A View from Melrose

An essay by President Vivian A. Bull: Thirteen Years in Review

Recent glacial recession in the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa due to rising air temperature

Based on field surveys and analyses of optical spaceborne images (LandSat5, LandSat7), we report recent decline in the areal extent of glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa from 2.01 +/- 0.56 km(2) in 1987 to 0.96 +/- 0.34 km(2) in 2003. The spatially uniform loss of glacial cover at lower elevations together with meteorological trends derived from both station and reanalysis data, indicate that increased air temperature is the main driver. Clear trends toward increased air temperatures over the last four decades of similar to 0.5 degrees C per decade exist without significant changes in annual precipitation. Extrapolation of trends in glacial recession since 1906 suggests that glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains will disappear within the next two decades

Using Narratives to Document Environmental Identities and Connection to Nature : A Case Study of Aquarium Staff and Volunteers

Zoos and aquariums are among the best informal education avenues for individuals to further develop conservation beliefs and values. Research documented the presence of conservation messages at aquariums, that visitors expect such messages, and staff and volunteers at conservation organizations increase their conservation-related knowledge and behaviors. This research often focuses on the evaluation of what visitors gain from an experience instead of the production of knowledge and messages within an organization or for a learner. Further, little connection has been made between the life experiences of staff and volunteers prior to their time in a conservation-related facility and their experiences during their time working in such a facility in terms of how conservation and environmental ideas are integrated into an environmental identity. Understanding how aquarium volunteers and staff form environmental identities over their lifetime, including time spent in free-choice learning settings, is interesting not only for understanding and supporting their work but also for modeling the same processes with visitors. My objective for this research was to understand in what ways working in an environmentally themed organization does or does not shape a person's environmental identity. Staff and volunteers (n=96) completed Clayton's (2003) Environmental Identity Scale as well as Nisbet, et al.'s (2009) Nature Relatedness scale, which were used to measure an individual's environmental identity and connection to nature. A subset of staff and volunteers later completed Personal Meaning Maps (PMM; n=36) to share their significant, nature-based life and work experiences. Survey and PMM results were used to select another subset of participants to share nature-based experiences stories vis-à-vis narrative interviews (n=10). Narratives produced by participants elicited beliefs, values, knowledge, and realizations about nature and the environment. Results show that staff and volunteers from the Oregon Coast Aquarium who participated in this research had moderate-high to high environmental identities and felt a strong connection to nature, which were developed through childhood experiences in nature and over their lifetime through free-choice learning. Outdoor activities, travel, animals, and education (both their own education as well as the act of educating others) emerged as significant environmental-based life experiences. Nature-based experiences such as these lead to beliefs and values about nature, including nature being pristine, seeing animals in the wild, passing [nature] experiences on to others, introducing people to a place [natural area], and teaching people to protect what they love. Future research should focus on how environmental-based narratives, beliefs, values, and knowledge are developed and shared through professional development experiences, incorporated into zoo and aquarium exhibits, and ultimately how visitors make meaning from such stories and exhibits

Climate change and the aquatic ecosystems of the Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda

The Rwenzori Mountains are home to one of the last remaining tropical icefields outside of the Andes. Over the last century, equatorial icefields of the East African highlands have been steadily shrinking but the precise climate tropical alpine glaciers remain unclear. More than a decade had passed since the last detailed measurements of glacial cover were made in the Rwenzori Mountains. Recent evidence from Kilimanjaro suggests that its icecap will disappear entirely by the year 2020(1). The Rwenzori glaciers contribute meltwater flows to aquatic ecosystems of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park, a Word Heritage Site featuring spectacular, rare Afroalpine flora and fauna, and are headwaters of the River Nile. With the overall aim of assessing the impact of recent climate change on alpine aquatic ecosystems of the Rwenzori Mountains, a collaborative, international research team led by the University College London (United Kingdom) and Makerere University (Uganda), and involving the Institut für Geographie from the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and Water Resources Management Department (Uganda) was assembled in order to pursue three primary scientific objectives: • to assess the magnitude of current glacial recession; • to assess the impact of glacial recession on alpine riverflow; and • to assess recent environmental change from observational datasets and available, environmental archives stored in lake sediment and glacial ice

The use of an e-learning constructivist solution in workplace learning

We wished to investigate whether an e-learning approach which uses constructivist principles can be successfully applied to train employees in a highly specialised skill thought to require expert individuals and extensive prolonged training. The approach involved the development of an e-learning package which included simulations and interactivity, then experimental testing in a case study workplace environment with the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data to assess the effectiveness of the package. Our study shows that this e-learning strategy improved the skills of the inexperienced operator significantly. We therefore propose that such programmes could be used as a work based training aid and used as a model system for the training of employees in complex skilled tasks in the workplace. This research demonstrates that the e-learning can be applied outside the traditional learning environment to train unskilled employees to undertake complex practical tasks which traditionally would involve prohibitively expensive instruction. This work also illustrates that simulations and interactivity are powerful tools in the design of successful e-learning packages in preparing learners for real world practical situations. Finally this study shows that workplace learners can be better served by elearning environments rather than conventional training as they allow asynchronous learning and private study which are valued by employees who have other demands on their time and are more comfortable receiving tuition privately Relevance to industry: E-learning using constructivist principles, and incorporating simulations and interactivity can be used successfully in the training of highly specialised and skilled tasks required in the modern workplace