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EnvironMentors Chapter Core Requirements 2012-2013 NCSE-supported EnvironMentors chapter host universities must be a dues paying member to NCSE's University Affiliates membership program. It is also expected that chapter host universities assemble a chapter team including at least one director, one coordinator, and one student liaison 1, all of whom can commit to at least one program year.

In addition, NCSE EnvironMentors chapters commit to the following goals, strategies, and activities: Program Essentials 1. Chapters to set a student completion goal based on chapter program structure (recommended student target at 8 to 15+). End of the season student retention should be at least 60% 2.

2. EnvironMentors programs take place over a minimum seven-month program period (five months of students and mentors paired, and three months of students conducting and analyzing experimental research).

3. Host regular EnvironMentors meetings over the seven-month program period where chapter staff can support student-mentor relationships and projects through programming and events.

Core EnvironMentors Experiences EnvironMentors has identified four core areas that encompass the pillars of the EnvironMentors experience that include mentoring, experimental research, environmental stewardship, and college access. The following core requirements have been structured to ensure that students will have meaningful experiences in each of these areas.

1. Pair each student participant with at least one designated mentor per academic year.

2. Regular, in person student-mentor meetings to occur at least three times per month or 3 hours per month for a 5-month period (minimum15 student-mentor contact hours).

3. Conduct at least one mentor and mentee training event for participants.

4. Student completion of inquiry-based experimental research project that includes hands-on, field, laboratory, and/or social science research and present and communicate their findings.

5. Host skills workshops 3 that guide students through development of projects based on application of the scientific method.

6. Organize at least two field experiences over the program year for students and mentors.

7. Utilize college campus and resources to prepare students for college experience.

1

This could be a teacher or additional coordinator, preferably someone who will be regularly in contact with students.

As evidenced by the number of students competing at chapter fairs.

3 Examples of workshops include: Scientific Method, Scientific Writing/Background Research, Experimental Design, and Data Analysis. See Coordinator-Teacher Manual for PowerPoint Presentation Templates.

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Program Evaluation 1. Administer pre and post program student surveys and send completed surveys to national office within four weeks of program start and end date.

2. Complete and submit the chapter post program survey before National EnvironMentors Fair.

Program Tracking 1. Contact information for chapter director, coordinator, and partner teacher (September) 2. List of students’ and mentors first/last names, contact information, and demographics (October) 3. Number of student and mentor contact hours (monthly) 4. List of student-mentor pairings (November/December) 5. List of students’ general project topics (November/December) 6. List of student names completing the program and presenting projects at chapter fairs (April) 7. List of student names, project titles, abstracts, and a copy of research paper for students competing at the National EnvironMentors Fair (April/May) 8. List of graduating seniors (current class and alumni), graduation status, and college choice (May/June) 9. Student Drop Forms for any student who leaves the program (ongoing)

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Core EnvironMentors Activities ACTIVITY EnvironMentors Orientation Event

DESCRIPTION The Orientation Event is traditionally an upbeat and fun event to provide an opportunity for students and mentors to meet one another for the first time, learn more about the program, and consider whom they might like to work with as a mentor or mentee.

TIME FRAME September

Kick Off Event

The Kick Off Event introduces students and mentors for the first time in a non-threatening, group setting. Student-Mentor Manuals will be distributed and each mentor-mentee pair will work through the Getting to Know You pages and submit completed Student Mentor Commitment Forms.

September/October

Mentor/Mentee Training Workshop

This workshop will provide a deeper understanding of the roles of mentors, the fundamentals of a mentoring relationship, and review the program calendar and expectations.

September/October

EnvironMentors Meetings

EnvironMentors meetings are where students receive the EnvironMentors curriculum, workshops, events, or meet with their mentors. It is best to have EnvironMentors meetings at least once a month, in a place that has the necessary resources needed for that meeting (i.e. computers with internet access for research).

Throughout the Year

Scientific Method and Project Design Workshop

The project design workshop will give students a greater understanding of the scientific method. Students will learn the difference between independent, dependent, and controlled variables, as well as experimental methods, sampling techniques and create a materials list.

November

Scientific Writing Workshop

This workshop is to familiarize your students with proper scientific writing techniques. Students will receive tools for best conveying their data, conclusion and discussion.

November

Background Research Workshop

This workshop will review the process of conducting a Literature review and annotated bibliography, including primary and secondary sources of information and citation guidelines.

December

Experimental Methods Workshop

The experimental method workshop will present tools to help students develop a detailed materials list, and replicable experimental procedure.

Students will also learn how to accurately collect, record and interpret scientific data.

February

Lesson Planning and Presentation Skills Workshop

This workshop will equip students with skills for writing/implementing lesson plans for elementary school students and presenting to fair judges to prepare students for their elementary school and fair presentations. The workshop should address everything from project display to proper presentation attire.

April

Chapter Fair

The Chapter Fair represents the culminating event and ceremony for your students and mentors. Top three students from each chapter will go on to compete for college scholarship at the National EnvironMentors Fair in Washington, DC.

April

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Chapter Director’s Role The Chapter Director plays a lead role in organizing EnvironMentors at your university, developing ties with other colleges and departments on campus, developing the partnership with a local high school and teacher, recruiting mentors, and building additional financial and inkind support for the chapter within the university and community. The Chapter Director can be a faculty or staff member, or equivalent, with strong leadership skills in program and organizational development and management. A Chapter Director will commit approximately 10% – 15% time to devote to their chapter.

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Provide leadership and overall direction to program including fundraising and building support for program within the university and local community.

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Set overall strategic direction and goals for program to support the overall program mission of, “mentoring and motivating high school students from under-resourced communities as they conduct scientific research and acquire skills that will allow them to build careers and become more active stewards of their communities and the environment.”

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Support and supervision of the Chapter Coordinator, ensuring that all core program components as outlined in the chapter letters of agreement are being fulfilled.

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Identification of a partner high school and lead teacher(s).

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Develop the overall program budget and be responsible for the fiscal management of the program.

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Identification and cultivating strategic partnerships within the university and/or local community organizations to assist in delivering key components of the program.

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Assist Chapter Coordinator in identifying and recruiting mentors among faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students, and working professionals in your community.

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Participation in webinars and conference calls when available.

Chapter Coordinator’s Role Coordinators are the core disseminators of their Chapter's EnvironMentors program. The Coordinator is the liaison between the students and mentors, as well as the Chapter Director and Student Liaisons. In this sense it is important that Coordinators maintain strong communication between each individual within the EnvironMentors Program. In addition, Coordinators organize activities that will foster the learning of students and create a lasting relationship with mentees and mentors. Therefore the Coordinator role is valuable to the overall success of the EnvironMentors program. A strong Chapter Coordinator will commit approximately 50% or more time to their chapter; the best practices ratio is 20 hours per week for 15 students. The following are sample activities to be completed by Coordinators: •

Work with Student Liaisons at partner schools to identify and recruit a sustainable number of students for participation in your EnvironMentors program.

- Identify if the class integration model or club based model is best suited for your program - Develop your annual program calendar.

- Develop a student incentive package. (Example: A January fun field trip or pizza party for students who complete their background research papers.)

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Work with the Chapter Director to recruit mentors among faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students, and working professionals in your community to provide one-toone mentoring with your students.

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Coordinate EnvironMentors events including: program orientation, kick-off event, field trips, college access activities, and chapter fairs.

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Conduct a mentor and mentee training workshop and skills training workshops on topics of project design, science writing, experimental methods, lesson planning, and presentation skills.

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Oversee students and mentors, tracking student-mentor contact time, troubleshooting challenges with student participation and retention, and/or student-mentor relationships.

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Serve as main point of contact for mentors through weekly e-mail updates, regular phone and e-mail support, coordination of mentor social events and occasional one-onone in-person meetings.

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Keep EnvironMentors cohort on track with their projects and hold students accountable for all assignment deadlines.

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Participate in webinars, conference calls, and monthly calls with the national office.

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Make use of the EnvironMentors Community for communicating with your chapter participants and exchange of information and ideas with Coordinators from other chapters.

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Plan and conduct your Chapter’s Fair in April 2012.

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Track required student and mentor data and submit all chapter reports by designated due dates.

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Student Liaison's Role The EnvironMentors Student Liaison plays an important role in delivery of EnvironMentors at each university chapter’s partner high schools, and the success our students in the program overall. The best EnvironMentors programs result when the Student Liaison, Coordinators, and Mentors work collaboratively to develop the EnvironMentors program, support implementation of EnvironMentors at the school, and provide academic assistance students need to complete their projects and have a successful experience in the program.

Therefore, EnvironMentors asks student liaisons to work closely with the EnvironMentors Chapter Director and Coordinator to carry out the following activities: •

Determine if the EnvironMentors will be academically integrated into a particular science class or will operate on a club-basis.

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Collaborate with your Chapter Coordinator to develop a program calendar that includes assignment deadlines, events, workshops, field trips, and other activities.

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Integrate EM program calendar into your class curriculum or club based program.

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Work with your Chapter Coordinator to develop a student incentive package based on your students’ backgrounds and preferences that will link incentive rewards to specific assignments, or milestones.

