Document Details

This handbook is presented as a brief guidebook for those interested in the education programs and activities of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network. The handbook is not intended to be exhaustive, but simply to give the reader an overview of LTER education efforts and to share some frameworks, materials, and best practices that have been developed and tested at LTER sites. The six chapters and eight appendices provide strategies and resources from current programs to design and develop a new program, collaborate with other sites, and to provide ideas for program expansion. Each chapter contains key references related to program design, development, implementation, and evaluation. It is important to note that each LTER site is unique and often requires site-specific plans for maximizing outreach efforts; however, all sites share the overall goals of the Schoolyard LTER (SLTER) and have several common approaches. Sharing frameworks and best practices facilitates the collaborative development and testing of the Schoolyard LTER (SLTER) as a model for the integration of ecology research and education. We encourage you to spend time reading the collection of documents on the LTER webpages that are related to education. Much of the information in this chapter can be found in detail in those documents.

Bestelmeyer, S., Dailey, S., Elser, M., Hembree, P.A., Landis, C., O'Connell, K., Simmons, B., Sommer, S. and Steiner, S. 2005. Handbook for LTER Education, First Edition. Long Term Ecological Research Network, Albuquerque, NM. 61 pages.