Browsing by Subject "extension"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Building Environmental Youth Leadership: A High-school Service-learning Curriculum
    (University of Minnesota Extension, Regents of the University of Minnesota, 2006) Meyer, Nathan, J.; Meyer, Rebecca, L.
    The Building Environmental Youth Leadership Team curriculum was made possible, in part, through funding from Minnesota's Lake Superior Coastal Program. The guide first defines and details key components of the service learning process. Subsequent lesson plans describe how to help groups of high-school-aged youth develop teamwork and a service mission, logistical plans, and actions to accomplish their service mission. These lessons were developed and piloted by Extension educators over the course of two years working in collaboration with youth and staff from the Northern Pines Girl Scout Council and Duluth ISD 709.
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    Data for Dynamic upwelling beneath the Salton Trough imaged with teleseismic attenuation tomography
    (2020-10-09) Byrnes, Joseph S; Bezada, Maximiliano; byrnes.joseph@gmail.com; Byrnes, Joseph S; University of Minnesota Seismology
    This dataset contains the primary results of Byrnes and Bezada, 2020, in JGR, "Dynamic upwelling beneath the Salton Trough imaged with teleseismic attenuation tomography". One can use this dataset to reproduce the figures in the main text or to perform the tomographic inversion with a new dataset.
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    The Impacts of a Civic Engagement Cohort Program for Water Quality Professionals
    (Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education, 2018-08) Kallestad, Elizabeth; Chazdon, Scott; Bohn, Hannah
    In this article, researchers report the impact study results of University of Minnesota Extension’s civic engagement for water quality cohort program. The cohort curriculum highlights Extension’s researchinformed, five-stage civic engagement model emphasizing process design and process management. Using a non-random comparison group design, a survey was conducted with participants of three civic engagement cohorts for water quality professionals, as well as a comparison group of water quality professionals not part of a cohort. Survey results were aggregated into the five stages of Extension’s civic engagement process: prepare, inquire, analyze, synthesize, and act together. Findings indicated cohort participants experienced significantly better results than members of the comparison group in four of the five stages. A strength of Extension’s civic engagement model and curriculum is its emphasis on the collective nature and processual aspects of civic engagement work. Cohort participants received training on civic engagement skills, which are not often emphasized in education for water quality professionals. While both groups reported a high frequency of increased civic engagement skills, cohort participants did not report more frequent collaboration or public engagement behaviors than comparison group members. A challenge for those training water quality professionals is instilling the value of civic engagement skills in addition to the more traditional technical skill sets associated with water quality work. Additionally, ongoing training and organizational support is needed for practitioners to effectively implement new skills and leverage new networks.
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    Increasing environmental knowledge and effecting change in lawn maintenance behavior among homeowners
    (2015-12) Leslie, Madeline
    The management of private property in urban areas can greatly influence the amount of fertilizer, soil, and water runoff into surrounding watersheds, increasing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution and creating eutrophic conditions in water bodies. Lawns are a prominent component of managed landscapes, and as such can play a role in water pollution levels over time. Encouraging beneficial maintenance behaviors has the potential to reduce nutrient runoff from turfgrass areas and increase the ecosystem services they provide. However, there are complex reasons why private property owners make lawn and yard care decisions. In addition, members of the public often do not understand the path water travels when it leaves their property. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to assess whether or not an individual’s possession of inaccurate water pathway knowledge is related to their lawn and yard maintenance behavior, as well as to determine the effectiveness of video and written educational interventions in changing the behavior and intent to behave of individuals. Surveys of Twin Cities Metro Area, MN residents were conducted 2014 and 2015. Based on their answers, respondents were divided into two groups; those who had obvious misconceptions about runoff water pathways and those who did not. Approximately 32% of survey participants had misconceptions about runoff water pathways. In addition, there were significant differences regarding about the effects of maintenance activities, as well as the frequency of lawn watering, mowing, and fertilizer use. A follow-up survey of the June, 2014 respondents did not indicate a change in maintenance behavior after viewing the educational video, but a comparison between two intervention methods on influencing and individual’s intent to behave found that a written intervention was more effective than video. This information will help inform and direct public outreach and education efforts to help improve local water quality in urban areas.
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    Tourism Center 30th Anniversary Report
    (University of Minnesota Tourism Center, 2017)