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Assist your Chapter Coordinator with promotion of EnvironMentors at school and recruitment of students for the program within the class integration framework or for the club based model.

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Help Coordinator with planning and organizing of EnvironMentors events, workshops, and field trips, and ensure that students participate in events.

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Support all aspects of implementation of the EnvironMentors Curriculum with students (and mentors); including holding students accountable for assigned deadlines and making use of the grading rubric.

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Support all aspects of college access and technology integration components.

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Fully participate in all EnvironMentors Evaluation Program including administration of Pre- and Post-Program Surveys, qualitative research as defined for the year, student participation in longitudinal research, and focus groups.

Mentor’s Role Mentors are the foundation of your EnvironMentors program. Your mentors will provide their student-mentees with the knowledge, guidance, and support to develop and complete an inquiry-based science project based on an environmental topic of the student’s interest. To this end, EnvironMentors asks its mentors to commit to the following fundamental expectations of the program.

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Meet with their student once-per-week, or at least three times per month, at a consistent time and location that is convenient to both the mentor and student.

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Stay in contact with their student via phone, e-mail, and the EnvironMentors Community between in person meetings.

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Accompany their student to mentor-mentee skills workshops, field trips, and other scheduled events.

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Work closely with their student to elicit a research topic based on the student’s personal interests and concerns about the environment. Assist their student in development of a project poster or display board for presentation purposes at chapter and national EnvironMentors Fair

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Provide guidance and support for their students to develop the background research paper, design and conduct the experiment research, analyze the data, and develop conclusions for the project.

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Help their student best prepare for presenting at the chapter and national EnvironMentors Fair.

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Assist students as they consider various future college and career options with an emphasis on opening doors to environmentally-related college degree programs and professions.

Monthly Program Checklist MONTH August

Sept.

EVENT(S) Mentor Recruitment

Student Recruitment

ACTIVITIES CHECKLIST

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Submit chapter contact Information and signed chapter letter or agreement.

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Develop your 2012-13 Annual Chapter Plan.

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Meet with your lead teacher to determine whether you will coordinate your program through a class-integration model or some other credit earning experience, club-based model, or other innovative model.

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Develop your 2012-13 Chapter Schedule of Events and start filling out your Event Planning Form.

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Develop your student recruitment/retention strategy.

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Meet with your university’s Risk Management officer to discuss any additional coverage that may be needed.

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Conduct mentor recruiting and background checks on all mentors. See Mentor Recruiting.

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Plan and coordinate logistics for your field trips.

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Plan/coordinate your 2012-13 EM Program Orientation, Mentor/Mentee Training Workshop, and Kick off Events.

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Plan to participate in the September preseason planning

National EM Support Support: Preseason planning meeting on September 89.

Planning call with national EM Deliverables to National EM: Signed Chapter letter of agreement Chapter contact information 2012-13 Annual Chapter Plan 2012-13 Event Planning Form 2012-13 Schedule of Events

Support: Preseason planning

meeting First Meeting Program Orientation Optional College Access Training and Orientation for Mentors and Parents

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Student Liaison and Coordinators work together to recruit approximately 20 students. See Student Recruiting section.

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Send a letter to parents or guardians to introduce EnvironMentors and yourself. Review the letter with your students and send home a copy. Letters can be sent with a packet of permission slips, including any field trip permission slips, media waivers, evaluation permission slip, and FERPA waiver.

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Conduct your first student meetings. Work on developing good rapport and trust among your student group and review EnvironMentors student expectations.

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Promote your Program Orientation among your students and mentors.

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Administer pre-program survey to all students. Send completed surveys to national office.

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Put on your Program Orientation Event.

meeting Excel Templates for Students and Mentors Pre-Program Surveys Program Planning Templates and Samples Monthly Planning Call with national EM Deliverables to National EM Permission Slip Copies (Evaluations, Media Release, FERPA) Pre-Program Survey

October

October Webinar

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Attend October networking webinar

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Mentor & Mentee Training

Complete mentor recruiting and fill out a mentor contact spreadsheet to share with national EM office.

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Conduct a mentor training. The mentor training template and PowerPoint is available on the Online Community to help plan this event.

EnvironMentors Online community

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Develop a student excel worksheet with student contact information (home and cell phone, emergency contact, email address, home address, demographics, etc).

EnvironMentors Manuals (Electronic)

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Conduct a mentee training. The mentee training template and PowerPoint is available on the Online Community to help plan

Kickoff Event Field Trips Scientific Methods

Support: Program Planning Templates and Samples

Planning Call Deliverables to National

Workshop

Nov.

November Webinar

this event.

EM

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Conduct a kickoff event where your students will meet the mentors for the first time.

Mentor Excel Worksheet

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Have students and mentors establish their profiles on EnvironMentors Community.

Student Excel worksheet

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Conduct at least one field trips with students and mentors

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Conduct Application of the Scientific Method Workshop.

Profiles on the EnvironMentors Online Community

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Attend November capacity building webinar

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Work through Student Project Topic Planning and brainstorming exercises. Make sure mentors also work with students on these exercises.

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Based off of student-mentor interviews and preferences, match Student-Mentor Pairs. Collect all Student Program and Mentor Meeting Commitment Forms.

Science Writing Workshop Optional College Writing Workshop

Dec.

December Webinar Library Field Trip Winter Break Incentive Activity

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Follow up with mentors to ensure that their first independent Student – Mentor meeting successfully occurred.

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First Student Due Date: Student Project Topic Forms

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Conduct Science Writing Workshop.

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Plan a bridging activity for the December winter break to keep your group motivated.

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Optional: College Writing Workshop

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Attend December networking webinar

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Initiate literature review research for student’s background research papers.

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Coordinate a research trip to university library preferably with mentors.

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Guide mentors to work with their students on the Annotated Bibliography Assignment.

Support: Program Planning Templates and Samples Planning Call Deliverables to National EM Student-Mentor Pairing Excel Worksheet List of Student Project Topics

Support: Program Planning Templates and Samples Monthly Planning Call with EM National Deliverables to National EM

January

January Conference Call

February February Webinar Experimental Design Workshop

March

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Check in with students and mentors once a week to ensure that they are working with their students on the Expert Interview activity.

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Plan an incentive activity during the winter break for students and mentors.

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Consistently remind students and mentors of the due date for the Background Research Paper (mid/late January) as well as the date you have set for your Experimental Design workshop (early February).

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Attend January capacity building webinar

Support:

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Continue to check in with mentors and students to ensure that they are on track to complete their expert interview and annotated bibliography

Monthly Planning Call with EM National

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Provide a fun incentive activity and/or student incentive awards to motivate students to complete assignments.

Deliverables to National EM

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Attend February networking webinar

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Conduct the Experimental Design Workshop for students and mentors to learn about variables, materials lists, and various experimental procedures.

Support: Program Planning Templates and Samples

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Continue to stay in contact with students and mentors to ensure that students are conducting their experimental research.

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Have students update their profiles with their project topic and experiment on the EnvironMentors Online Community.

March Webinar

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Attend March capacity building webinar

Data Analysis Workshop

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Continue to encourage students to work on their research papers and experiments. Review the EnvironMentors National

Monthly Planning Call Deliverables to National EM Updated Profiles on the EnvironMentors Online Community Support: Program Planning Templates and Samples

Fair Evaluation Form in preparation for Chapter Fairs.

(Optional) Career Planning Workshop

April

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Conduct Data Analysis Workshop for students and mentors to learn data collection and analysis procedures..

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Optional: Begin planning for the Elementary School Presentations by identifying a local elementary school and speaking with administration about student presentations in April.

Deliverables to National EM Date of your Chapter Fair

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Coordinate the logistics for Planning Your Chapter Fair including in-kind product donations, fundraising, and identifying judges.

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Plan and conduct the Lesson Planning and Presentation Workshop.

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Optional: Conduct a Career Planning Workshop for students to make them aware of the availability of environmental science degree programs and careers, and review the college access concepts learned throughout the EM year.

April Webinar

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Attend April networking webinar

Lesson Planning and Presentation

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Help students and mentors complete their final research papers and prepare for their presentations

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Host your Chapter Fair and remember to take plenty of photos.

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Optional: Hold the Elementary School Presentations.

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Start coordinating logistics for attending the National EnvironMentors Fair in Washington, DC.

Deliverables to National EM List of Students who completed EM projects

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Attend the National EnvironMentors Fair and Awards Ceremony, May 20, 2013

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Complete the chapter, mentor, and student liaison evaluation reports for the national office.

List and Abstracts of Chapter Fair Winners Support: National EnvironMentors Fair and Awards Ceremony

Optional Elementary School Presentation Chapter Fairs May

Monthly Planning Call

National Fair

Support: Program Planning Templates and Samples Monthly Planning Call

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Administer the post program surveys to students and send directly to national office.

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR ENVIRONMENTORS SEASON!

Deliverables to National EM Chapter Post Program Report Student Post Program Surveys

Annual Chapter Plan 2012-13 EnvironMentors Program Season Section I: Mission/Vision 1) EnvironMentors mission is “to mentor and motivate high school students who are underrepresented in the sciences as they plan and conduct environmental research and acquire skills that will allow them to build careers and become more active stewards of their communities and the environment.”

