Scientific Communities of Practice: A K12 Outreach Model That Supports Authentic Scientific Inquiry Around Very Long-Term Studies

Abstract

Scientific outreach to K12 education typically centers around the direct dissemination of scientific findings or by engaging students in citizen science data collection. Rather than viewing science outreach purely through the lens of knowledge transmission or through the lens of specific data collection practices, we present a view of science outreach as a bridge to bring K12 students into ecologists’ communities of practice. We exemplify this outreach model using the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Schoolyard program as an example. The schoolyard program brings middle-school and high-school students into the Luquillo LTER community of practice through authentic scientific inquiry with long-term ecological data. Long-term data provides an essential means for students to investigate large-scale, long-term phenomena and develop essential data science skills.