Check out this snapshot from of EcoReach coordinator, Carolyn Cummins, demonstrating the beginning of the Water Cycle dance.

The post Virtual Connections: From Microbes to Water! appeared first on EcoReach.

February’s library event was all about “Squishy Science”! EcoReach member Mia lead an event inspired by an activity posted in Scientific American. Titled, “Squishy Science”, this activity was all about extracting DNA from strawberries! We had around 15 students participate in this fun and very interactive lesson.

Students were able to participate in almost every step of the process! They got to mush up strawberries, make the funnels, and strain the fruit. By the end of the activity students could see milky, white DNA strands at the bottom of their bottles. The final step of the process was using a bamboo skewer to separate the DNA from the rest of the strawberry.

The post February 2020 Library Event appeared first on EcoReach.

Students learned about the multitude of functions an insect group can perform. For example, they learned about wasps which can act as pollinators, predators, and even parasitoids! The classroom was also surprised to learn that flies also act as pollinators and with over 120,000 species, they got to see a glimpse of the dazzling array of shapes, colors, and sizes they come in. The biggest surprise of the day for the class was that even mosquitos can be pollinators!

Overall, the students came away with some important lessons. They got to review the process of pollination, different pollination processes, new pollinator groups, and the importance of pollination services. Next time the students are outside, we hope they will be able to differentiate between insect pollinator groups! Stay tuned for more lessons from our ongoing pollinator series.

The post Pollinator Series- Insects galore appeared first on EcoReach.

In the last lecture, students were introduced to four key pollinators groups: birds, bats, bees, and butterflies (lots of b’s!). Our speakers provided fun slideshows explaining the intricate process of pollination. Students also got to see a slow motion video of the pollinators in slow motion that show cased the adaptations vital for pollination.

Over the upcoming weeks, more lectures will be given that will go into finer detail about the powerful relationship between pollinators and plants. Each of the four pollinator groups will receive more attention, so stay tuned for updates as the students get informed on the world of pollinators!

The post Pollinator Series 2020- Bees, Birds and Beyond! appeared first on EcoReach.

Scouts spent the morning learning about the history of environmental science, environmental terminology, and an introduction to different types of pollution. They then got to go to Tanyard Creek. There, they learned about recent efforts to restore the creek and surrounding areas.

After lunch, the Scouts broke into small groups to do a number of activities. Activities included an Oil Spill clean up, a worm experiment, and a lesson on the Endangered Species Act.

Following another short break, the Scouts learned about resource conservation. They also learned how to alter their daily habits. They also had a panel discussion on careers in Ecology.

The post Boy Scout Merit Badge Day 2020 appeared first on EcoReach.

EcoReach put on two of their monthly Library Events for November and December! These events are open to elementary school-aged students around Athens-Clarke County. They involve an easy, interactive science project geared towards some aspect of ecology.

November 2019

November’s library event was ran by PhD student Izzy Ragonese, and it was all about butterflies! There were half a dozen students that attended the event. During the presentation, they talked about the life-stages of butterflies and other fun facts about monarchs. Later in the talk, Ragonese and fellow EcoReach member Kelsey Solomon brought out live monarch butterflies for the students to observe!

Following the live butterfly demonstration, students learned how to make origami butterflies! By the end of the event, the students had gotten to enjoy butterflies and take home a “butterfly” of their own.

December 2019

At EcoReach’s December library event, we had another turnout of about a half-dozen students! December’s event was a lively challenge-type activity. Students had sheets of tinfoil and various weights. Their challenge was to make a tinfoil boat that could hold the largest amount of weight. They tested their boats in a tub of water, and watched to see which boat floated the longest!

The post November-December Library Events appeared first on EcoReach.

EcoReach got a jumpstart into 2020 at the ACC Science Fair!

On January 11th, EcoReach sent six booths to present different ecology-related topics to the ACC Science Fair. We also had the honor of presenting the EcoReach Ecology and Environmental Science award to two middle school students!

Each booth featured a specific presentation or activity for students to participate in. At “The Wonderful World of Diatoms”, students were able to look at an actual diatom through a light microscope. Other booths let students play fun and educational games!

Mia Rochford’s booth, “Seed Fight Club”, taught students about seed dispersal in a competitive atmosphere! They used craft materials to create wind-dispersed seeds. Overall, EcoReach saw over 50 students visit the booths!

Finally, EcoReach was proud to present two students with the Ecology and Environmental Science award! They won for their presentation about Human Impacts on the Environment. This was the second year EcoReach gave out the award.

The post ACC Science Fair- January 2020 appeared first on EcoReach.

The post Society for Freshwater Science Meeting 2019 – Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the Freshwater Sciences appeared first on EcoReach.

When people hear the word “ecology,” it often sparks a traditional idea of the term— they are perhaps reminded of their early science classes and think of food webs or producers and consumers. According to Merriam-Webster, ecology is defined as “a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments.” This broad definition widens the scope of what people typically think ecology is comprised of and reveals its interdisciplinary nature. It is this very nature that allows ecology to have many applications, including examining the interrelations between human beings and their environments, as Lawrence Green, Lucie Richard, and Louise Potvin imply in their 1996 paper “The Ecological Foundations of Health Promotion.”

As we enter this field thinking of human beings, their environments, and their behavior, we tread on the territory of health promotion and public health. These disciplines have long been influenced by ecology. There is even theory based in an ecological approach to health promotion, which has foundations as far back as Darwin’s concepts for the web of life, the role of the environment, adaptation, and survival (Green et al. 1996).

The application of these traditional ecological concepts to human communities is so important because of how dependent public health is on one’s ecosystem. In fact, Green et al. (1996) frames public health as “a product of interdependence between individual and subsystems of ecosystem” including health influences like family, community, culture, and physical or social environments. This means that there must be enough resources within a community for conditions to be conducive for a healthy lifestyle, including information, education, and the ability to make choices about health, and that health promotion professionals must advocate for this culture change.

There are many ecological concepts which inform public health and health promotion as well—including reciprocal determinism, which mirrors one of the core missions of public health: to “empower individuals by giving them control over determinants of health” (Green et al. 1996). There is also environmental specificity, which plays an important role in behavior theory and tells health promotion specialists that people behave differently in different environments.

Some health promotion specialists struggle to embrace this ecological model of public health because it is complex and all-encompassing. Ecological approaches to health promotion are oftentimes passed over for easier or cheaper strategies which are typically media-based and individually oriented. It is simpler to root for small changes in individual health behavior over time than for a shift in an entire community’s culture. However, in a Western society that puts so much emphasis on individual achievement, it is important to remember our foundations as social creatures and to remember how crucial a supportive and productive environment is to public health and to life in general.

For health promotion specialists, this means working on creating sustainable systems and communities that encourage people to take part in health behaviors, rather than just urging them to find their own willpower and discipline to do it all independently. The idea of seeing things as communities or united systems is a powerful thought that is well-established in ecology and public health; it is a lesson to be learned from the scientific community, something which can and should transcend all disciplines.

References: Green, Lawrence, et al. “The Ecological Foundations of Health Promotion.” The American Journal of Health Promotion, vol. 10, no. 4, 1996, pp. 270-281.

The post Interdisciplinary Ecology: Championing Community (Opinion Piece) appeared first on EcoReach.

The post Career Presentation at Starling Elementary School appeared first on EcoReach.