In general terms, how would you articulate your chapter’s local mission? __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 2) How would you articulate you chapter’s vision or overall impact that you seek to make through your EM program? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 3) What are the overall goals you hope to achieve through your 2012-13 EnvironMentors program?

For you students: ___________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ For your mentors: ___________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ For your university/college (internal or external): __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ For your partners (high school or college access partners): __________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 4) On average how many hours a week will be committed to your EM chapter?

Chapter Director: _______________ Chapter Coordinator(s): _____________ Lead Student Liaison: _________________ 5) Based on last year's student completion number and taking into account your program abilities this year, and this year’s 60% student retention target, what is the targeted range of students you plan to recruit for the 2012-2013 year? __________________________________________________________________________

6) How do you plan to train and support your mentors throughout this year? Do you plan to have any incentive events or acknowledgements?

____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 7) How do you intend to support or strengthen student experimental research at your chapter this year? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 8) What college access activities do you plan to do in your 2012-13 program season? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 9) What field trips or environmental experiences do you plan to do in your 2012-2013 program? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 10) What chapter strengths and successes from past years do you hope to build on, and incorporate in your 2012-13 program? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 11) What new program strategies, activities, partnerships, and/or new college/university resources will you incorporate into your 2012-13 program to support your chapter goals? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 12) What challenges do you foresee to meeting your program goals/objectives? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 13) How will you engage your dean to support your EnvironMentors chapter? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________

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Section II: Chapter Contingency Plan The following situations are common challenges that occur during the program season. In order to best prepare you for unexpected events, please draft a strategy of how your chapter would handle the following situations: EM coordinator leaves during the program season: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Lack of funding to support your program this year: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ New university dean or administrator that is not familiar with EnvironMentors: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Student(s) has expressed fear of program expectations and wants to leave the program: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

Mentor(s) has expressed fear of program expectations and wants to leave the program: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

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Section III: Chapter Challenges Strategies Based on previous years’ challenges and the new core requirements, chapters are encouraged to create chapter strengthening plans to act as a strategic guide to troubleshoot challenges in their upcoming year. Chapter strengthening plans are specific to each chapter and its unique culture, and will act as a living document that will be reviewed and amended as necessary throughout the year during monthly calls with the national office.

Fill in the suggested chapter challenges or write in chapter specific ones that will apply to your chapter this year.

Chapter Challenge Example: Mentor time commitment

Top Solutions Assess mentor time commitments during mentor recruitment, flexible studentmentor meeting times, mentor incentives, group student-mentor meetings, or 2:1 mentor to student ratio.

Mentor’s have little time to commit to meeting with students

Students have little time commitment to mentors or other activities take priority

Student-Mentor Pairing is Not a Good Fit

Efficient use of StudentMentor Time

Improving Student - EM Chapter Staff Communications

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Notes Last year flexible meeting times worked for some but others rarely ended up meeting with their students. This year there should be more guidance during meetings.

Dealing with student remediation in core skills to complete the project

Low Parental Involvement

Low Faculty/University Engagement

Transportation Issues

Coordinator Time Restraints

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EnvironMentors Event Planning Form Event

Program Orientation

Logistics

Objectives

(Estimated cost, location, date, estimated number of people, materials and resources needed)

(What is the message, skill, information you want your participants to leave with)

Est. cost: $_______

Location:

Objectives

Kick Off Event

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Mentor/Mentee Training

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Field Trip

Est. cost: $_______

EM Component Covered

Measurable Outcomes

(Why is this event important?)

(What tangible outcomes will participants leave with- i.e. a skill students may learn)

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

Location:

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

Location:

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Date:

1

Potential Partners

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

Location:

Potential Partners

Potential Partners

Est. # of People:

Potential Partners (What organizations or groups would help plan this event)

Materials Needed:

Other

Materials Needed:

Other

Materials Needed:

Other

Materials Needed:

Objectives

Field Trip

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Field Trip

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Scientific Method & Project Design Workshop

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Measurable Outcomes

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

Location:

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

Location:

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Potential Partners

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

2

Potential Partners

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

Location:

Potential Partners

Potential Partners

Other

Materials Needed:

Other

Materials Needed:

Other

Materials Needed:

Other

Scientific Writing Workshop

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Background Research Workshop

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Experimental Methods Workshop

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Lesson Planning & Presentation Skills Workshop

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Location:

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

Location:

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

Location:

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Potential Partners

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

3

Potential Partners

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

Location:

Potential Partners

Potential Partners

Materials Needed:

Other

Materials Needed:

Other

Materials Needed:

Other

Materials Needed:

Other

Chapter Fair

Est. cost: $_______

Objectives

Location:

Date:

Measurable Outcomes

Est. # of People:

Env. Stewardship Research Skills College Access Mentoring

4

Potential Partners

Materials Needed:

Other

Chapter Calendar Template The Planning Calendar below provides a framework to build your own chapter’s EnvironMentors calendar.

Event

Student & Mentor Orientation and College Access Orientation Date: _________________________

To Do

Pre – Program Surveys Date: _________________________

Event

Mentor Training Date: _________________________

Event

Mentee Training Date: _________________________

Event

EnvironMentors Kick Off Date: ________________________

Field Trip

Field Trip Date: ________________________

Field Trip

Field Trip (Optional) Date: ________________________

Workshop

Elements of Project Design/Introduction to the Scientific Method Date: ________________________

Assignment Project Topic Form Due Date: ______________________ Holiday

Thanksgiving Break Date: November

Workshop

Science Writing Workshop Date: _______________________

Field Trip

Research Trip to University Library

Date: _______________________ Assignment Annotated Bibliography Due Date: _______________________ Holiday

Winter Break Dates: _______________________

Assignment Expert Interview Request Forms Due Date: _______________________ Assignment Expert Interview Notes Due Date: _______________________ Assignment Background Research Paper Due Date: _______________________ Field Trip

Incentive Trip (Optional) Date: ________________________

Assignment Hypothesis Form Due Date: _______________________ Assignment Experimental Method & Materials List Due Date: _______________________ Assignment Raw Experimental Data Due Date: _______________________ Holiday

Spring Break Dates: ______________________

Assignment Data Analysis, Discussion, & Conclusion Due Date: ________________________ Workshop

Environmental Career Awareness Workshop (Optional) Date: ________________________

Field Trip

Field Trip Date: ________________________

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Assignment First Draft Research Paper Due Date: ________________________ Workshop

Elementary School Lesson Planning (Optional) & Presentation Skills Workshop Date: ____________________________

Assignment Final Research Paper Due Date: ____________________________ Assignment Project Display Board or Poster Due Date: ____________________________ Assignment Elementary School Visit Lesson Plan (Optional) Due Date: ____________________________ Field Trips

Elementary School Presentations (Optional) Date: ____________________________

Event:

Chapter Fair and Awards Ceremony Date: __________________________ (must be before 4/15)

To Do

Post Program Surveys Date: __________________________

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Chapter Incentive Packages Student’s Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Rewards Each chapter has been provided funds through the Chapter Service Contracts to be used to create an incentive package of extrinsic rewards to help encourage students in developing their projects, completing assignments, participating in research and evaluation activities.

Developing student incentives is particularly important for chapters that conduct club-based model programs that do not include the academic accountability provided through the classintegration model.

Most students who join EnvironMentors are highly motivated in the early months of the program.

In reality, however, EnvironMentors is a long term project for a high school student to undertake.

TIP: Coordinators and teachers should explain the significance of each of the program’s major components, assignments, and milestones in the beginning of their EnvironMentors school year.

Students typically do well in the early weeks and months of the program. The going can get rough for many students after the Winter Holidays. Most students lose contact with their mentor over the winter break resulting in loss of focus on EnvironMentors and their projects.

TIP: Encourage your mentors to stay in regular contact with their students during your university’s break particularly since this is longer than the high school’s winter break.

Additionally, the background research paper, annotated bibliographies and expert Interview assignments are all due during the second half of the program after students’ winter break. At this time many students need a series of incentives to encourage timely completion of their assignments.

Student incentives and extrinsic rewards and the Program Calendar: Coordinators and Teachers are encouraged to work together to build incentives and extrinsic rewards into your program calendar aligned with spring due dates.

Types of Incentives and Motivators: Field trips (i.e. a hiking, skiing, or a skating trip); Movie or bowling nights; or Gift Cards to popular retail outlets or movie theatres.

Plan In Advance: Whatever you determine is the best use of your incentive funds for extrinsic rewards, planning in advance for: what you will include in your incentive package and how and when you will allocate these incentives will go a long way to supporting your students in completing their projects during the crucial latter months of the program.

EnvironMentors Education Context & Relevant Education Styles Case Statements • Studies have found that our current national science program initiatives for K-12 education are still wanting.1 • Many students get discouraged from science during their high school experience; therefore it is important to cultivate their scientific curiosity while they are still young.2 • Latino and African American science proficiency scores are typically lower than that of their Caucasian Americans counterparts.3 • Mentors and Formative Experiences help form a student’s selection of science as a college/career path.4 • Positive outdoor experiences help improve academic achievement in science, powers of observation, and increase capacities related to empirical observation and analytical examination.5 Principles: • Mentors should… be pre-matched and have comprehensive mentor training and support maintain consistent interaction with their mentee. practice relationship-building based on trust and enthusiastic leadership by the mentor.

