Our Forests is a National Science Foundation-funded project begun in 2019, in partnership with the Center for Community and Citizen Science at UC Davis and Nevada County Superintendent of Schools. We are designing hands-on science curriculum for 3rd to 5th graders with an emphasis on community and citizen science in Western Nevada County. Students will collect forest health and fire resilience data on plots within walking distance of their school, while UC Davis researchers study whether this method of teaching science is more effective than traditional, in-class curriculum.

Sierra Streams Institute and the UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science are pleased to announce the launch of final products from the Our Forests project, all available on a comprehensive website for teachers, school administrators,

Contact Us

For more information about how to get involved contact Sol, Education Program Director at sol@sierrastreamsinstitute.org or (530) 470-6037.

Students

• Access outdoor classrooms and curriculum that make science relevant to their lives and communities. 
• Learn science by conducting scientific research about fire ecology and forest health in their communities. 
• Share their findings with other environmental scientists, forest service agencies and community members to help inform community decisions.

Teachers

• Engage in a co-design process to make a standards-aligned science curriculum that is easy to use and practical
• Participate in a Summer Institute to learn instructional practices for collecting, analyzing and sharing local forest data
• Collaborate with environmental scientists and educational researchers

Community Partners

• Community stakeholders, including school administrators, land managers and scientists, inform the development of science curriculum and forest-health research. 

From Research to Practice

Research findings from the UC Davis Center of Community & Citizen Science inform the design of this novel educational program. Educational researchers learn from participating teachers and students to identify effective instructional practices for science learning including taking action with science.