Does active participation in an international data collection project improve performance in science course work and can it create meaningful academic change for students challenged by poverty and under-resourced educational opportunities? This question is the focus of an environmental education collaboration that includes The Redwood Environmental Academy of Leadership (REAL) program, Stanford University K12 Initiative, Stanford SEEDS students and Proyecto Itzaes, an education foundation serving rural Maya villages in Yucatan, Mexico. REAL students (urban, under-resourced and unsuccessful in mainstream high school) and Proyecto Itzaes students (living in rural Maya villages, with extreme poverty) are collecting and sharing water quality and temperature data on a global level using digital technology. Students collect data and record their findings using Livescribe digital pens that enable them to upload and compare data in real time online and discuss via SKYPE.
Results/Conclusions
Now in its second year this project has shown dramatic changes in students’ performances, attitudes about science and in their belief that they can fully participate in science. In addition, formal program evaluation results show marked changes in students’ attitudes about school and their interest in ecology, conservation, and environmental science. Implications of results indicate that student participation in an international effort to collect, compare and understand data fosters increased awareness of ecology, concern for local and global environments and greatly increases student perception that they can participate in science.
