This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by expanding and testing an innovative curriculum model that features locally relevant, problem-based learning. The curriculum model is organized around habitat restoration in New York harbor and will engage students and teachers in a sequence of activities that span the elementary, middle school, and high school grades of the nation's largest urban school system. Students will conduct field research in support of restoring native oyster habitats, and the project will be implemented by a broad partnership of institutions and community resources, including Pace University, the New York City Department of Education, the Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the New York Academy of Sciences, the New York Harbor Foundation, the New York Aquarium, and others. The project focuses on important concepts in the geological, environmental, and biological sciences that typically receives inadequate attention in schools: watersheds and the roles of keystone species. This project builds on and extends the Billion Oyster Project of the New York Harbor School. The project model includes several interrelated components, including: a teacher education curriculum that includes a component for elementary teachers that focuses on restoration science; a student learning curriculum; a digital platform for project resources; an aquarium exhibit; an after-school STEM mentoring program and a near-peer mentoring program; community based restoration science hubs, and advanced methods in restoration science for high school students that includes genetic barcoding (species ID), environmental DNA sampling and analysis, bacterial monitoring, and basic water chemistry analysis. The project targets students in low-income neighborhoods with high populations of English language learners and students from groups underrepresented in STEM fields and education pathways. The project will directly involve 97 schools, over 300 teachers, and approximately 15,000 K-12 students over a period of four years. A quasi-experimental, mixed-methods research plan will be used to assess the individual and collective effectiveness of project components. Multivariate analyses will be used to identify effective program aspects and assess the individual effectiveness of participation in various combinations of program components. Questions guiding the research include: 1. How does the project influence motivation and preparation to pursue STEM careers among K-12 students? 2. What aspects of the project have a positive influence on underrepresented students' motivation and preparation to pursue STEM careers, compared to other students? And 3. What curricular innovations associated with the project contribute to heightened awareness of and intent to pursue STEM careers among students? This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Discussion from the 2021 STEM For All Video Showcase (45 posts)
Stephen Uzzo
Facilitator Chief Scientist
May 11, 2021 | 07:39 a.m.
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?
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Meghan Marrero
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 11, 2021 | 08:08 p.m.
Thanks so very much for your kind word Stephen – so nice to hear from you. I equally admire your work, research and contributions to our field. With respect to your questions, students in our STEM Summer Institute analyze the data collected over time by local middle and high school students under the scope of the Billion Oyster Project (BOP). Students brainstorm and come up with a research questions, and use Python to conduct their research. For Python they use Google Colab. This analysis includes exploratory data analysis, data visualization, and hypothesis testing. Examples of students’ projects included: How does the PH of the water influence the size of oysters? How does the acidity and quality of water influence the survival rate of oysters? How does the location of oyster restoration sites affect the oysters’ average size? The Summer STEM Institute covers coding, design thinking, science and soft skills (team work and communication in particular). Additionally, they use the Python libraries: numpy, pandas, malplotlib.
The Summer STEM Institute at Pace University has had some impact on their study choices. Most of the students who participate in the Institute discover coding and science by working on a real project on real data. They get the complete picture of the interdisciplinary world we live in – data are collected by scientists / students and then processed by data scientist / students. The experience is transformative in that they build something and build confidence by doing so. Student have returned to Pace to study computer science due to the network created by the Institute. Given privacy constraints and IRB regulations, and funding, we have not had the capacity to follow the students after the program. Thank you again for visiting our video - we appreciate your support so very much !
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Pati Ruiz
Meghan Marrero
Stephen Uzzo
Facilitator Chief Scientist
May 12, 2021 | 01:38 p.m.
Thanks, Lauren. I know that teachers are also involved. Can you explain how the results with teachers compare with that of students? Also to what degree does the curriculum get to classrooms in the form of activities and lesson planning? I ask this because, the demands on teachers, and the lack of resources of underserved schools can be an impediment to getting meaningful programs into teacher practice in effective and durable ways.
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Pati Ruiz
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 12, 2021 | 07:57 p.m.
