An educator's audience....

As an educator by training it is so difficult for me to work independently!  I've always relied on input and feedback from my audience to shape the next steps.  Nowadays there are so many neat digital tools, such as this blog, that can play an important role in education, especially for folks like me who's audience is not just the local groups I work with but the whole United States.

Luckily, though, I have some great folks in our Tucson community who are interested in phenology and in learning more about the natural world through Nature's Notebook.  This gives me a place to test new ideas and get feedback on the materials I'll share with others who are interested in adding a citizen science program like Nature's Notebook to their repertoire. 

S. Schaffer

Most recently I've taught local groups of Master Gardeners about phenology and engaged them in collecting data for Nature's Notebook at their demonstration gardens.  The Master Gardener program is a nationwide group of university-trained volunteers who serve as community educators and are able to answer locally-focused gardening questions.  Check it out: http://www.extension.org/mastergardener. Phenology is very important to gardening, including information about when to plant, what to plant that will grow in your area, how to manage pests in your garden, when things bloom, how to attract pollinators, and so much more.  Yet many people don't realize what they are already paying attention to is phenology! 

This is the second year I've taught the class - last year I was not explicit about how phenology informs almost all of the Master Gardener topics.  The response I received was mostly that folks did not understand what phenology and Nature's Notebook had to do with gardening at all and that it was a waste of time.  This year, I took the time to rework the content and talk more about ecology, climate zones, planting guides, botany, and phenology applications for each Master Gardener topic.  I also folded in information about how climate informs all of those things.  The response was much better - people were excited and engaged with the natural world and understood fully that what they observe in the garden is phenology. The classes are also collecting data for Nature's Notebook and will be developing their own garden calendars for the demonstration gardens from the information they collect over time. After a few years we will have enough data to see trends and averages.

All of this would have been more difficult to determine if I didn't have an audience to test it on!  I certainly rely on feedback from the participants and other educators to make the best lessons I can.  I'm hoping that folks who read this blog and participate in citizen science programs, like Nature's Notebook, will also offer ideas and suggestions about things that work for them.  If you've got any phenology activities that you'd like to share, including those that do not use Nature's Notebook, please email them to me and I will post them on our Educator's Clearinghouse for others to use.  The best ideas are often crowd sourced in some way.  

Creating community

L. Barnett

So... as an educator it is important to me to exist in a community.  Teaching doesn't happen in a vacuum and it is a constant cycle of trying something, processing the experience, reworking, and most importantly sharing what you've learned with others.

I've taught in many different settings over the last 20 years - mostly non-formal (or informal) but also in the classroom.  Some of the most important lessons I've learned have come from my students, both youth and adults.  Lessons such as patience, learning to understand that it is about the learner (student) and not only me, and each time I am in front of a class it is a new and different experience, even if you are teaching the same content.  The most important lesson, though, is that understanding what you are doing must be meaningful to both the learners and the leaders.  Without a meaningful experience, true learning cannot occur.

I've decided to create this blog as part of my work for the USA National Phenology Network.  As the Education Coordinator I'm charged with developing resources to engage participants (individuals and groups) in science learning and appreciation for the natural world.  The education I do serves the science our organization supports and encourages participation in citizen science.  The hope is that educators teaching about phenology (the study of life cycle changes in plants and animals and species relationship to a changing climate), for any organization, school, agency, association, or group will participate and contribute valuable ideas for sharing phenology education with others.  Essentially I'd like to build a community of practice for phenology education, making meaning for all of us (educators and students) about the science of phenology and its application to everyday life.

That said, this shouldn't be one-way  communication.  I'd like to rely on the knowledge of many practitioners to contribute to the whole and not just me on a soap box - I don't particularly like lecturing with no feedback or engagement :).  Great ideas will be posted and shared on our Education website for everyone to see. We can all learn from each other about what works and doesn't, what the most important messages are, and what is the best way to make phenology meaningful enough to people that they understand it and share it with others.

So let's add a group of people to the path in the picture!