Uses of these areas includes students at Ball State University, in-service teacher training workshops, and guided use by students in grades K - 12 of schools in surrounding communities.  Use of Cooper Field Area is confined to educational activities that are compatible with the concept of the area as an outdoor laboratory.  The following educational uses of Cooper Area are encouraged: (1) Research conducted by undergraduate and graduate students and Ball State University faculty; (2)  Field trips by university classes in the environmental sciences; undergraduate and graduate student class field projects; (3) Field trips and/or class projects for education students at Ball State University (pre-service teachers) dealing with environmental science topics; (4) Workshops for in-service teachers pertaining to various environmental science topics; (5) Field trips and interpretative presentations for K - 12 students from local schools pertaining to a variety of environmental science topics.

Beginning in summer 2007, Cooper/Skinner Field Area is part of the following ongoing research project:

EPI Grant to fund FSEEC Research Summer 2007

 The Enhanced Provost Initiative project for Summer 2007 focuses on ongoing research monitoring critical to the management of natural areas of the Field Station and Environmental Education Center (FSEEC), as well as establishing a system for endless sources of opportunities from immersive learning experiences for students in the natural sciences.  Understanding of natural systems and the impacts of human activities on these systems requires a process of long-term research that monitors change in system conditions over time.  We combined this need with the call in the University strategic plan for all students to participate in immersive learning experiences, which in many cases will be scientific research projects for students in the sciences.  A properly designed, monitoring system on FSEEC properties will give a large number of students the opportunities to perform authentic research activities that will provide long-term data useful for making decisions regarding the management of these properties.  However, this requires establishing the foundation for long-term studies.

For the Summer of 2007, the EPI grant will fund student employees as researchers and three faculty members who will work with the FSEEC staff to establish permanent study areas for documenting change in vegetation in the forests and restored prairies on FSEEC properties, and for analyzing water quality and weather station data from the same properties.  This will require the establishment of a system of permanent markers and the recording of vegetation data to document baseline conditions, as well as setting guidelines for analysis of real-time environmental quality data.  These data will form the basis for the first annual report of conditions on these properties and will be made available for use by future researchers via the FSEEC web site.  As a result of the work in Summer 2007, we will establish baseline conditions and a framework for the future. From this, we envision ongoing and long-term research and student learning opportunities with the Field Station properties.

Contact David LeBlanc or Don Ruch (Dept of Biology), or Amy Gregg (Dept of NREM) for more information about this project.