Thanks again for visiting us, Stephen. Yes, we have over 200 teachers that have been involved in the project since its inception. They are part of the curriculum design, feedback, revisions, accommodations and any necessary modifications. We utilize our BOP CCERS Digital Platform for uploading information and data so that information is shared among constituents and stakeholders. Some the year's past events appear here: https://platform.bop.nyc/events/virtual2020
Given the barriers you have stated, we also have provided teachers with a resource page so that they can access lesson plans and additional resources as they need. https://www.billionoysterproject.org/remote-lea...
Thanks again for having an interest in our work ! We appreciate it !
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Pati Ruiz
Billy Spitzer
Facilitator PI
May 11, 2021 | 08:47 a.m.
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).
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Gina Greenidge
Meghan Marrero
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 11, 2021 | 08:13 p.m.
Dear Billy, Thank you so very much for visiting our video and taking the time to ask some meaningful questions The curriculum created is designed by Curriculum Specialists and teachers in the field. The curriculum spans K - 12 and thus the relevant topics and problems pertain to the various grade levels. We would be happy to share the curriculum with you once it is completed and provide any further details that you wish ! Some sample remote learning engagement activities can be found here https://www.billionoysterproject.org/remote-lea...
Thank you again for your support in our work - we really appreciate it!
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Pati Ruiz
Billy Spitzer
Facilitator PI
May 12, 2021 | 09:49 a.m.
Lauren, thanks for sharing the link to the specific projects -- an impressive range!
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!
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Gina Greenidge
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 11, 2021 | 08:19 p.m.
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
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So glad to hear of the long term impacts Lauren! Such a great project! I occasionally have business in NYC as we have a few Challenger Learning Centers in and around the city and other partners there. Hope to integrate a visit to your project during a future visit. Keep up the great work - looking forward to the future when there are oysters the size of dinner plates there (as has been noted in historical journals).
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 13, 2021 | 07:40 p.m.
Thank you, Lance - we are both hoping for the same thing !! ;) Appreciate your support - stay well and hopefully our paths will cross in the near future.
Meghan Marrero
Higher Ed Faculty
May 11, 2021 | 09:35 p.m.
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!
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Gina Greenidge
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 11, 2021 | 10:30 p.m.
Dear Meghan,
Thank you for dropping in to see our project and for your kind and thoughtful feedback ! It means so much coming from you - I have tremendous respect for your work as well ! Thank you so very much for your ongoing support - let me know if there are ways in which we can support the wonderful work that you do! Congratulations on all your success ! Thanks again!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 11, 2021 | 10:10 p.m.
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 :)
Nickolay Hristov
Facilitator Senior Scientist, Director, Associate Professor
May 11, 2021 | 10:14 p.m.
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?
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 12, 2021 | 12:12 a.m.
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 !
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Gina Greenidge
Nickolay Hristov
Facilitator Senior Scientist, Director, Associate Professor
May 13, 2021 | 02:15 p.m.
Hi Lauren, I am definitely interested in connecting to discuss further and see how our initiatives can learn from each other and perhaps inform best new practices for the field. In our group there is a deliberate effort to pay attention to project inefficiencies, particularly at the systems level, and how to address them in new iterations. From our experience, iterative revisions of even the most fundamental elements of the original project ideas are considerably improved, however, we run into the apparent paradox that grant submissions to NSF and other funding organizations tend to be over-designed in the pursuit of a more convincing argument for the benefits of the project, while experience on the ground suggests that project outcomes can be achieved with simpler experimental designs and intervention programs. This is the point that originally caught my attention about the large scale and apparent/real complexity of your initiative and any improvements that you might have implemented. I can be more specific in the direct conversations about the experiences from our initiatives. In the meantime, if interested, you can learn more about our projects from previous submissions to the Showcase in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 13, 2021 | 07:44 p.m.
Thank you so very much, Nickolay. In designing our educational model, we attempt to create a "wrap around effect" for our students which added this layers of complexity and ambitiousness combined. I look forward to reviewing your work. Congratulations on your success - I am sure I have many things to learn from you! Hoping our paths will cross soon !
Bob Raynolds
Informal Educator
May 13, 2021 | 01:53 a.m.
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?
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 13, 2021 | 03:55 a.m.
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 !!! :)
Pati Ruiz
Researcher
May 13, 2021 | 10:14 a.m.
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 13, 2021 | 07:45 p.m.
Patti !!! Thanks for checking in - so glad you are doing well - I will be sure to check out your video as well ! Congratulations on your continued success !!! Thank you again for your kind thoughts.