•

Science learning should… be student directed and learner centered. make science relevant to the learner’s everyday life. facilitate a process by which one’s separate influential spheres (family, school, jobs) overlap to increase the depth of learning. build on students’ prior knowledge.

Involve inquiry based learning.

Include presenting and defending student obtained results.

•

Informal Science and Environmental Education… needs to have parental involvement or support to some extent. should include Place-based learning in which student become familiar with their own community as a context for learning about environmental content and issues. should breed awareness to action in which the mentor facilitates a process through which the mentee progresses from awareness of an issue to acquiring the knowledge, attitudes, and skills to take action regarding that issue based on the learner’s own conclusions.

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[NRC] National Research Council. 1996. National Science Education Standards. Washington (DC): National Academy Press.

Brainard, Suzanne G. Ph.D. and Linda Carlin. “A Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Women in Engineering and Science.” Frontiers in Education Conference, 1997.

3 Johnson, Clarence and William Allan Kritsonis, PhD. “The Achievement Gap in Mathematics: A Significant Problem for African American Students.” DOCTORAL FORUM: National Journal for Publishing, 2006 - nationalforum.com

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4

Wai-Ling Packard, Becky and Dam Nguyen. “Science Career-Related Possible Selves of Adolescent Girls: A Longitudinal Study” Journal of Career Development. (Springer, Netherlands: Volume 29, Number 4). June, 2003.

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Hofstein, Avi; Sherman Rosenfeld. “Bridging the Gap Between Formal and Informal Science Learning.” Studies in Science Education, 19408412, Volume 28, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 87 – 112.

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facilitates active and long-term learning.

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Place-based education Place-based education is a holistic approach to education, conservation and community development that uses the local community as an integrating context for learning at all ages. It fosters vibrant partnerships between schools and communities to both boost student achievement and improve community health and vitality--environmental, social and economic. Project-focused and inherently tailored by local people to local realities, place-based education is relevant to anyone, anywhere.i •

Characteristicsii o o o o

•

It emerges from the particular attributes of a place. The content is specific to the geography, ecology, sociology, politics, and other dynamics of that place.

It is inherently multidisciplinary.

It is experiential, including a participatory action or service learning component which can lead students to ecological and cultural sustainability.

It connects place with self and community. Students learning through the ecological lens make include multigenerational and multicultural connections as they interface with community resources.

Importanceiii o

o

Some critics of place-based education believe that the primary goal of schooling should be to prepare students to work and function in a highly technological and consumeroriented society. In contrast, place-based educators believe that education should prepare people to live and work to sustain the cultural and ecological integrity of the places they inhabit. To do this, people must have knowledge of ecological patterns, systems of causation, and the long-term effects of human actions on those patterns (Orr, 1994).

One of the most compelling reasons to adopt place-based education is to provide students with the knowledge and experiences needed to actively participate in the democratic process.

Inquiry-based science learning Through the process of inquiry, individuals construct much of their understanding of the natural and human-designed worlds. Inquiry implies a "need or want to know" premise. Inquiry is not so much seeking the right answer -- because often there is none -- but rather seeking appropriate resolutions to questions and issues. For educators, inquiry implies emphasis on the development of inquiry skills and the nurturing of inquiring attitudes or habits of mind that will enable individuals to continue the quest for knowledge throughout life.iv Content of disciplines is very important, but as a means to an end, not as an end in itself. The knowledge base for disciplines is constantly expanding and changing. No one can ever learn everything, but everyone can better develop their skills and nurture the inquiring attitudes necessary to continue the generation and examination of knowledge throughout their lives. For modern education, the skills and the ability to continue learning should be the most important outcomes. v •

Inquiry Learning Processvi o

Start with an open-ended question or demonstration (as opposed to beginning a lesson with definitions and explanations).

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o o o o o

Gather responses and subsequent questions from students with little comment or direction.

Require students to collaborate on designing experiments or methods of inquiry.

Student teams conduct experiments or gather data.

If time allows, re-evaluate question based on new data and re-experiment or collect new data based on revised question.

Students present findings as an oral presentation, a poster presentation or an evaluative write-up.

Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound Model Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound (ELOB) is an intense school reform model in which every aspect of a school promotes an experience-based approach to education. That means students learn their core academic subjects through using the City itself as a classroom. Students’ educational experiences revolve around expeditions — long-term, in-depth studies of a topic or theme that involve field work, service, adventure, and a cumulative final project or performance. The model focuses on character growth and teamwork, using the motto ‘we are all crew, not passengers’.vii •

ELOB Principlesviii o An emphasis on character and academic development; o Social commitment, vision, and service; o Cooperation and healthy competitions against oneself and standards; o The importance of caring and intimacy, solitude and reflection and success and failure as means to and conditions for learning; o Respect for nature and the environment; o Diversity and inclusiveness in the classroom; o Creation of conditions in schools for all students to discover and construct meaning. o ELOB schools restructure schedules, school organization, teacher-student relationships, curriculum, professional development, and assessment to create and support a community of learners engaged in expeditions.

Student Centered projects In a student-centered classroom, students are encouraged to participate actively in learning the material as it is presented rather than being passive and perhaps taking notes quietly. Students are involved throughout the class time in activities that help them construct their understanding of the material that is presented. The instructor no longer delivers a vast amount of information, but uses a variety of hands-on activities to promote learning.ix Student-centered learning is about helping students to discover their own learning styles, to understand their motivation and to acquire effective study skills that will be valuable throughout their lives. To put this approach into practice, teachers need to help students set achievable goals; encourage students to assess themselves and their peers; help them to work co-operatively in groups and ensure that they know how to exploit all the available resources for learning.x Learning is thus more a form of personal development than a linear progression that the teacher achieves by rewards and sanctions. Errors are seen as a constructive part of the learning process and need not be a source of embarrassment. xi •

Principles: xii o The learner has full responsibility for her/his learning o Involvement and participation are necessary for learning o The relationship between learners is more equal, promoting growth, development o The teacher becomes a facilitator and resource person o The learner experiences confluence in his education o The learner sees himself/herself differently as a result of the learning experience

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________________________________________ 1

“What is Place Based Learning”. Promise of Place. 2008. http://www.promiseofplace.org/ Woodhouse, Janice L. and Clifford E Knapp. “Place. Based Curriculum and Instruction: Outdoor and Environmental Education Approaches”.

ERIC Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools (Charleston WV: 2000). http://www.ericdigests.org/20013/place.htm.

1 Woodhouse and Knapp.

1 “Workshop: Inquiry Based Learning. Concept to Classroom”. Thirteen Ed Online. 2004. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/ 1 Workshop: Inquiry Based Learning.

1 Franklin, Wilfred A. “Inquiry Based Approaches to Science Education: Theory and Practice.” Department of Biology, BrynMawr University. http://www.brynmawr.edu/biology/franklin/InquiryBasedScience.html 1 “NYC Outward Bound Opens Two New Expeditionary Learning Schools in Brooklyn”. (Bensonhurst, NY: 2007). http://www.nycoutwardbound.org/pdf%20and%20word%20files/NYCOBBrooklyn07.pdf 1 “Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound Program Description.” National Staff Development Council. http://www.nsdc.org/midbook/outward.pdf 1 Timberlake, Karen. “Using Student Centered Learning Strategies in the Chemistry Classroom”. Department of Chemistry, Los Angeles Valley College. (Valley Glen). http://www.karentimberlake.com/student-centered_classoom.htm 1 Hall, Brenda. “Student-centered Learning: Explorations in Learning”. (2006) http://secondlanguagewriting.com/explorations/Archives/2006/Jul/StudentcenteredLearning.html 1 Brenda Hall.

1 Brenda Hall.

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Class Integration and Club Model Benefits, Limitations, and Special Considerations Class Integration Model: Benefits Builds grade accountability into students participating in the program therefore providing a strong means of accountability to support individual student retention in the program.

Serves as a means to have a set day, time, and location during which students come together at least once per week or more during which students focus entirely on the EnvironMentors project.

Building continuity in meeting time, location, camaraderie, and team spirit among the EnvironMentors student cohort is vitally important to maintaining individual student retention over the course of the academic and EnvironMentors program year. The class integration model automatically supports this continuity.

For Student Coordinators, the class integration model offers you full support and partnership with the lead teacher, therefore providing you an additional support to maintain students’ participation in the program.

Limitations Due to scheduling constraints, the class integration model cannot insure that all the students enrolled in the class will strong interest in science and the environment and commitment to working with a mentor in the program.

Special Considerations Do everything possible to enroll only those students with a demonstrated interest in science and the environment into your class. This can be done by including EnvironMentors in the course title, or meeting with the incoming students before the year starts to explain the EnvironMentors Program.

Make sure that students understand the expectations of the EnvironMentors from the beginning.

