Nineteen Alaska science students in grades 6-12 who participated in the 2007-2008 Experiential Discoveries in Geoscience Education (EDGE) program and 10 of their teacher mentors will converge on the UAS campus March 27-30 for an EDGE Science Symposium. Students will present their own GIS-based research projects in a poster session format on Friday, March 28 for judging by UAS Natural Sciences faculty, ENVS, MATH and BIOL students, and local scientists. EDGE high school students will next bring their projects to Juneau-Douglas HS on Saturday to compete in the Southeast Alaska Regional Science fair for berths in the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, Georgia in May, 2008.

Students and teachers will travel from the Kuskokwim Delta villages of Kwigillingok and Kongiganak, from the foothills of the Brooks Range in Huslia, from the interior in Delta, from the Matanuska Valley, and from Juneau to participate. The EDGE Project is primarily funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation to Natural Sciences Dept. faculty Cathy Connor and UAF Geophysical Institute professor Anupma Prakash.

Connor and Prakash have published the article, “Experiential Discoveries in Geoscience Education: The EDGE Program in Alaska” in the Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 56, n.2, March 2008, p. 179-186.