Current Activities in the Ecosystem Literacy Initiative

1. Ecosystem Literacy Research and Scholarship

• Writing a conceptual paper making the case for ecosystem literacy
• Ecosystems and the Environmental Literacy Project - A joint effort with other Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) programs
• Ecology Teaching Study - documenting teachers' practices
• The Responsive Teaching Study - exploring how teachers modify their curriculum as they teach about ecosystems

2. Ecosystem Literacy for Educators

• Research Experiences for Teachers (RET)
• Urban ecosystem workshops and curricula for teachers through the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES)
• The Changing Hudson project to develop curriculum materials
• Ecology Field Programs for school groups

3. Ecosystem Literacy for Scientists

• Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program
• Graduate and Post-Doctoral training opportunities
• Fundamentals of Ecosystem Ecology (FEE) and Likelihood Methods in Forest Ecology courses
• Summer Environmental Science (SES) program at the Hotchkiss School - serving pre-college students with ecology career awareness and training

4. Ecosystem Literacy for the Public

• Media outreach by Public Information Staff
• Web-based materials about ecology and its applications
• Publications
• Ecology Summer Day Camp
• Partnerships and collaborations with land managers and decision makers