EnvironMentors Club Model Benefits Provides a means to identify and enroll only those students who demonstrate strong interest in science and the environment into your “EnvironMentors Club”.

Students essentially volunteer to join the “EnvironMentors Club” and participate in all of the activities, field trips, and workshops, and meet all of the EnvironMentors Project assignments inherent in the program. Students demonstrate an intrinsic motivation to their involvement in the program.

Limitations

No grade accountability for a long term project may hurt voluntary student enrollment.

Therefore students lack extrinsic academic motivation to maintaining their participation in the program over the full academic and EnvironMentors program year. Motivation and participation are high during the fall when students participate in enjoyable activities such as field trips. Participation routinely drops after the winter holiday when students have to actually get to work to complete their Background Research Paper, and conduct their experimental research.

Special considerations: Do everything possible to identify a determined meeting time and location when and where students will meet at least once per week. This will help to build continuity, camaraderie, and team spirit among the EnvironMentors student cohort and therefore help to maintain individual student retention over the course of the academic and EnvironMentors program year.

Do everything possible to help foster students’ relationship with their mentor. If the relationship between the student and mentor is strong, they will be positively motivated to do well in the program in order to work well with their mentor. If the relationship with the mentor is strong, they will also be motivated by not wanting to disappoint their mentor.

Overall importance of developing cohort of students who demonstrate true interest in science and the environment and are exhibit true commitment that they want to be involved in the program.

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Student Liaison Planning Form In order to help map out how EnvironMentors will function at you school this year, please fill out the following guiding form and give a copy to your Chapter Coordinator.

School/Program Name: ____________________EnvironMentors Chapter:______________ Teacher/CA Provider Name:______________________________ 1) Why do you want EnvironMentors incorporated into your school/CA Program? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 2) In my school/ CA Program, EnvironMentors will be run as the □ Class-Integrated Model □ Club Model 3) Will you be integrating EnvironMentors into your curriculum? If so, How? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 4) Will you be grading the students’ EnvironMentors Assignments? If so, will you be using the EnvironMentors Grading Assignment Rubric? If not, what type of rubric will you use? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 5) Goal Number of Students to be Recruited: _______________________________ 6) EnvironMentors Meeting Location, Times, and Days: Room: ______________________________________________________ Building (optional):_____________________________________________ Meeting Day(s):_______________________________________________ Meeting Times: _______________________________________________ 7) With long-term projects, students need motivation to continue working through their projects. Please list some ideas you have for using the incentive money and keeping the students motivated. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

EnvironMentors 100 Point Grading Rubric Assignment 1: Student and Mentor Meeting Commitment Form= 5 points (2.5 pt. each)  Complete form and turn in by designated due date.  Completed form includes both student and mentor signatures.

Assignment 2: Project Topic Form= 5 points (1pt. each)  Develop a project topic of his or her personal interest, identifying the environmental issue, including root(s) of the problem that the project will address.  Describe the compelling need for the project in terms of importance to the community and the environment in approximately 100 words.  Clearly articulate in approximately 100 words the overall purpose and goals of the project that will be conducted using the Scientific Method to aid in investigation.  Pose an innovative and unique research question which to the best of his or her knowledge has never been addressed before.  Write an Introduction for the Final Research Paper combining all the previous points using proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling to communicate in a clear and concise manner.

Assignment 3: Annotated Bibliography= 10 points (2 pt. each)  Identify at least 3 credible books, professional journals, or newspaper or magazine articles related to project topic.  Identify at least 3 credible primary internet sources related to project topic.  Properly cite each source.  Prepare a summary in paragraph form of 100-200 words for each source.  Use proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling to communicate in a clear and concise manner.

Assignment 4: Expert Interview Notes= 10 points (2 pt. each)  Research field experts and identify most realistic top choices.  Contact 2-3 experts and set up an interview with at least 1.  Develop a thoughtful list of questions for the interview and send questions to interviewee in advance.  Before conducting the in-person interview, materials are prepared, and interviewer is dressed appropriately and on time.  Write and send a thank you note to the interviewee.

Assignment 5: Background Research Paper= 10 points (2 pt. each)  Paper is between 5-10 pages in length.

 Paper includes reference to the student’s Expert Interview, three primary internet sources, as well as three non-internet sources accompanied by proper citations.  Summary of ideas for investigating student’s main topic are included.  Presented research gives reader an idea of the direction of the research project, as well as initial hypothesis.  Entire body of work has a clear flow in paragraph form, without outstanding grammatical errors.

Assignment 6: Hypothesis Form= 5 points (2.5 pt. each)  Complete form and turn in by designated due date.  Completed form includes both Mentor and Chapter Coordinator’s initials.

Assignment 7: Experimental Methods and Materials List= 10 points (2 pts each)  Identify independent, dependent, and controlled variables including what quantity the student will measure, and how the measurements will be made.  Identify at least 3 experimental data sets and 1 control data set.  Identify a study site or sites that are suitable to conduct his/her research. To what extent does the student demonstrate an understanding of the need to return to the same study site(s) to conduct multiple experimental trials?  Write a detailed materials list including quantities, while also specifying items that might be difficult for the student to obtain.  Describe his/her sampling techniques and methods. To what extent does he/she clearly outline experimental procedures that follow a logical and systematic sequence of events needed to collect necessary observations and data?

Assignment 8: Raw Experimental Data= 5 points (2.5 pt. each)  Tables should be designed in an organized way that is easy to write in while actually collecting data in the field.  Record data in an organized way for all variables in the procedure, and any changes made to the procedure are noted. Meteorological conditions should be recorded for every specific day that data is collected.

Assignment 9: Data Analysis= 5 points (2.5 pt. each)  Organize the data in a useful manner, creating graphs that show important trends in the data.  Properly calculate mean, median, and mode and any other important statistics for the data in a way that helps illuminate the significance of the experimental results.

Assignment 10: Discussion and Conclusion= 5 pts (2.5 pt. each)  Write a clear discussion about the experimental results that is 2-3 pages in length.  Discussion includes information from all seven sections of the data interpretation worksheet.

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Assignment 11: Final Research Paper= 10 points (1 pt. each) Each of the following sections is written in paragraph form, without severe grammatical errors, helping to give the entire body of work clear flow and an adequate length of approximately 1012 pages:          

Title Page Abstract Introduction Background Research Experimental Method Results and Analysis Discussion and Conclusion References Acknowledgements Appendices

Assignment 12: Project Display Board= 10 points (2 pt. each)  All required elements are displayed including: project title, abstract, problem statement, research question, hypothesis, experimental procedure, materials list, map(s) of study site(s) location, results (tables of data and observations as well as graphs and charts), discussion, conclusion, and acknowledgements.  Required elements are displayed on board or poster in a clear and organized way.  Display is visually appealing and creativity is demonstrated throughout.  Individual conducts himself/herself professionally at the fair, including dressing appropriately for the event and discussing research topic with the judges.  Extra items are displayed on table including: extra copies of Abstract for judges, final copy of Research Paper in a 3-ring binder, and student’s EnvironMentors manual with all raw data and project planning information.

Assignment 13: Elementary School Visit Lesson Plan= 10 points (2 pt. each)  Student is prepared for lesson with planned activities and necessary materials to fill lesson time.  Lesson plan includes an interactive activity that demonstrates creativity.  Educational objective of the lesson is met, and the comprehensions of the elementary students are assessed.  Student’s diction while teaching reflects age group’s maturity.  Student is dressed appropriately and conducts him/herself professionally.

Total Points Earned: _______

Total Possible Points: 100

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Curriculum Standards Emphasized by EnvironMentors Scientific Inquiry: Raise Questions • Observe the world and identify questions of interest that can be investigated through experimentation using the Scientific Method.

• Demonstrate the ability to do background research on the topic and be able to recognize credible sources.

Investigate • Design an experiment with a testable hypothesis, and replicable procedure.

• Identify controls, as well as independent and dependent variables.

• Perform and record observations and measurements in an organized manor with consistency and precision.

• Choose appropriate tools and equipment available to accurately and precisely collect data.

• Properly use, store, and care for equipment, instruments, and materials.

• Practice proper safety techniques throughout entire investigation.

Analyze • • • •

Compare data collected from all experimental data sets.

Identify possible sources of lurking variables, uncontrolled variables, and experimental or human error that may have lead to inconsistent results.

Use appropriate technology such as graphing and statistical programs to analyze results.

Develop a conclusion after assessing reliability of results.

Communicate • Full understanding and application of the entire Scientific Method is demonstrated through Final Research Paper.

• Present and explain data comparisons from experimental data sets and trials using graphs and charts appropriate for each particular data set.

• The ability to communicate effectively while referring to a clear visual display.

Data Analysis and Statistics: • • •

The ability to calculate mean, median, and mode for a set of data and use terms effectively.

Students design their experiments using random sampling techniques, and understand the meaning of bias and how to avoid it.

Students present their data using appropriate graphical representation and are able to interpret them clearly.

Scientific Writing: Standard English Conventions • Proper use of grammar, diction, spelling, punctuation and capitalization is evident, as well as proper sentence and paragraph structure.

