Follow A Researcher and Other Updates

 

Hello Wonderful Supporters,

We have many exciting new updates and felt a lab note was long overdue. So here goes!

In order to finish what you all helped us start last year, we are beginning to gear up for another trip to the Falklands this coming January! We are purchasing plane tickets, contacting landowners, scouring maps, amassing gear, testing out the new corer, and dreaming of penguins, pre-historic fox-loving people, and the unique landscapes only the Falklands can offer.

We have recently taken on two undergrads to help us process the samples we collected last December. Together, we’re putting in long days and nights in the lab processing core samples centimeter by centimeter for charcoal analysis, teaching and learning the ins and outs of lab life.

 

Dulcinea visited the Falklands in August to set up rain collectors at various locations throughout the islands. She has enlisted the help of local landowners as citizen scientists who are helping her collect monthly data from the rain collectors. She visited several exciting new locations and made fantastic connections with locals throughout her trip. It sounded like quite the adventure! You can expect a lab note from her detailing her trip soon.

Follow A Researcher

In other news, I am excited to report that I have partnered with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and 4H and will be the principal researcher in the second year of the Follow A Researcher program. This program is designed to connect K-12 students to graduate student researchers from the University. I was privileged to be part of the first round of this program last March when I went to Peru with a fellow graduate student on an ice coring expedition.

In essence, this program allows kids to experience the scientific process through direct interaction with student researchers, and virtually participate in field expeditions. Because the program is in its infancy, we have had a blast this semester coming up with new and exciting ways to make the program as engaging and fun as possible. I have been working hard all semester to develop a series of short videos that will be released weekly during our expedition, that frame my research within the context of the Next Generation Science Standards. Teachers can incorporate these videos along with our written activity suggestions into their classroom curricula and can participate in weekly Twitter Q & A sessions with me from the Falklands. I am coupling this with as many classroom visits as I can possibly fit in both before and after the expedition, as I feel direct interaction can be really powerful. Please note, classroom visits are not limited to Maine!

We reached over 40 classrooms across the country on last year’s Peru expedition and are hoping to continue to broaden the audience. Since this is such a new program, our main aim at this stage is to spread the word far and wide and get as many classrooms involved as possible. If you know classroom teachers, have children, or want to participate yourself, all of the information on the program is available online. The program is completely free and is accessible to all ages. Check out the link below for details and the intro video that I put together, complete with video footage from our December expedition that you made possible!

 http://umaine.edu/4h/youth/follow-a-researcher/ 

Please let me know if you have any questions or want more information! My e-mail is catherine.hamley@maine.edu.

Thank you for your continued support!

Cheers,

Kit