Alaska Biogeography Outreach Project

Instructor Christa Mulder examines a bearberry plant with Wainwright teacher Frank Pickett.

In the summers of 2009 and 2010, Alaska EPSCoR sponsored a university-level class for Alaskan primary and secondary school teachers. Entitled "Alaska Biogeography: Plants and Their Symbionts," the class brought the teachers to UAF for a two-week workshop in biogeography - the relation of plants to their environments - before dispatching them to their home communities, where they incorporated their new knowledge into their curricula.

Six teachers participated in 2009 and seven more in 2010, and course head Christa Mulder has secured USDA funding to continue the course past 2010. Read this project highlight for more information.