Last Updated : 2009-05-06 20:44:38 Reports and Articles Acadia Partners supports research at Acadia National Park and works to take that research out to teachers and students.  What follows are links to some reports and articles related to that work. Mercury in Maine watersheds, biota, and people: The Acadia Learning Project This is a poster presentation that summarizes the outcomes of the 2008-2009 year of the Acadia Learning Project. One important result is our finding that results produced through sample collection by many students in many schools are within the ranges expected based on the scientific literature, suggesting that our methods and our use of students as part of the research effort are providing high quality data. 2009 Interim Report on Acadia Learning Project This report summarizes progress through December, 2008 in the second year of the Acadia Learning outreach to teachers program funded by the Maine Department of Education.  It provides a good summary of the program's goals and activities and also provides a snapshot of progress and issues. 2009 George Wright Society Presentation This is a slide presentation that we prepared in collaboration with the Research Learning Centers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Mammoth Cave National Park. It describes the work that each of our organizations are doing to reach out to teachers. Mercury Curriculum Materials for Teachers Over the past couple of years Acadia Partners has developed a series of teacher guides that it uses in its Acadia Learning program. The program is designed to use scientific research conducted here at Acadia National Park as the foundation for citizen science programs in schools. The curriculum is designed to engage students not only in data collection and field work, but to also engage them in higher level science learning that includes inquiry and using data to answer questions. An equally important design goal is to engage students and teachers more closely in the work and stewardship of Acadia National Park. The teacher's guides are divided into 6 units, as listed below. Unit 1: An Introduction to Mercury in the Environment Unit 2: Food Webs: You are what you eat - and then some! Unit 3: Identifying the key Questions and Creating Hypotheses Unit 4: Sampling: There are different sampling guides for different kinds of projects. Teachers in the program are sampling aquatic invertebrates, fish, soil and leaf litter, and human hair. Aquatic Invertebrates Fish Soil and Leaf Litter Human Hair Unit 5: Data Analysis Unit 6: What Does It All Mean? Discussing and Presenting Results 2006 Acadia National Park Research Opportunities Catalog Scoping Workshops From March 9 through March 15, 2006, the Schoodic Education and Research Center conducted a series of workshops that engaged scientists in the following key questions: What research should Acadia National Park be doing? This question considers research that has already been done at the park current park needs and research opportunities anticipated issues and trends that should be driving research to enable the park to continue to conserve resources unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. How can the park better support research that is of interest to the scientific community? This link takes you to an index of the notes recorded in each of these day-long sessions. [Printer friendly page]