Ospreys used to teach STEM concepts in HMS science

Students across Montana are participating in a one-of-a-kind program, Wings Over Water, that teaches science, technology, engineering and mathematics concepts through the studying of ospreys. 

"This is an educational program as part of an E-STEM program or the E-STEAM (environmental-science, technology, engineering, art and math) program with the arts in there," University of Montana biology and wild biology professor Erick Greene said. "This is a broad environmental and science curriculum and it's based on ospreys."

Greene said he is a wildlife researcher, teacher and an educator and has been working on ospreys for about 40 years. 

"I come at ospreys through research, and they are at the top of the food chain, so they've been very important if there's pollution and toxins in water," Greene said. "It gets concentrated in things that are at the top of the food chain such as ospreys, so they are a very powerful species to help monitor the health of aquatic environments."

He said that ospreys are "totally wicked" birds as they are birds of prey and are most specialized raptors in the world that only eat fish.

"We like to say, just add water and you've got ospreys. They are found on every continent except the Antarctic, so they are all around the world," Greene said. "They are highly, highly, highly linked to lakes, rivers and streams since all they eat is fish, so you never see them away from water, generally, but they are also incredibly tame and tolerant of people."

He said ospreys catch their fish by diving into the water from the sky to catch them. The ospreys dive at a speeds of at least 30 to 50 miles per hour.

"With Dr. Greene's background, osprey expertise and knowledge it was kind of a natural collaboration for him at the university to partner with us at the Natural History Center," Montana Natural History Center Museum Programs Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator Drew Lefebvre said. "Our mission is that we connect people with nature through education. We've been around for, I think, 28 years now and so we are really involved in the western Montana community and we are always looking to expand. We are always looking to figure out how we can get access to and educate more people, more teachers, more students and how we can expand our audience."

Lefebvre said the Natural History Center has been looking for more ways to get into the middle and high school demographics.

"That was an area we weren't reaching super well - as well as we wanted to be - so partnering with the university and Erick gave us a chance to use osprey as this vehicle to reach more teachers and in particular more middle and high school teachers," she said. "In a way, to empower them to teach the E-STEM curriculum in a very global place, way and focus on ospreys. And then strengthen their abilities as E-STEM teachers which is one of the main goals of this program is to really use ospreys as a vehicle to empower these science teachers to feel confident on their E-STEM abilities."

"Our model for this program, WOW, is that we know that the teachers are the experts, they are the ones who know their kids and really know what they are doing and are on top of all the standards with what they have to meet as part of the educational standards," Greene said. "Our model is we designed a year-long curriculum definitely using ospreys as the theme or the hook, but our whole model is that we bring in some of the best teachers from all over the country for a very intensive week-long workshop." 

He said this workshop is a chance for all of them to get together and talk about the year-long curriculum and learn from the teachers who also provide feedback, but also to collaborate with are scientific experts and leaders who are brought in from across the country.

"We help the teachers become more scientists in their own rights and give them the tools and techniques and information, so that they are more confident and comfortable and helping their students become active in science and become scientists themselves," Greene added.

He said that after the workshop the teachers are sent back with this curriculum where they can pick and choose depending on the grade they are teaching or what their interests or the kids' interests are.

"It's kind of like a Chinese menu, they can take what's useful and interesting to them and it's also a springboard, they just go off and develop other really exciting things," Greene said. "In a way, it's kind of a bait-and-switch. It's not just a one-year curriculum about one bird, one species of bird, it's using this one species of bird that is pretty cool, but to engage the teachers and the students to get interested in lots of other things."

"When I think about the WOW program, what I get really excited and passionate about is that it's this great collaboration between the university and the Natural History Center and that we have this week-long workshop to bring out some of the most amazing teachers from across the country and Montana to give them this week of really hands-on E-STEM experience," Lefebvre said. "I just think that it so unique in a program and the amount of confidence we are able to aspire in these teachers and then to go be incredible E-STEM teachers is just really amazing and rewarding to see."

