Too For teachers, the two-week sojourn at Oak Ridge is a time to learn new science and new ways to teach science, to make it come alive in their classrooms. I'm like the kids. Irmischer and eight other teachers are deep in the National Environmental Research Park, an official-sounding name for the thick woods surrounding Oak Ridge. A third section, the control, is left completely natural. In between slapping mosquitoes and dodging branches, the teachers on the ground measure the moisture content of the soil beneath the troughs, and the teachers in the tower measure the photosynthetic rate and moisture content of leaves high in the canopy, under the tutelage of ORNL research staff member Paul Hanson.
Teachers collect data for an experiment on the effect of rainfall on forest chemistry.
The teachers, who are selected at the state level, receive a small stipend and room and board for their two-week stay. They choose projects from several areas of research offered. It seems to be working. You're out in the field, and you're seeing what kind of data collection is really happening. I'm going to do something similar on a smaller scale.