VIRTUE Update

Aquatic Ecosystem Biodiversity Project (AEBP) has been adopted by the VIRTUE (see MSGSNN vol.1, no.2 1998-99 for info about VIRTUE) Public Outreach team to describe the Biofilms and Biodiversity project that has become an international collaborative between teachers and students in Maryland, Sweden, and Norway. The focus of the project continues to be the research-based monitoring of biodiversity and water quality of marine, estuarine, and freshwater ecosystems by the schools in the three countries. The collaborative efforts have now lead to the development of a VIRTUE Public Outreach page on the web that will feature the AEBP and link all three schools by interactive maps. The site will also feature on-line data collection forms allowing biodiversity and water quality data to be entered by students and teachers. Once the data is submitted it will be archived by the Norwegian Water Program and will be available for analysis via the VIRTUE web page. In addition, the web page will feature profiles of the teachers and their classes involved in the project.

The collection of data has been prototyped and reviewed by scientists and specialists from all three countries and will result in a "one of a kind" collaborative between three Universities from different countries. The collection of data by the students and teachers during the start-up phase of the project has generated a lot of excitement. Teachers in Maryland have had the opportunity to bring their students and sampling discs to the SciTech lab at the Center of Marine Biotechnology for analysis and some class visits have been made to help students understand the connection of the scientific research to their school project. In Maryland, Carroll County Public Schools defined Biofilms and Biodiversity as a part of their Science Research course enabling the project to be an on-going study throughout the school year.

Aquatic Ecosystem Biodiversity Project On-Line
http://www.uib.no/ums/magazine/temp-mag/july99/
contents/teaching/teachers/fp.htm

Norwegian Water Program
http://vann.zoo.uib.no/english/water/

http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/Extension/msgsnn/msgsnn02_2/index.html