Lauren -

Thanks for a concise and well produced video clip about your project. In particular, I like that the students are the ones explicating it. I have always admired your work, and its ability to empower young people in such a meaningful way! I have a couple of questions: I am super interested in what students do with all the data they are gathering, and the kinds of tools they use for analysis. Can you describe some of the data-related tools they use, how students cogitate about those data, the conclusion they draw and what they do with the resulting knowledge? Also, having developed projects working with secondary students myself, I am always interested in the kinds of change you see in self-efficacy and agency. What impact on these things do you see in students and do you follow them at all beyond the program to see what effect it has on their academic or career pursuits?

Lauren,

I really enjoyed the upbeat tone of your video, and the great use of news footage and student voices to tell the story of your project. I would be interested in learning more about how your project uses problem-based learning (e.g., how is the "problem" framed, what role do the students have in deciding what is to be investigated, etc.), and more about the progression of activities from elementary to middle to high school (and what are some of the learning goals and how do you assess them at each level).

Lauren and Joyce - Great work.  You have hands-on, meaningful work that is engaging the students in learning contextually about something that impacts their own community.  Have you seen them take additional steps beyond your work?  We have seen students so inspired by these kinds of activities that they lead their school to start recycling programs so it will have a positive impact.  Would be great to also understand if this helps influence study and career paths. Again - fantastic project!

Dear Lance thanks so very much for visiting our project !! We do some students engaging in ongoing activities and careers. In fact, some of our staff are former students ! we also have different levels of engagement for families, community members and citizen scientists to participate ! Some information can be found here as we host our annual symposium on Governor's Island. This event will be virtual this year, but look forward to hosting in an in person event this coming school year. Additional information can be found here - please do not hesitate in reaching out to us should you need anything further ! Thanks again - lauren https://www.billionoysterproject.org/symposium

I agree with the previous comments that hearing from students directly was powerful. As a marine educator in NY, I have been following this work for years and it is wonderful to see it continue to grow. Keep up the amazing work!

Dear Lance, Thank you so very much for visiting our project ! We really appreciate your interest and feedback ! We have seen the students grow into amazing careers are you have suggested - the involvement with in field research along teachers and scientists is really impactful ! We even have some of our former students participating in the project in various capacities. We have a STEM Symposium normally on Governor's Island, but virtually this year -perhaps next year you can join us if your schedule permits. https://www.billionoysterproject.org/symposium

Thank you again for your support ! Lauren :)

This is a project with an impressive history, scope and reach - many partners, student levels and areas of expertise.  It is also likely very complicated - tremendous effort in coordinating, executing analyzing and assessing.  I am wondering what aspects of the model you find most successful and what would you consider scaling down or removing completely.  What is the “magic sauce” to make it all work?  Do you see any cultural push-back against this more engaging, and likely effective, but also complicated approach from folks and schools of thought interested in “easier” models of STEM education?  For those just starting in this field and model of work, what should they watch out for if they were to do BOP v2.0?  

Dear Nickolay, Thank you for visiting our project !! Yes, this is a very complex project with so many moving parts which makes it both challenging and yet incredibly intriguing at the same time. I appreciate the fact that you noticed this nuances and recognize how hard the team works to find the right balance in making certain that things are done in an effective and efficient manner. The BOP CCERS Model uniquely brings together a group of stakeholders that are working towards a common goal of providing opportunities for underrepresented students in STEM while creating a cleaner and more robust marine ecosystem.  I think the best concept communities can focus upon are those ideas that innate to that particular habitat while working collaboratively to enhance educational opportunities for its communities constituents.  I really love this question - we could do an incredible podcast on just this concept - would love to connect with you further as I recognize you diverse background would be a wonderful asset to our projects ! Thanks for stopping in - let me know if you have an interest in discussing further!  Thanks again for recognizing our work !

Lauren, I have been a fan for years, once helped Harbor School students hoist oysters out of water to rinse off debris from hurricane Sandy. Here in Denver I use the BOP as an inspirational note in Denver Museum of Nature & Science programming. It occurs to me that you should keep count of Oyster Impacted Individuals; might get to a million as the oysters get to a billion?

Dear Bob,  Thank you so very much stopping in to visit us ! We greatly appreciate  your support over the years. Your suggestion and comment is very meaningful and I will certainly share this with the team and determine if there is some way in which we can accommodate your suggestion ! thanks again for your support !!!  :)

Just wanted to say hi, Lauren! It's so great to see how the project has grown and continued to thrive! Thanks for your work on this and for sharing it here!

 Aloha Lauren, Great project. Can you comment a bit more on the family engagement side?

Thanks,
Mark

 What a wonderful project!! I hope it will be relevantly replicated in bodies of water throughout the country. There is so much restoration needed in so many places. Kudos to you and your team!

