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Between Two DesertsStudents from the High School for Environmental Studies in Sde-Boker and from Hancock Field Station/Oregon Museum of Science and Industry will collaborate in a study that compares and contrasts the Negev Desert and Oregon's High Desert.
This will be a 3 stage study:
Stage A: What is a Desert? (A Geographical Study)
Students will find in Atlases, books and via the Internet (http://www.boker.org.il/eng/desert/) what is the definition of "desert" and what types of deserts exist. They will learn about the characteristics of the Desert that they know, near their homes, doing some field work and measurements in sample plots.Stage B: The Desert Ecosystem (An Ecological Study)
The students in each school will perform a series of a 24 hour field study of the desert Ecosystem at different times of the year: they will collect data and information about plant and animals as well as about climatic conditions such as temperature, humidity, solar radiation etc. At the end of each 24 hour measurement period - the students will create a model that describes the energy flow in the Ecosystem. The results and models will be compared.Stage C: Managing Sustainable Environments in the Desert (A Study about Man in the Desert and about Land Use)
The students will study Human Cultures and their economic basis in the past and at present times. The students will learn in which ways the Human Culture adapted itself to the Desert conditions and the effects of this Human activity on the desert Ecosystem.The final stage of the study and the product will be a list of recommendations as how to Manage a Sustainable Environment in Desert Areas. The recommendations will be based on the 3 stage study that the students will perform in the Oregonian Desert and in the Negev Desert, as well as research of other desert Areas.
According to the funding that the organizers of this program will be able to raise on both sides, they will consider an exchange program of students and teachers - to visit and to conduct field studies of the desert in the other country.
The High School for Environmental Studies (Negev, Israel)
Hannah Sivan and David LloydOregon Museum of Science and Industry (USA)
Jeffry Gottfried