Programs

How many trees are there in Boston? Why do some neighborhoods have more trees than others? Do trees decrease air pollution? Are trees harmed by air pollution?

Middle school students will answer these questions and many more as they participate in Technology at the Crossroads, a three-year project funded by the National Science Foundation that will reach 235 middle schools students in Boston. Each student participates in project activities for one year. During the summer they attend a three-week camp at Simmons College and during the school year they work on their projects in after school or Saturdays classes at their schools.

Students participate in the Greater Boston Forest Inventory, a community project of the Urban Ecology Institute. As students count the trees in Boston’s neighborhoods, they learn such things as identifying tree species, measuring their crowns, determining their ages. Using geographic information systems (GIS), students enter the data they collect about neighborhood trees into personal data assistants (PDA), which they later download onto a computer for further analysis.

The tree inventory is just the beginning. Students use geographic positioning systems (GPS) to locate trees; they explore the manufacture of paper — a product of trees — and its effect on our environment. Students then work in teams to design neighborhood projects about the effect of trees on their communities. Just as scientists do, the students write about their investigations and develop presentations to share their findings to their peers, scientists, and their communities.

Not only do students learn GIS and GPS, they learn HTML, Flash, and Dreamweaver so they can design web pages to showcase their scientific investigations. During their field studies, students will take photographs of tree and plant specimens and the surrounding ecology and then use Photoshop to refine the images. Students use PowerPoint to design presentations about their projects.

During the summer session scientists from the community will offer guest lectures during brown bag lunch sessions so that students learn more about the day-to-day work of scientists, mathematicians, and GIS specialists. Enriching the students’ experiences are field trips to the Arnold Arboretum, University of Massachusetts Boston GIS/GPS Center, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Teaching teams — a middle school teacher, Simmons undergraduate, and TechBoston high school student — work with each groups of 15 students throughout the year. During the winter and spring of 2005 the teaching teams will participate in professional development to learn GIS and GPS and both explore the environmental science explorations and Mother Caroline Academy, New Boston Pilot and Washington Irving Middle Schools, Codman Academy Charter School, Patriots’ Trail Girl Scout Council, and Roxbury Youth Works are participating in the project. Each of these sites will select students to participate — 15 in 2005-2006 and 15 in 2006-2007 — and these student teams will bring their community projects back to their schools, sharing their findings with their peers and parents through science fairs and science nights.

Parent education is integral to the project. Each school will hold parent evenings in which the teaching teams and middle school students teach their parents and siblings what they have learned by having their families work on environmental science activities. Many of the middle school students will be the first in their families to attend college so project staff will hold college fairs and showcase the careers in science, technology, and mathematics that their students can pursue.