Contact:

    Debbie Alberico

    513-217-2625

July 27, 2010
 
LOCAL EDUCATOR CONDUCTS INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH
 
Rosa Parks Elementary educator Shane Allison of Carlisle, was selected as a 2010 Earth Expeditions participant and returned this week from the Central American country of Costa Rica, where he studied the biotic, physical, and cultural forces that affect tropical biodiversity.  Allison participates as part of a global master's degree program at Miami University.
 
Earth Expeditions and the Global Field Program, created by Miami’s Project Dragonfly and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, recognize outstanding U.S. and international educators and engage them in firsthand educational and scientific research at Key conservation sites around the world. Allison is one of 220 U.S. and international educators participating in the second year of the Global Field Program.
 
From July 17 - 26, Allison studied in Costa Rica, visiting the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and the La Selva Biological Station. In these locations, the group of  educators partnered with leading tropical research scientists to gain direct knowledge about topics such as the ecology of cloud-forest canopies, the role of birds in determining forest structure, ecological succession, schoolyard ecology in the Neotropics, and how climate and geology shape tropical ecosystems.
 
As part of the program, all Earth Expeditioners and continuing GFP students will travel this summer to a conservation site in Africa, Asia or the Americas. Groups of educators will also study cheetahs in Namibia, tag leatherback sea turtles in Trinidad, investigate howler monkeys in Belize, study the evolution and maintenance of biodiversity in the Amazon, examine primatological field methods and their applications in Borneo, research the world's last wild horses in Mongolia, and study the role of the Maasai in Kenyan ecosystems.
 
Throughout, Earth Expeditions educators engage with international colleagues and scientists to bring about change in local and global contexts.
 
Since 2004 when Earth Expeditions began engaging educators in firsthand educational and scientific research at conservation hotspots around the world, over 900 educators have been selected from 48 states and several international countries.