GEOLOGY OF ST. PAUL AND ST. GEORGE ISLANDS, ALASKA: FIELD- AND WEB-BASED LEARNING THROUGH THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM

The Pribilof Islands Stewardship Program was founded in 1993 to provide local Aleut students the opportunity to work alongside scientists conducting research on the islands. Through week-long summer camps and participation in field research, middle and high school students learn about the geography, geology, ecology, and biodiversity of St. Paul and St. George Islands. During the summer of 2006, geologists from Montana State University will conduct a two-week Geoscience Camp in cooperation with the Stewardship Program to explore: 1) the volcanic history of each island; 2) the geologic and tectonic history of the south-central Bering Sea region; and 3) the relationships between local geology and geographic distribution of species in the Pribilof Islands. Student activities will focus on developing practical skills (e.g., reading topographic maps) as well as understanding more complex Earth system processes such as volcanism, faulting, and erosion. A unique aspect of this program is that students regularly participate in school science lessons via web broadcasting between the two islands. Thus, the summer Geoscience Camp will provide an opportunity to balance web-based classroom learning with hands-on field experience. This project will serve as a model for other distance-learning opportunities for Native Americans in remote communities. Information and activities that will be presented during the program are available for geoscience educators in the Resources of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska on-line collection, through the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College. The project website is: http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/pribilofs/index.html.