• Paragraph organization gives writing a flow that is easy for the reader to follow.

• Student writes to a professional audience demonstrated through appropriate diction, and possibly new vocabulary that is project specific.

Research Analysis • A clear understanding that the purpose of Scientific Writing is to build off of what is already known referring to published research, and then communicating the results of his or her own new research and what conclusions it has led to.

• Project topic and research question are developed using background research to gather information through field studies, experiments, interviews, electronic sources, journals and other texts.

• Incorporate background research into the Introduction of the research topic by looking at similarities and differences as well as conclusions of past and current studies on similar or related topics.

Style and Organization • While writing a scientific report, information is organized in the same format as a scientific journal with subsections including: title page, abstract, introduction, background research, experimental method, results and analysis, discussion and conclusion, bibliography, acknowledgements, and appendices.

• Student understands the difference between the active and passive voice, and learns to avoid the passive voice whenever possible.

• Student understands the difference between formal and informal English, and properly uses formal English in all Scientific Writing avoiding using the first person.

• Writing is clear and concise, avoiding long sentences that “run-on”.

• Integration of tables, graphs, and spread sheets into scientific journal style documents that can be referred to by a reader to enhance understanding of the entire document.

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College Access Suggested Activities (Optional) Activities College Access Training for Mentors & College Access Orientation

Description Mentors will be introduced to the college access expectations of being an EM Mentor. Mentors should be prepared to act as secondary one-on-one college access advisors to further the students understanding of the college access process.

College Access orientation will be in conjunction with the Kick- Off/Orientation.

Parent involvement in supporting the college access process is pivotal. This event will explain the college access commitments of both the students and the parents.

Study Skills and Time Management

This section will cover practicing good study habits and time management skills.

Students will be provided resources (based on grade level) to teach them how to organize and prioritize their academics, work, extracurricular (EnvironMentors) and volunteer activities for effective time usage.

In the process of organizing all of their activities students will identify all of their activities and begin creating a college access student portfolio. Stress the importance of a program like EnvironMentors in the college access portfolio/ process.

College Access Early Action & College Search

This workshop will cover the steps of college access for grades 9-12. Students (based on grade level) should be made aware of how to gear their high school courses, test scores, extracurricular activities, volunteer activities, jobs/ internships, and other portfolio building activities towards college access. Stress the importance of creating a student portfolio that showcases their work throughout high school.

This workshop will also introduce students to the college characteristics (type, cost, location, size, campus, etc.) that are important to consider when students are searching for suitable colleges. Students should also get an understanding of how to determine which colleges are in a realistic range for them to attend based on college characteristics.

Admissions Process

Students will gain an understanding of the college admissions process.

Important discussion topics for this portion of the workshop are college applications, admission essays, admission recommendations, SAT scores, admission interviews, and DEADLINES. Encourage senior students to register for the SAT/ ACT. This workshop would be best presented with break-out groups for each grade.

Standardized Testing

Students should have already taken the PSAT administered by their high

schools. This section will emphasize the importance of the resources available to students based on their PSAT. Upperclassman should receive information on registering, financing and preparing for the SAT/ ACT/subject tests. Also address the importance of preparing for AP course exams.

Financial Aid ParentStudent Night

Writing Workshop

Financial Aid is the most important aspect of college access and requires a lot of parent (guardian) involvement. Students and parents should learn the basics of how to secure funding for post secondary education. This workshop must stress the importance of the FAFSA and how it relates to obtaining other types of financial aid. Other financial aid sources such as loans, work study, grants and scholarships should be discussed as well.

Personal Statements are vital to the college application process. This workshop should provide students with writing tips and possibly writing activities to familiarize students with the proper approach to their college admission essays.

This activity will be an addition to the scientific writing workshop.

Career Planning & Environmental / STEM/ Other Post Secondary Degrees Awareness

The career planning workshop will expose students to the various careers in the environmental and STEM fields. Mentors, university faculty and other community professionals in these fields can present on their professions and other related careers. This workshop should also explain the educational paths that will prepare students for such careers.

College Life (A Day In the Life)

Students should have at least one experience with college tours, college presentations, and other on- campus informational opportunities.

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Technology Integration Information Sheet Introduction The EnvironMentors technology integration component will extend students’ research and learning through incorporation of social media to connect students within and across chapters.

While Technology Integration is not mandatory, it is highly suggested that students use the Online EnvironMentors Community and other online resources to deepen their EnvironMentors experience and research.

Online EnvironMentors Community which will support social networking among students with other students, mentors, and topic experts within and across chapters, as well as collaborative learning among chapter directors, coordinators, and teachers. Along with various communication avenues, the Online EM Community also has resources for student projects, College Access, STEM opportunities, as well as the EnvironMentors Manuals. All EnvironMentors-wide contests will require that submissions be done through the Online EM Community.

Tips for EnvironMentors Technology Integration Let students know that they will be establishing a personal and project profile for their EM project within the online EM community and encourage them to take pictures related to their project as early as possible.

Introduce students to NCSE’s Encyclopedia of Earth (EOE), (www.ncseonline.org/eoe) early on in the program to assist them in reviewing the expansive array of environmental issues and topics they might consider for their research. Hone in on their EM project topic; support students in conducting their literature review research; and identify topic experts for their expert interview.

Assist students with credibility assessments in online research including Scholarly Journals and online news sources.

Utilize Google Earth and Google Maps to enable students to virtually identify and help characterize their EM field research study site.

Work with Excel features to support students in organizing and analyzing their data as well as in developing tables, charts, and graphs to display their data.

Make use of Web Cams to allow students who may not qualify to come to Washington, DC for the national Fair and Awards Ceremony to virtually present their projects to judges in DC.

The Online EnvironMentors Community: Working Together, Learning Together, Growing together

(Optional) Section Getting to know your mentor Getting to know your cohort of EM students

Objective(s) Students will: - Post their profile and photo onto the online community - Blog about their first meeting with their mentor

The Scientific Method

Students will: - Use online sites to learn about the scientific method

Project Brainstorming

Activity PROJECT ACTIVITY 1 – Have students log into the EM online community (http://environmentors.net/) and complete their online profile (students must complete all profile fields to be eligible for the drawing) and post a photo to the community. The online community user’s guide will be provided with instructions on “how to” complete their profiles.

Supplemental Activity Reflective Blog – Have students write a reflection on their first meeting with their mentor. Include thoughts on the activity students did with their mentors and something interesting that they learned about their mentor. Post this on their My Project Page as a blog.

Student to Student Interviews – Pair EM students and have each pair interview each other, take a photograph, and upload this to their Profile Page.

Supplemental Activities Reflective Blog – Have students write about the scientific method, which parts of the method did they not understand? Which sections would they like to learn more about? What do they think is the most important stage of the scientific method?

- Use the EM online community to test their knowledge about scientific method

Mentor College Access Quiz – Have students talk with their mentor, what college or university did he/she go to? What type of university/college? What did he/she study? What are some of the universities in their state and what types of scientific research do they conduct? Students will post onto their My Profile Page EM one important piece of advice that their mentor gave about applying to colleges and universities.

-Blog about their experience learning the scientific method

Scientific Method Scavenger Hunt – Provide students with books, magazines, or online resources for each step of the science method. Ask each group to present information on what the procedure is in each step, why it is important, copy one or two examples to present.

-Blog about what they learned about college access from their mentor Students will: - Connect with the

Supplemental Activities A Walk in the Woods – Have students and mentors, or your student cohort, take a walk outdoors and take photos of things in nature that captivate their attention. Use these photos as

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The Online EnvironMentors Community: Working Together, Learning Together, Growing together

Project Planning

outdoors and develop ideas for projects

a basis to begin project brainstorming. Also, have student post their photos onto their My Profile Page.

- Connect to the NCSE Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE) website

Mind Mapping – The NCSE Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE) is a free online electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environment and their interaction with society. Have students find two articles of interest using the EoE website (http://www.eoearth.org/). Have students identify two or three ideas/issues in each article and complete the mind mapping exercise with their mentor found on page 49 of the Student manual.

Students will:

PROJECT ACTIVITY 2 Online Posting - Once students have narrowed down their ideas for project topics, have students post their project topic with a brief summary onto the EM online community My Project Page.

-Post Project Topic and Summary to online community -Begin to think about college

Supplemental Activities Connecting Students – After students have posted their project topic onto their My Project Page, have students read through the list of 2010-11 project topics on the online community (http://environmentors.net/projects). Are there projects similar to their own? Have students search for one or two students at other chapters that have similar interests and pose questions to these students on their My Project Page.

College Access Inquiry – Have students find 2 universities or colleges that offer degree programs related to their research. What other types of degree programs do these colleges/universities offer that sound interesting? What types of classes in high school do they need in order to apply to these schools? What is the deadline for application?

Background Research

Students will: - Post 2-3 sources found online to their EM project page - Use the EoE website to find credible online research -Use the EoE website to find an expert for

PROJECT ACTIVITY 3 Project Portfolios – Students will create a digital portfolio of websites, videos, and other articles related to their project topic and post 2-3 sources to their My Project Page.

