Outreach activities |
We engage
high school students and their teachers in real-time research, connecting microbiology and molecular biology to plant- and forest ecology |
Our outreach activities include teaching in diverse courses at the UA, including Microbial Genetics, Principles of Plant Microbiology, Microbial Diversity, and Ecology; outreach through the University of Arizona Robert L. Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium; engagement of high school students in research in our labs; and leadership of several outreach/research experiences for high school students (SANITY and BLAST, below). Contact Betsy Arnold for more information about our outreach work.
Examples of our activities to date (see below):
SANITY 2014, 2015 • Arizona Science City/Festival of Books 2014, 2015 • AgDiscovery 2015 • Engaging high school students in our labs
Examples of our activities to date (see below):
SANITY 2014, 2015 • Arizona Science City/Festival of Books 2014, 2015 • AgDiscovery 2015 • Engaging high school students in our labs
SANITY 2014
SANITY • Science and Nature in Tandem for Youth
SANITY is a field-research experience for high school students led by Margaret Wilch and colleagues at Tucson High Magnet School. As part of the students' week-long experience, members of our team (Betsy, Dave, and Kayla, and diverse students from our labs) led 16 Tucson High students through field- and laboratory research to discover fungal symbionts of plants at the American Museum of Natural History's Southwest Field Station in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. Students developed hypotheses, conducted the sampling, and analyzed data to detect environmental factors influencing the distribution of mycorrhizal symbionts. Photos: AE Arnold
SANITY is a field-research experience for high school students led by Margaret Wilch and colleagues at Tucson High Magnet School. As part of the students' week-long experience, members of our team (Betsy, Dave, and Kayla, and diverse students from our labs) led 16 Tucson High students through field- and laboratory research to discover fungal symbionts of plants at the American Museum of Natural History's Southwest Field Station in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. Students developed hypotheses, conducted the sampling, and analyzed data to detect environmental factors influencing the distribution of mycorrhizal symbionts. Photos: AE Arnold
SANITY 2015
SANITY • Science and Nature in Tandem for Youth
We returned to SANITY in summer 2015, when members of our team (Betsy, Dave, Kevin, and Sarah, and members of our labs) engaged 17 Tucson High students in field- and laboratory research on fungal symbionts of plants in the Chiricahuas. Students developed hypotheses, sampled plant material, and analyzed data to detect environmental factors influencing the distribution of mycorrhizal symbionts. Photos: AE Arnold
We returned to SANITY in summer 2015, when members of our team (Betsy, Dave, Kevin, and Sarah, and members of our labs) engaged 17 Tucson High students in field- and laboratory research on fungal symbionts of plants in the Chiricahuas. Students developed hypotheses, sampled plant material, and analyzed data to detect environmental factors influencing the distribution of mycorrhizal symbionts. Photos: AE Arnold
Arizona Science City / Festival of Books 2014 and 2015
The Tucson Festival of Books draws thousands of members of the public to the University of Arizona Campus each spring. Science City exhibits within the festival convey all aspects of science to children and their families from Tucson and beyond. The University of Arizona Campus Herbarium offered a hands-on open house/tour through the Festival, and our group shared fungal and microbial diversity with >200 diverse visitors each year. Photos: AE Arnold
AgDiscovery 2015
The Arnold and Baltrus labs welcomed high school students for interactive tours of our labs through the USDA-APHIS / UA partnership program, AgDiscovery, in June 2015. Students from diverse backgrounds participated in research activities and learned about microbial diversity. Photos: AgDiscovery leadership team.
Engaging high school interns in our labs
Each year we engage high school students in our labs, where they conduct independent-mentored projects with project personnel. Students go on to present their work at local, regional, and national science fairs and related competitions. A few of our students are below. Photos: AE Arnold
