with critically needed technical skills to complement field data gathering.

Results/Conclusions From the educational point of view, the internship integrated science, history, mathematics, Spanish and English essays redactions, and culture and allowed students to think about human impacts on tropical forests.  After the internship, students are visiting the plots twice a month. They are collecting data on diameter, height, in grow, mortality index, decomposition rate and recovery after hurricane Georges. A work plan has been developed to assure continuity and to maximize the research potential of each school.  The plan involves annual student internships and a symposium to encourage scientific exchange among schools.