Supplemental Activities Reflective Blog – Have students blog about the most interesting thing they have learned about the subject matter they’re studying? What is one surprising fact that learned while conducting their literature research? Have them post to their My Project Page as a blog entry.

Find an Expert - Have students search the EoE website (http://www.eoearth.org/) and identify 23 articles that are of interest and in their project topic field. Each article in the EoE has a lead author who can be contacted by following the link over the author’s name. Have students

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The Online EnvironMentors Community: Working Together, Learning Together, Growing together

students’ Expert Interview assignment

choose 2-3 articles of interest and send an email message to the lead author requesting an interview.

Video Search – Have students search through online versions of current newspapers and find videos on YouTube about their project topic that they will include in their annotated bibliography.

Post these videos onto their Profile Page.

Experimental Methods and Data Collection

Students will: - Post Research Question and Hypothesis to the online community - Post Experimental Methods to the online community -Use Google Earth and Google Map to locate study site

PROJECT ACTIVITY 4 Share Your Research Question – Now that students have begun their experimental research, have them post their research question(s), and hypothesis to their My Project Page PROJECT ACTIVITY 5 Experimental Research Photos – Have students locate their study site by using the Google Earth feature on the online community, post photos of their study site, their experimental research and/or EM field trips and activities to their My Project and/or Profile Page Supplemental Activities Satellite Imaging of Your Study Site – Have students use the Google Earth and/or the Google Map websites to locate their study site. Students can print these images out and post on their project poster.

Imagining Your Experiment - Have students develop a schematic illustration of the steps they will need to complete in order to carry out their experimental procedure. These step-by-step drawings will provide students a visual sense of the materials needed to conduct their experiment. From these drawings, have students make a list of the materials needed for their experiment.

YouTube – Have students create a video of their experiment and post on their Profile Page.

Reflective Blog – Have students blog about the most interesting and most challenging aspects of their experimental procedure? What are some of the solutions they have come up with to address these challenges? How has their mentor helped you through this process?

Communication Deadline

Students will: -Post conclusion and abstract to the online community

PROJECT ACTIVITY 6 Project Abstract – Now that students have completed their project research and carried out their experimental research, have students post a brief conclusion and abstract summary to their My Project Page on the online community.

Supplemental Activities Reflective Blog – Now that students have completed the academic year as an EnvironMentor,

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The Online EnvironMentors Community: Working Together, Learning Together, Growing together

what were some of the memorable moments shared mentors? With other EM students? What were some of the challenges being an EnvironMentors student?

Student-to-Student Interviews – EM students will interview each other (each from a different chapter) via webcam/Skype to learn more about each research project. Students will write one paragraph explaining their partner’s project and the environmental issue that it addresses. The interviews will be posted on the EM online community as a blog entry.

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EnvironMentors Community USERS’ GUIDE FOR STUDENTS 1. What is the EnvironMentors Community?

The Community (http://environmentors.net) is a place where you can: SHARE

CONNECT

LEARN

information about yourself and your project

with your mentor, chapter, and participants around the country

from issue experts, resources for research, and Encyclopedia of Earth

2. Getting Started Your Chapter Coordinator may send you an invite to the community or ask you to register at the beginning of the school year – either follow the invite link or go to: http://environmentors.net/user/register.

The registration form collects information used to create your account and profile (required fields marked with *): • Username*: create a username that you will remember (and other people will see).

• Email address*: this should be an account you check regularly so you can see if you have any new messages on the site (you can also set up text message notification).

• Password*: create a password that you will remember.

•

by clicking the Facebook button you will connect your EnvironMentors Community account to your Facebook account – this means you can sign in using your Facebook username and password (something you probably will remember more than your EnvironMentors username and password). This does not mean that we will have access to your Page 1

• • • • • • • • • •

Facebook account or that you will become friends with your coordinator or teacher – this is just an easy way for you to login in the future.

Program Year*: this sorts each year of people and projects – use 2012 for the 2011-2012 school year (you are the EnvironMentors Class of 2012). If you are returning from last year, select both 2011 and 2012.

Issues: If there is a particular issue you are interested in (energy, health, etc) select it on this list and you will join the Issue Group.

Picture*: we should be able to see your lovely face.

Firstname* and Lastname*: these need to be your real name.

Who Are You*: select the category that fits best (should start with Student…).

My Chapter*: choose your chapter (if it isn’t there check with your coordinator).

My Mentor: Check to see if your mentor has created an account (if they haven’t yet, you can edit this later).

Age, School, Books, TV, Movies, Music, Favorite Quote: Tell us a little more about yourself.

Theme Color: You can set your profile page to be green, purple or brown – which color reflects your personality? What theme colors should we add?

Captcha: enter the code so we know you aren’t a robot. Seriously.

If you ever want to change your profile settings, simply go your profile page and click the edit tab above your profile photo.

3. Getting Around the Site

Ok – you’ve got an account, now what? Here are some ideas:

Status updates: Just like on Facebook – go to your profile page, type in the comment box on the top of the page, and this becomes your status. Tell us what is going on with you.

Messages to your chapter orother students/mentors: Go to your chapter page and you will see a similar comment box – use it to post a message on the chapter “wall”. Or, find the profiles of other students or mentors in a chapter, go to their profile page, and add a comment to send them a message.

Friending: While you are on another user’s page, look for “Relationships With You” and click the link to become friends. Content posted by your friends will appear on your “Community Wall” page.

Photos: Next time you meet up with your mentor, bring a camera and take some photos. Then go to your profile page and look for the Upload a photo linkunder Student Menu below your profile photo to add photos to your profile page. Later in the year be sure to add photos of chapter activities or behind the scenes pictures of your research in the field or lab.

Video: Even better than photos – why not capture some video of you and your mentor, post it to YouTube (check with your chapter coordinator if you need access to a YouTube account), and then add it to the community. Once the video is on YouTube, look for the Add a video link under Student Menu below your profile photo to add videos to your profile page.

Basically, be yourself, have fun, and get to know other people around the country involved in EnvironMentors.

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Sample Profile Page:

4. Your Project So, this is all about EnvironMentors, right? We want you to share a little about your project – what are you working on? How is it going? Any questions for experts (mentors and chapter staff) from around the country?

First…

Create Your Project Page: On your profile page, look for the Create a project link under Student Menu below your profile photo, and click on it to create your project page. Here are the things you need to enter for your project (required fields marked with *): • Project Title*: Something that clearly explains what your project is about.

• Project Photo*: A photo that illustrates your project topic (at first you can use something from an internet search, but then you can replace with a photo taken during your project).

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• • • • • • Next…

Issues: Please select the issue your project most relates to (you can select more than one) – this is required to be eligible for the issue-based scholarships at the National Fair.

Project Description: At first, use this box to tell us about your topic and hypothesis. As you make progress over the year, you can add more here – explain your methods, results, etc.

Tasks: Check off everything you have completed on your project – as you do more through the year, check off more to keep your project page up to date.

Location: If you are working at a field site, tell us where by adding info about the location.

Project Links: Are you working on a Google Doc or Spreadsheet that you would like to attach to your project page – just add the link here (your coordinator can help you figure out how to use and share Google Docs for your project).

File Attachments: You can also post documents that you created for your projects to your profile page to share with your chapter coordinator or mentor.

Project Comments: On your project page you will see a comment box (just like on the profile or chapter page) – add a comment here to give us an informal update on your project, like how your day in the field went or something your mentor did to help with your project that you want to share with the community. This is basically your project blog.

And…

Photos/Videos: Don’t forget that you can add photos and videos of your research project that will show up on your profile page (see the instructions above). Also, keep an eye out for photo contests – you could win prizes just by posting a few photos.

And, of course, you can keep updating your project page over the course of the year, so be sure to keep it up to date!

5. The Community Is Here To Help!

The first part of using the community is getting your profile and project page set up, but there is so much more you can do. Here are some ideas: Looking for project ideas? Check out the Projects page or the Chapter Projects box for previous years’ projects to see what other students have done.

Looking for an expert? Mentors from around the country are an incredible resource and can help you with your expert interview. Go to the Mentors page and use the Expertise menu to list the mentors who might be able to help and then leave a message on their profile page. Or go to the Issues page related to your project to start see what people are working on and to start a new conversation.

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Looking for more info about your topic? Encyclopedia of Earth (aka EoE, www.eoearth.org) is an amazing resource for online research (it is basically like Wikipedia, except written by scientists, so you can use it for research). Go to the Resources page or one of the Issues pages to see latest headlines from EoE. Looking for resources about research, scholarships, or college access? Check out the Resources page – lots of great links and downloads to help with your project and beyond.

Who is using this site anyway? Check out the Community Wall to take the pulse of the EnvironMentors Community – see who has logged in recently, what comments have just been posted, who is working on their project, and see news from the chapters and DC office.

Can I get text messages instead of emails? Yes! Whenever some posts something on your page or project, or adds to a conversation that you are involved in, you will get an email (this goes to the email address you used to set up the account). But if you don’t do email and would rather get text messages from your mentor or coordinator or whoever else is sending you a message, you can set your account up with your phone number. Click the My Account button in the top right of the page and then click the Mobile Settings tab. Just enter your phone number, your country (United States) and confirm the number – you will then get a text with a code you enter here. You can set this to net send messages at certain times. You then need to change any subscriptions you are already receiving through email – click on the Notifications tab and then the Subscriptions button and then click the edit link next to any you want to receive texts for (like your profile name and your project name) and then change the send method to SMS and click save.