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 13, 2021 | 08:02 p.m.
Dear Kara, Thank you for visiting our work and for your support - I will be certain to check out your video as well! Congratulations on your success and thank your for taking the time to write to us !
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 13, 2021 | 07:52 p.m.
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!
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.
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 16, 2021 | 09:59 a.m.
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 16, 2021 | 09:09 p.m.
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...
Thank you so much for your tireless and inspiring work! I'm curious how the pandemic affected your work this last year.
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 17, 2021 | 07:59 p.m.
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
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
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 18, 2021 | 03:13 p.m.
Dear Josh, Thank you so very much for visiting us - we really appreciate support - would love to speak with you any time this summer - let me know how we can assist ! - Thanks again - Lauren :)
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 18, 2021 | 03:14 p.m.
Dear Jessica - thank you so very much for stopping in to see us ! We look forward to sharing out findings with the STEM community as well - we are always happy to help out in any way that we can! Thank you again for stopping by to see us! Lauren :)
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 18, 2021 | 03:19 p.m.
Dear Joan, Thank you for coming to see us and for your kind words ! We certainly love what we do and would be happy to assist and collaborate as well. Just let us know what we can do to assist ! Thank you again for coming by ! :) Lauren
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Lead Presenter Professor of STEM Education
May 18, 2021 | 03:23 p.m.
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!
Stephen Uzzo
Chief Scientist
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?
Meghan Marrero
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Thanks so very much for your kind word Stephen – so nice to hear from you. I equally admire your work, research and contributions to our field. With respect to your questions, students in our STEM Summer Institute analyze the data collected over time by local middle and high school students under the scope of the Billion Oyster Project (BOP). Students brainstorm and come up with a research questions, and use Python to conduct their research. For Python they use Google Colab. This analysis includes exploratory data analysis, data visualization, and hypothesis testing. Examples of students’ projects included: How does the PH of the water influence the size of oysters? How does the acidity and quality of water influence the survival rate of oysters? How does the location of oyster restoration sites affect the oysters’ average size? The Summer STEM Institute covers coding, design thinking, science and soft skills (team work and communication in particular). Additionally, they use the Python libraries: numpy, pandas, malplotlib.
The Summer STEM Institute at Pace University has had some impact on their study choices. Most of the students who participate in the Institute discover coding and science by working on a real project on real data. They get the complete picture of the interdisciplinary world we live in – data are collected by scientists / students and then processed by data scientist / students. The experience is transformative in that they build something and build confidence by doing so. Student have returned to Pace to study computer science due to the network created by the Institute. Given privacy constraints and IRB regulations, and funding, we have not had the capacity to follow the students after the program. Thank you again for visiting our video - we appreciate your support so very much !
Pati Ruiz
Meghan Marrero
Stephen Uzzo
Chief Scientist
Thanks, Lauren. I know that teachers are also involved. Can you explain how the results with teachers compare with that of students? Also to what degree does the curriculum get to classrooms in the form of activities and lesson planning? I ask this because, the demands on teachers, and the lack of resources of underserved schools can be an impediment to getting meaningful programs into teacher practice in effective and durable ways.
Pati Ruiz
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Thanks again for visiting us, Stephen. Yes, we have over 200 teachers that have been involved in the project since its inception. They are part of the curriculum design, feedback, revisions, accommodations and any necessary modifications. We utilize our BOP CCERS Digital Platform for uploading information and data so that information is shared among constituents and stakeholders. Some the year's past events appear here: https://platform.bop.nyc/events/virtual2020
Given the barriers you have stated, we also have provided teachers with a resource page so that they can access lesson plans and additional resources as they need. https://www.billionoysterproject.org/remote-lea...
Thanks again for having an interest in our work ! We appreciate it !
Pati Ruiz
Billy Spitzer
PI
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).
Gina Greenidge
Meghan Marrero
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Dear Billy, Thank you so very much for visiting our video and taking the time to ask some meaningful questions The curriculum created is designed by Curriculum Specialists and teachers in the field. The curriculum spans K - 12 and thus the relevant topics and problems pertain to the various grade levels. We would be happy to share the curriculum with you once it is completed and provide any further details that you wish ! Some sample remote learning engagement activities can be found here https://www.billionoysterproject.org/remote-lea...
