Department
Chemistry
Location
Bethel University
Document Type
Event
Start Date
10-25-2023
End Date
10-25-2023
Abstract
For over 30 years, students and faculty from Bethel University, St. Paul have been traveling to the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador each January. In the course titled, Ecology in the Tropics: Natural History & Future Prospects- Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands students spend three weeks engaging in ecological, cultural, and research-focused activities while also observing and discussing the various impacts of human occupation on the natural environment. The need for cheap and portable laboratory equipment for these research activities along with the growing popularity of open-source equipment development and the growth of relationships with local communities have given rise to several new projects or initiatives that focus on bringing contextually meaningful science equipment and curriculum to remote communities around Ecuador. In this work, Bethel students conduct small research projects on environmentally relevant topics such as microplastics, plant chlorophyll concentrations, or atmospheric aerosols and VOCs with equipment developed and assembled in-house. Long-term goals of this work are to develop primary and secondary education curricula to accompany said research projects, develop and provide laboratory equipment for local school-age kids and community members to partner in contextually relevant environmental citizen science initiatives, and to install sensors for long-term atmospheric monitoring in remote locations of the Amazon and surrounding ecosystems. A description of current equipment and projects will be provided along with discussion of next steps in developing these community-based relationships for long-term success and sustainability.
Recommended Citation
Winters, Brandon, "Study abroad, open-source laboratories, and citizen science" (2023). Day of Scholarship. 53.
https://spark.bethel.edu/dayofscholarship/fall2023/oct25/53
Included in
Study abroad, open-source laboratories, and citizen science
Bethel University
For over 30 years, students and faculty from Bethel University, St. Paul have been traveling to the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador each January. In the course titled, Ecology in the Tropics: Natural History & Future Prospects- Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands students spend three weeks engaging in ecological, cultural, and research-focused activities while also observing and discussing the various impacts of human occupation on the natural environment. The need for cheap and portable laboratory equipment for these research activities along with the growing popularity of open-source equipment development and the growth of relationships with local communities have given rise to several new projects or initiatives that focus on bringing contextually meaningful science equipment and curriculum to remote communities around Ecuador. In this work, Bethel students conduct small research projects on environmentally relevant topics such as microplastics, plant chlorophyll concentrations, or atmospheric aerosols and VOCs with equipment developed and assembled in-house. Long-term goals of this work are to develop primary and secondary education curricula to accompany said research projects, develop and provide laboratory equipment for local school-age kids and community members to partner in contextually relevant environmental citizen science initiatives, and to install sensors for long-term atmospheric monitoring in remote locations of the Amazon and surrounding ecosystems. A description of current equipment and projects will be provided along with discussion of next steps in developing these community-based relationships for long-term success and sustainability.