Animal behavior is an interdisciplinary science that mingles genetics, physiology, ecology, psychology, physics, chemistry, and economics. Because animal behavior is intrinsically interesting to students, combining rich media and associated content on animal behavior can be a powerful way to introduce students to these ancillary fields. An example is using animal communication to introduce physics principles in middle school.

While the online animal behavior archives of the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are now exploited heavily by a wide variety of users (e.g. researchers, museums and zoos, the media, cinema producers, commercial firms, university faculty and students), the K-12 educational community has not used these resources significantly. This was puzzling because animal behavior is intrinsically interesting to students, and as an interdisciplinary science, could serve as an effective gateway not only to biology, but fields such as physics, chemistry, and economics. Surveys and interviews indicated that teachers and curriculum writers were both unaware of these links, and intimidated by the immense volume of archived material at the Macaulay site. The proposed solution was a double broker system, analogous to real estate, in which the Macaulay Library would provide a trained expert in the field of animal behavior and the archives, and the educational community would provide an expert in local state standards, teacher needs and constraints, and the vocabulary and tools for curriculum writing. The brokers would work together, representing the interests and resources of their respective clients, to create new curricula that exploited the Macaulay Library resources in ways that would most benefit K-12 teachers.

The Macaulay Library submitted a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation-National Science Digital Library program to experiment with the double broker model in collaboration with the Wayne County/Finger Lakes BOCES district in New York, and the Center for Nanoscale Systems Institute for Physics Teachers. This proposal was funded and work began on the project in November 2005. Since that date, Macaulay Library advertised and is about to fill its content broker position, and Macaulay Library and BOCES staffs have exchanged visits to define specific goals and schedules.

The project will run for two years from November 1, 2005. It is too early to assess impact. However, the initial stages have elicited major interest and enthusiasm from the K-12 educational community. In addition, other digital archives within the NSDL national community are watching the experiment with the double broker system with great interest. Many such archives have had a similar problem bridging the gap between their archive and the K-12 community. If this model works, it could be applied nationwide.

The Macaulay Library will be assigning some of its core funding from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology to supplement this project`s NSF funding.

• Marla Iverson
• Sharon Bassage
• Monica Plisch