Whew – that was a lot of steps, but now messages will go straight to your phone as a text (charges from your phone company for viewing text messages still apply).

How do I change other settings – like my email address or message settings? You account settings can be accessed by clicking the My Account button in the top right of any page. Click the edit tab to change your username, password, or subscription/notification settings (for example, email or text). The Notification tab is where you can change specific subscriptions – like the emails you get when someone posts a comment on your project page.

Any other questions? First check with your mentor and chapter coordinator – they are here to help. But if you have any other questions about how to use this website, send an email to Jessica Soule at jsoule@ncseonline.org (DC office) or Bill Finnegan at bill@tamarackmedia.com (web master). Also, let us know how we can make this site even better!

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EnvironMentors Community USERS’ GUIDE FOR CHAPTER STAFF 1. What is the EnvironMentors Community?

The Community (http://environmentors.net) is a place where you can: SUPPORT

CONNECT

MANAGE

and communicate with the students in your chapter and facilitate their research

with students/mentors to share events, alerts, news, messages, resources, photos and video

manage your chapter through an interactive monthly manual and other private resources

2. Getting Started See the Users’ Guide for Students for information about how to set up your account (and the Users’ Guide for Mentors for suggested activities to support students).

3. Chapter Admin Role All chapter staff involved in the community (Chapter Directors, Coordinators, Teachers) are assigned the “Chapter Admin” role. You are more advanced users of the website and can take a number of special features not available to students or mentors.

Chapter Tools Page: This page (see the button in the top right of any page) is your portal to chapter staff specific content, including the Coordinator-Teacher and Director manuals, a listing of all other chapter admin users, and a shortcut menu to other chapter tools, like invites, and resources aimed at chapter staff.

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Invite New Users: Follow the link in the Chapter Tools menu to the Invite page – here you invite all of your students at once by adding their email addresses. They will receive a link to the registration page and will automatically be set as students. If you use this form to invite mentors, be sure to let the web master know so he can change their role form student to mentor (bill@tamarackmedia.com). You can also direct students to the registration page where they can set up their account (these will not automatically be approved as students, to keep spammers from accessing with the site): http://environmentors.net/user/register.

Moderate Content: Chapter Admin users can also flag content as inappropriate – if you catch something that a student has posted, flag it as inappropriate (you should see a link to do so under the content) and the national office or web master will remove.

4. You Chapter Page Your chapter page is the virtual homepage on the community for your chapter – if a page does not exist for your chapter, please contact the web master (bill@tamarackmedia.com). You can edit the content associated with your chapter (required field marked with*): • Chapter picture*: Add a photo for your chapter – could be a school mascot or group photo or campus photo, but each chapter needs something.

• Chapter name*: This shows up on the Chapter page.

• Chapter director: Identify the chapter admin user who is you chapter director.

• Chapter coordinators: Indentify the appropriate chapter admin user(s).

• Chapter contact: Select the chapter admin for your chapter who you want to be the point person to receive any messages sent through the contact form on your chapter page.

• Chapter description: This is an introduction to your chapter for the rest of the community – tell us a few words about your program.

• Chapter website: If you have an EnvironMentors webpage for your chapter on your University/Department website, add the link here.

• Location: Enter a location for your chapter.

• File Attachments: You can add files/documents that you would like to share with your chapter as attachments to your chapter page.

NEW IN FALL 2011 – CONNECTION FROM COMMUNITY TO NCSEONLINE.NET Starting in Fall 2011, the information about your chapter that appears on the public EnvironMentors website (chapter map at http://www.ncseonline.org/programs/educationcareers/environmentors/chapters, chapter list at http://www.ncseonline.org/programs/educationcareers/environmentors/chapters/university-chapters) will be directly pulled from the fields related to your chapter’s community page. This will allow you to control the information about your chapter without going through the national office (a lot of information on the above pages is currently out of date). The key fields to fill in and manage over time are: Chapter name, Chapter director (fields will be pulled from your chapter director’s profile), Chapter coordinators (fields will be pulled from your chapter coordinators’ profiles), Chapter description (this will replace the chapter statement in the pop-up window on the map), Chapter website (this will appear on the chapter list), Location (this will present your chapter on the map).

Chapter Directors and Coordinators who are connected to your chapter will have fields from their profile sent directly to the public website (to replace their name, title, photo, department, contact, etc.). The Page 2

following fields that will be made public (an * indicates a field that is only available to Chapter Admin users and must be added after registration and approval): • Photo (your profile photo will be pulled into the map pop-up) • Firstname, Lastname • University Department* • Title or Prefix* (for example Dr.) • Degree or Suffix* (for example PhD) • Personal Website* (use if you have an online CV or faculty/graduate student webpage) • Phone Number* (use as your direct/office contact) • Address* (your campus address contact) Please begin adding this info right away, so we can integrate the two websites asap.

5. Chapter Content Types There are a series of content types that only Chapter Admin users can create and edit. To create any of these special types of content, look for the links under “Chapter Admin Menu” at the bottom of the left column on your profile page. These items will appear on your chapter page, and include:

Chapter Alert: This should be a short message that you want to add to the Chapter page, like a reminder of an upcoming deadline.

Chapter News: This is info you want to share with the entire community about events that have happened at your chapter – it will appear on your chapter page and the Community Wall.

Chapter Event: Each chapter has a calendar of events and upcoming event listing.

Resource: If you have a resource for students and mentors that you would like to share (like a document or link), add one – it will appear both on your chapter page and on the main Resources page. Check “Make this resource private” to only share it with other chapter admins.

Photo/Video: Like with students and mentors, you can add photos and videos, which will appear on both your profile and on your chapter page (as chapter admin, you control the photo and video galleries for your chapter page). Be sure to capture chapter events and share them on the site. Also, we recommend each chapter set up a YouTube account for posting videos to embed on the site – if you need help with that or would prefer to use an account associated with the DC office, contact the web master (bill@tamarackmedia.com).

Sending Messages: Use the comment box on the chapter page, student and mentor profiles, and project pages to send messages – students will be automatically subscribed to receive emails whenever a comment is added to their profile or project page (or a text message if they have configured their account for SMS). Once you have added a comment to a student’s page, you should be automatically subscribed to receive email notifications on any other activity on their page.

6. Project Management with the Online Manual

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If you go to the Chapter Tools page and follow any of the links below Online Coordinator-Teacher Manual, you will be taken to a special page that breaks down the activities for the month. Use this page to communicate directly with the national office and other chapter staff. The key features on this page are: Breakdown by group: Each monthly manual starts with a list of what each participant group will accomplish – Students will… Coordinators will…

Webinar Links: If you missed or want to review the recording of the Webinar introducing this month’s activities, follow these links.

Documents: There is also a full monthly manual document as well as a series of subsections – click on the link to view is a pop-up viewer and then download the document through the toolbar button.

Checklist: Each month includes a checklist of items that you need to accomplish. Check the boxes and submit as you go and return to update your list (the checklist is a blank slate when you update – the most recent submission will be your current status).

Deliverables: Below the checklist is a list of deliverables for the month and a file upload form – use this to submit your deliverables for the month.

Discussion: Ask a question for the DC office or other chapter staff or join in the conversation about that month’s activities.

7. Additional Support See the Users’ Guide for Students and Users’ Guide for Mentors if you have any questions about setting up your account or helping students with their profile and project pages. Here are a few things that are worth highlighting:

Offensive Content Standards: Students should have some sense of what is appropriate content, especially when it comes to photos and comments – these are standards that you will explain and enforce. Clearly offensive language is inappropriate. But some off-topic conversations are fine as we want students to feel a certain amount of ownership over the site and the ability to express themselves.

Facebook: Users can connect their Community account to their Facebook account – this is simply a way they can easily sign in by logging into Facebook (which they probably will remember their password too a little more readily than the one only for this website). Facebook Connect is becoming an increasingly common way of integrating websites to Facebook (for example, go to http://www.tripadvisor.com/ when logged into Facebook and you will see what I mean). But it is very important to note a few things – we are not capturing any personal information from users Facebook accounts, we cannot see their Facebook account, we are not friending them in any way. This is just an alternative way to log in. Many teachers have specific guidelines on relationships with students on Facebook – this in no way constitutes a Facebook relationship between student and teacher. Many schools will have a firewall that prevents accessing Facebook on their network – this will prevent users from being able to log in with Facebook connect. If multiple students are using the same computer to access the community through Facebook, be sure they log out of both the community and Facebook before the next student tries to log in.

Text Messaging: Users can set up messaging/notifications to receive text messages instead of emails. If your students are more likely to respond to a text than an email, you should help them set this up. You Page 4

can then send them texts by adding a message to their profile page. You won’t pay any fees to send the message, but the national office will pay 1 cent per text and $1/month. Students should know that they are responsible for any fees to receive texts.

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