Thank you again for your support in our work - we really appreciate it!
Pati Ruiz
Billy Spitzer
PI
Lauren, thanks for sharing the link to the specific projects -- an impressive range!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Thanks again, Billy. :)
Lance Bush
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!
Gina Greenidge
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
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
Pati Ruiz
Lance Bush
So glad to hear of the long term impacts Lauren! Such a great project! I occasionally have business in NYC as we have a few Challenger Learning Centers in and around the city and other partners there. Hope to integrate a visit to your project during a future visit. Keep up the great work - looking forward to the future when there are oysters the size of dinner plates there (as has been noted in historical journals).
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Thank you, Lance - we are both hoping for the same thing !! ;) Appreciate your support - stay well and hopefully our paths will cross in the near future.
Meghan Marrero
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!
Gina Greenidge
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Dear Meghan,
Thank you for dropping in to see our project and for your kind and thoughtful feedback ! It means so much coming from you - I have tremendous respect for your work as well ! Thank you so very much for your ongoing support - let me know if there are ways in which we can support the wonderful work that you do! Congratulations on all your success ! Thanks again!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
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 :)
Nickolay Hristov
Senior Scientist, Director, Associate Professor
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?
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
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 !
Gina Greenidge
Nickolay Hristov
Senior Scientist, Director, Associate Professor
Hi Lauren, I am definitely interested in connecting to discuss further and see how our initiatives can learn from each other and perhaps inform best new practices for the field. In our group there is a deliberate effort to pay attention to project inefficiencies, particularly at the systems level, and how to address them in new iterations. From our experience, iterative revisions of even the most fundamental elements of the original project ideas are considerably improved, however, we run into the apparent paradox that grant submissions to NSF and other funding organizations tend to be over-designed in the pursuit of a more convincing argument for the benefits of the project, while experience on the ground suggests that project outcomes can be achieved with simpler experimental designs and intervention programs. This is the point that originally caught my attention about the large scale and apparent/real complexity of your initiative and any improvements that you might have implemented. I can be more specific in the direct conversations about the experiences from our initiatives. In the meantime, if interested, you can learn more about our projects from previous submissions to the Showcase in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Thank you so very much, Nickolay. In designing our educational model, we attempt to create a "wrap around effect" for our students which added this layers of complexity and ambitiousness combined. I look forward to reviewing your work. Congratulations on your success - I am sure I have many things to learn from you! Hoping our paths will cross soon !
Bob Raynolds
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?
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
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 !!! :)
Pati Ruiz
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Patti !!! Thanks for checking in - so glad you are doing well - I will be sure to check out your video as well ! Congratulations on your continued success !!! Thank you again for your kind thoughts.
Mark Heckman
Aloha Lauren, Great project. Can you comment a bit more on the family engagement side?
Thanks,
Mark
Kara Dawson
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Dear Kara, Thank you for visiting our work and for your support - I will be certain to check out your video as well! Congratulations on your success and thank your for taking the time to write to us !
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
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!
Mark Heckman
Thanks, nice set of family resources.
Alexandra Puritz
I have heard about this cool project before. Great to learn more!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Dear Alexandra, Thank you so very much for stopping in !!! I will stop by your video ! Thank you for your kind thoughts and support !
April Bartnick
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.
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
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!
Haley Smith
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
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 !
Judi Fusco
Thank you so much for your tireless and inspiring work! I'm curious how the pandemic affected your work this last year.
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
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 :)
Josh Bernstein
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
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Dear Josh, Thank you so very much for visiting us - we really appreciate support - would love to speak with you any time this summer - let me know how we can assist ! - Thanks again - Lauren :)
Jessica Ochoa Hendrix
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Dear Jessica - thank you so very much for stopping in to see us ! We look forward to sharing out findings with the STEM community as well - we are always happy to help out in any way that we can! Thank you again for stopping by to see us! Lauren :)
Joan Freese
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
Dear Joan, Thank you for coming to see us and for your kind words ! We certainly love what we do and would be happy to assist and collaborate as well. Just let us know what we can do to assist ! Thank you again for coming by ! :) Lauren
Gina Greenidge
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!
Dr. Lauren Birney
Professor of STEM Education
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 :)
Jill Rhoden
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!
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