This program, designed by the University of Montana and Montana Natural History Center, is taught in 24 schools across six states. Each summer a new cohort of teachers travels to Missoula, where they learn the curriculum.

Each educational module allows students to explore statistics, biology, engineering, aerodynamics and other E-STEM themes. Educational modules include: 

· Making Waves: Decoding Osprey Sounds 

· How Do Ospreys and Airplanes Fly? 

· How Does the Global Positioning System Work? 

· Ospreys in the Aquatic Food Web 

· Choosing a Course of Action for a Polluted Place 

Havre Middle School started their first WOW lesson in September.

Havre Middle school science teacher Danielle Parsons, who teaches sixth grade physical science and seventh grade life science, is using the WOW program in her curriculum.

Parsons said she learned about the WOW program through the middle schools' curricular program director Craig Mueller, who sent an email to the teachers saying that the program sounded good and asked if anyone wanted to apply.

She said she applied for the WOW program in previous years and was accepted into the program spring 2019. 

"I became interested in it because teachers are always on the lookout for something new and fresh to bring into the classroom," Parsons said,"something in our community they could directly apply the science, tech, engineering, math content that we talk about in school."

She said that when she and other teachers who were also accepted for the program went to University of Montana in Missoula for five days, they were put in the dorms on campus and received access to all the resources on the campus. She said she and the other teachers got to meet some of the teachers from previous years, who have already implemented the program into their schools, and they taught them more about it.

"The WOW content was something my students could potentially have a previous experience with which would make creating connections to the content meaningful and relatable for my students," she said. "As a science teacher you kind of want to do cross-curricular things a little because there is math and science, writing and science, reading and science, so something that really gets the students interested, so I was on the lookout for some sort of STEM program that I could incorporate into my classroom that would have some meaning."

Parsons added that the WOW program has content that crosses both both her life and physical science curriculums.

"I use the WOW content in Life Science to help give students applications to organism adaptations, evolution, patterns, migration, structure and function of organisms, ecology, and environmental interactions and impacts," she said. "I can use all the WOW program materials to teach that content to my students and now I have something meaningful or tangible that my students can grab onto because they may have had experiences where they have seen this bird, if they have been out at Fresno or First Lake. They may have seen some of the nests that are around and they can make a personal connection to it, which it peaks their interest just a little bit, but it makes that memory for them and gives them a reason to allow themselves to be curious."

She said she will use the WOW content in Physical Science to give students a base of understanding when we study, physics, laws of motion, motion and global positioning.

"It has impacted my students because it has impacted me. I've learned a great deal through my work with the program, which I then get to share with my students. I'm not by any means an expert in the area," Parsons said. "A teacher is a perpetual learner and I get to share that experience with my students as we share knowledge and strive to build upon our understanding together through investigations and discoveries in the classroom."

She said her students recently did an investigation about "What makes an Osprey a unique organism?" The students researched their unique structures and how those structures give function to how the osprey has become an expert angler. Prior to this investigation they may have thought the osprey was just another bird. 

"My hope is that this investigation of the osprey and the excitement and curiosity it generated will continue to make students curious about other things in our environment that they wonder about, and maybe they will investigate more on their own. They don't have to wait for high school or college," she added.

Parsons said that now being part of the WOW cohort means she's part of a network of educators, researchers, scientists, professors and outdoor enthusiasts. 

"It means I have resources with people in the trenches implementing this work that I can share successes and failures with, so we can continue to learn from each other and develop the program to serve our students and involve our communities," she said.

In the future, Parsons added, she plans to work with Hill County Electric and NorthWestern Energy to have students build platforms that they can use if an active nest should interfere with power delivery.

"I'm working with (Fish, Wildlife and Parks) to secure some mounts for students to have a closer look at specific structures unique to the Osprey," she said.

She said she would encourage other teachers to do this program and that it's definitely worth it. This her fifth year teaching as well.

"I'm really into it the science and the environment and the life sciences and biologies. I really love it," Parsons said.