Congratulations on a really inspiring project and a way to involve students in environmental stewardship while immersing them in STEM content.  I love the fact that this project gets students outdoors and engages them physically as well as mentally.

As a data science educator myself, I'm very curious about the kinds of data students encounter in their work on this project, what tools they use to analyze the data and what kinds of conclusions they are able to reach with the data.  In working with environmental data, I've found that the time-based aspects of the data tend to lead students to certain data visualizations (mostly with time on the X-axis) that can make understanding co-variation difficult.  Do you have any observations of student work that might help the field figure out good ways to support students in making sense of time-based environmental data?

Good morning! What a fascinating project! I hope you don't mind if I link to your website: https://www.billionoysterproject.org/

I love your title – both the name itself and the actual idea of a billion oysters working away out of sight to filter the water. Does your project goes beyond this to include other aspects of New York Harbor marine life? Or are all of those topics – bacteria monitoring, water chemistry, and environmental DNA all associated with oysters?

I also love that your project reaches both teachers and students. Could you say a bit more about this? Do you spend equal time and resources engaging students and teachers? Do they seem equally impactful on student outcomes? Do these two groups ever participate in the same activities, and if so do they participate as equals or as student participants guided by teacher participants?

Finally, the three goals of your project all pertain to student engagement and learning. And you say at the end that “A variety of measures will be used with teachers and students in treatment and comparison groups to test these hypotheses.”  I’d love to hear how you plan to measure the impact on students – through interviews, career paths in college after participation in this program, engagement in school, … ?

I love that they are working side by side! There is such an age divide and also status divide between teachers and students, but when they are both engaged in a new project, both beginners in some sense, those barriers begin to break down. Students become more capable of seeing themselves as people who are part of this world (not sectioned off) and capable of making an impact. 

It's also exciting to hear that you are seeking funding for a more extensive final phase. Really amazing work.

Amazing project! I am interested to know if you have enough data/plan to monitor student involvement in environmental/marine science down the road from participation in you project. Conducting environmental field work is an essential part of students later being able to envision themselves as part of the environmental science community.

The logistical scope is very impressive. I know how much work it is to get a group of students out into a local stream. It's even more work to get them out on boats on a large river or lake. I can't even imagine the legwork that must go into a project that includes SCUBA in NY Harbor! I'b be curious to know if the project has developed any guidance literature on the process of getting universities and municipalities aligned for this type of hands-on, student work. Does Pace University have an office that specializes in this type of activity? I'm pretty sure the insurance lawyers at my university would shoot the idea down immediately. . .

Thanks for stopping Daniel ! great question ! The New York Harbor school runs and oversees their programs - thus their teams provide the governance on those issues you mentioned. Happy to discuss anything further with you as you develop your plans- please don't hesitate in contacting me lbirney@pace.edu Have a wonderful weekend- thanks for coming by our project !

This is exciting work; thanks for sharing! It's neat to see urban youth out on the rivers doing environmental science. It was fun to learn more about the student work, how you're preparing teachers, and the collaborations with near-peer mentors. And I learned some things about oysters ;-)

You mentioned data science, but you didn't say much about how students and teachers use it in their work. Andee asked about that in her earlier question. You also talk about computer science as part of pillar three. Can you say more about how learners and teachers work with computer science and computational thinking in their fieldwork?

Love your work!  Are there any plans for long term sustainability of this project?

 Margo !!! thanks for stopping in to see us and your support as well !! Yes  - to answer your question! We always have this on our minds and given that new Climate Center going into Governor's Island and some additional funding for our Final Phase - we are hopeful to be able to finalize that phase to close things as well. Thanks again for stopping in to see us - please feel free to come over to Governor's Island and see us anytime !  :)

so cool to learn about the benefits of oysters to waterways and what a great way to involve younger generations in improving their harbor