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Archbold Biological StationProject FIRST

CONTENTS Welcome National Goals of NSF Project First What is Inquiry-based Learning? Where are the five national project FIRST field stations? The network of colleges and universities within 5-6 h

drive of Archbold Archbold’s five participating colleges Archbold’s goals for Project FIRST

1. Archbold welcome the 5 teams from Florida universities & colleges

2. You joined us in a joint venture designed to use the Archbold environment to enrich the teaching of undergraduate ecology

3. We will jointly explore the biological richness and complexity of central Florida ecosystems.

4. We will, together, develop and implement teaching approaches that can convey an understanding of these ecosystems, and of the scientific process, to undergraduate classes at both Archbold and at field sites near your own institutions.

a. Use field stations as the foci to build and maintain coalitions of faculty who will implement and sustain reform in undergraduate biology education at the field station and in their colleges and universities.

b. Prepare teams at field stations to become regional professional developers of biology faculty, including new faculty and post-doctoral students.

c. Enable the field station teams and associated faculty to gain experience in inquiry-based science teaching and learning through workshops that model this kind of science teaching.

d. Enhance faculty's ability to provide all students opportunities to gain scientific understanding through direct experience with methods and processes of inquiry in the field, and in undergraduate science courses.

e. Facilitate collaboration and communication among faculty about their reforms in biology teaching using electronic media.

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~first/The national goals of the FIRST project are to:

Distribution of OBFS field stations in USA,and the 5 FIRST sites

Archbold Biological Station

San Diego State University Field Stations

Southwestern Research Station

St. Croix Watershed Research Station

Hancock Biological Station

What is Inquiry-based learning?

“acquire literacy in science, engineering, math, and technology by direct experiences with the methods and

processes of inquiry” National Research Council 1996

“Inquiry is a student-centered method of instruction where the learner designs the process to be used in

resolving a problem, thereby requiring higher levels of cognition” Kellough, R.D., and Kellough, N.G. 1999

Goals for Archbold Faculty Workshops Build a coalition of Florida institutions, in partnership with Archbold

Biological Station, to establish and support a regional network of faculty and staff committed to enhancing the teaching of undergraduates.

Use the facilities and field sites at Archbold, in conjunction with explorations of available teaching methods, to increase participant’s understanding of Florida ecosystems, and to enhance the ability of participants to convey complex concepts in field biology to undergraduate classes.

Develop a series of inquiry-based, field exercises that could be incorporated in a wide variety of undergraduate courses from introductory to upper-level.

Give participants the opportunity to pose interesting questions in the field, access scientific information at Archbold, seek instructional support, and develop teaching strategies to address these questions.

Encourage faculty and institutional interest to use field studies and field sites, such as Archbold, as teaching forums, and promote general interest in Florida ecosystems and species.

Five institutions were selected *, based on proposals, from a large pool of regional universities and colleges within commuting distanceFL Universities 5 - 6 h commute Community Colleges 2h commuteBarry University Stetson University* Brevard Community CollegeEckerd College University of Florida* Broward Community College Florida Gulf Coast University USF New College Sarasota Central Florida Community CollegeFlorida Institute of Technology University of Central Florida Daytona Beach Community CollegeFlorida International University* University of North Florida Edison Community College*Florida A &M University University of South Florida* Hillsborough Community College Florida Atlantic University University of Miami Indian River Community CollegeFlorida Memorial College University of Tampa Lake-Sumter Community College Florida Southern College USF at St. Petersburg Manatee Community College Florida State University Miami-Dade Community College Jacksonville University Palm Beach Community College Johnson & Wales University Pasco-Hernando Community CollegeKeiser College Polk Community CollegeLynn University St. Petersburg Junior College Northwood University Santa Fe Community College Nova-Southeastern University Seminole Community College Palm Beach Atlantic College South Florida Community CollegeRollins College Valencia Community College Saint Leo CollegeSt. Thomas University

Edison Community College

University of Florida

Florida International University

University of South Florida

Stetson University

Archbold Biological Station - Institutional Teams