 Aloha Mark !   Thank you for visiting our video ! Yes, we include citizen scientists, parents and volunteers as part of program. As we have events, activities, symposium, colloquium; Parents are always included in these type of activities.  More information and detail is further provided in this link https://www.billionoysterproject.org/students-a... Please let me know if I have not adequately answered your question! thank you again for visiting us!

I have heard about this cool project before. Great to learn more!

Dear Alexandra, Thank you so very much for stopping in !!!  I will stop by your video ! Thank you for your kind thoughts and support !

This is such an awesome project! Citizen science is so rewarding when we can show students that they are active change makers and contributing scientists. Your curriculum sounds engaging to motivate the students keep going with environmental stewardship. What is the digital platform for the  project sources? I really enjoyed your video.

Dear April, Thank you very much for visiting us and thank you for your kind words and support . Our BOP CCERS Digital Platform serves as the central hub for all our resources, events, activities, student work and research, teacher designs, data uploads, etc. It is still currently being re-designed, but you can look at some of the events in the past here https://platform.bop.nyc/events/virtual2020  We look forward to sharing the roll out of our updated version in Fall 2021. Happy to share that with you as well! Thanks again for visiting us!

Such a cool project and wonderful video! Like others, I had heard of BOP before, but enjoyed learning more. I'm interested to learn more about how the project has connected with teachers at local schools: how were schools chosen, are all teachers at a school required to participate or is it on a class-by-class basis? Is this part of the standard curriculum for classes, or are most participating students part of a club or other extracurricular group? Thanks in advance for your answers!

 Dear Haley - thanks so much for stopping in to visit us !!  All teachers in NYCDOE are included in the program and it is open to all teachers who would like to participate. The curriculum is not mandated, but rather included into their existing curriculum. Some of the students projects can be seen here - https://www.billionoysterproject.org/2020-sympo...

Students participate in the annual symposium which is normally in person, but will be virtual this year. More video snapshots of the students activities at the STEM Hubs can be seen here as well https://platform.bop.nyc/events/virtual2020 Some additional lessons can be found here: https://platform.bop.nyc/units/601a92f5ce289706...

Let me know if you have any further questions or if I can be of further assistance to you! thanks again for stopping in to us and for your support ! 

Thank you so much for your tireless and inspiring work! I'm curious how the pandemic affected your work this last year.

Dear Judi !!! so nice to hear from you and hoping you are well too ! Yes, we are all impacted in so many different ways. Fortunately, we were able to move almost all of our activities into online/remote modalities for the time frame. We were fortunate to have been able to have done this quickly with little interruption. Some of the in person field events were obviously not done during the "pandemic pause", but once lifted were resumed activities under the specified guidelines set for by New York State, NYC , CDC etc.  We still remain vigilant in taking the necessary precautions and safety is our first focus in the field. Here is a video you may enjoy that our staff made to share  - https://youtu.be/G4EM_YNo8TM

and some photos of the work we are currently doing. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nyhf/albums/72157... and some virtual student projects. https://www.billionoysterproject.org/2020-sympo...

Let me know if you have any other questions - thanks again for visiting us !! Hope to see you in person soon !

Lauren :) 

I really enjoyed learning about this project. Congrats, Lauren! As a NYer (and oyster lover) I'd love to learn more and see if there may be ways to work together. Regards! Josh

Dear Lauren, This is such an amazing project! The various interlinking components of your work will make a huge difference in the schools and communities. I'm really excited to see what will come out of your research questions as well since those have the potential to affect how we all develop STEM curricula!

Lauren and team,

I first learned about your project when I heard Lauren speak at an NSF PI meeting. As I felt then, I am amazed at the scope and ambition of this work. I love seeing the youth be so articulate about their experiences and clearly very JAZZED about oyster restoration in their harbor! I think your project's opportunities to give meaningful experiences with data and CS in addition to the field biology is fabulous. It's authentic, place-based, hands-on learning at its best. Congrats! 

Hey Lauren, I loved the work and the impact to introducing students of diverse backgrounds to potential STEM careers! My NSF project geared around project based learning with students building guitars, rockets, and robots does the same. As a community outreach educator, I am interested in how you determine which schools/students that you work with? Are you targeting certain communities to work with? Schools? What is the make up of the students/teachers/communities that you work with? I saw in an earlier response that you don't follow up to see if students continue on the STEM path, are you able to do a pre/post assessment on the student/teacher attitudes about working with the project? Great work with what you are doing! 

Dear Gina, thank you for stopping in !!! Yes, our program is open to all schools within the New York City. It is open to all community members. Given the parameters of the IRB and privacy issues, you cannot follow beyond the length of the project - so this is a limiting factor. Yes, we conduct pre and post research surveys and all remain very positive and impactful.  Thank you again for coming by and thank you for also contributing to our field.  Let us know if we can help in any way - Lauren :)

What a fabulous program!  I love the citizen scientist aspect as well as the idea of building towards a goal over time.  I think that is an important piece of the scientific process that can be lost in students when labs and activities are isolated events rather than ongoing projects.  Thank you for sharing!