Pivoting During a Pandemic: Transforming In-Person Environmental STEM Field Programs Into Immersive, Online Experiential Learning

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

Discover remote strategies and technological tools that capture the “essentials” of a traditional in-person, place-based STEM field experience.

Keywords:

• Informal Education
• Citizen Science
• Environmental Science
• Research
• Technology

Supplemental Material

Acknowledgment

The CTP program is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant AISL-1612650. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The CAP program is primarily funded through private giving and leveraged with support from various university departments. Extramural support comes from an anonymous private foundation, the Goldring Family Foundation, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Connecticut. Intramural support comes from the University of Connecticut Department of Natural Resources & the Environment, the Center for Environmental Sciences & Engineering, and the Institute of the Environment. We wish to thank external evaluators Dr. Joan Pasley and Dr. Keith Esch from Horizon Research, Inc. for their guidance and feedback on the CTP education programming, integrated research, and evaluation.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicole Freidenfelds

Nicole Freidenfelds ([email protected]) is a Visiting Assistant Extension Educator, at the University of Connecticut – Natural Resources & the Environment in Storrs, Connecticut.

Laura Cisneros

Laura Cisneros is an Assistant Extension Professor, at the University of Connecticut – Natural Resources & the Environment in Storrs, Connecticut.

Amy Cabaniss

Amy Cabaniss is a Visiting Assistant Extension Educator, at the University of Connecticut – Natural Resources & the Environment in Storrs, Connecticut.

Rebecca Colby

Rebecca Colby is a Doctoral Candidate, at the University of Connecticut - Natural Resources & the Environment in Storrs, Connecticut.

Madeleine Meadows-McDonnell

Madeleine Meadows-McDonnell is a Doctoral Student, and at the University of Connecticut - Natural Resources & the Environment in Storrs, Connecticut.

Todd Campbell

Ankit Singh is a Doctoral Candidate, at the University of Connecticut - Natural Resources & the Environment in Storrs, Connecticut.

Chester Arnold

Todd Campbell is a Professor, at the University of Connecticut – Neag School of Education in Storrs, Connecticut.

Cary Chadwick

David Moss is an Associate Professor, and at the University of Connecticut – Neag School of Education in Storrs, Connecticut.

David Dickson

Jonathan Simmons is a Doctoral Candidate, at the University of Connecticut – Neag School of Education in Storrs, Connecticut.

David Moss

Chester Arnold is an Extension Educator, at the University of Connecticut – Center for Land Use Education & Research in Haddam, Connecticut.

Jonathan Simmons

Cary Chadwick is an Extension Educator, and at the University of Connecticut – Center for Land Use Education & Research in Haddam, Connecticut.

Ankit Singh

David Dickson is an Extension Educator, at the University of Connecticut – Center for Land Use Education & Research in Haddam, Connecticut.

John Volin

John Volin is the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Maine, Office of the Provost & School of Forest Resources in Orono, Maine.