Educators and Citizen Scientists

A variety of projects and resources are available to citizen scientists and teachers who wish to get involved in data collection:

Local to the Plum Island/Great Marsh area:

Invasive species removal:  Locally, Citizen’s groups and teachers can become involved with invasive species removal of purple loosestrife and perennial pepperweed through the Mass Audubon's Salt Marsh Science Project.  More general information on invasive plants and educational materials are available on the Mass Audubon Invasive Species web site.

The Parker River National Wildlife Refuge has self guided tours and a great deal of information for visitors. 

Adopt a Bass Striped Bass tagging project tracks stripers in Plum Sound area and elsewhere.

The Encyclopedia of Life website has information and pictures of all species known to science.

Great photos of salt marsh invertebrates from Plum Island, as well as some interesting natural history facts can be found on the web site of marine ecology scientist David Samuel Johnson: Saltmarsh Photos

       

Regional and National:

NOAA Climate Education Resources Four modules are available for teachers to use in the classroom to help students understand the earth’s climatic processes. The modules cover the carbon cycle, changing seasons, climate change impacts, and climate monitoring.

Project BudBurst is designed for individuals or groups to make regular observations of a plant(s) in their local area.  The web site has all of the information you need to chose and identify plants in your area and record changes over the season.  This information is being collected throughout the country and helps scientists track regional changes in climate. 

The US National Phenology Network brings together citizen scientists, government agencies, non-profit groups, educators and students of all ages to monitor the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States. The site contains many suggested activities and many plant and animals that could be monitored.  The Educators’ Clearinghouse houses educational materials (lesson plans, activity guides, syllabuses, project design plans), to provide a convenient and growing collection of resources on phenology learning both inside and outside of the traditional classroom setting.

NOAA Sea Grant offers a variety of resources  for teachers at  NOAA Seagrant Educational Resources.

The Bridge, supported by the National Sea Grant Office, the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), and the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA) is an excellent site which continues to grow.  The Bridge is collection of marine education resources available on-line. “It provides educators with a convenient source of accurate and useful information on global, national, and regional marine science topics, and gives researchers a contact point for educational outreach.”  The site contains many lesson plans.