Workshop Recap! - The Light It Up Workshops and What We Learned From Them
Written by A. Srivastava
If you’ve been following up with the latest of our endeavors, you might have attended or heard about the Atlanta Firefly Project X EcoReach firefly workshops. These workshops were one of our favorite events of the summer where we could help others learn how to monitor fireflies, share information about firefly biology and conservation, and provide additional resources and materials about our glowing critters. This week, we spoke to one of the workshop leaders who worked from the planning process to guiding one herself.
Julie Blaze is the EcoReach Coordinator and works on environmental education initiatives such as curriculum development, outreach events, and designing programming for classroom visits to fulfill STEM education requirements. Julie has also worked closely with the Atlanta Firefly Project since EcoReach has taken over this summer.
Throughout the season, EcoReach has led two workshops, one in June and another in July. Both were in Athens, where EcoReach is based. “Our goals were to talk about firefly biology, firefly conservation, the basic mechanics of firefly identification, and go through the monitoring process that is done for the Atlanta Firefly Project,” Julie says. In addition, it was a chance to provide a hands-on monitoring experience for many volunteers before they survey their own land as well as cover any questions the training video might have missed.
One of the biggest challenges of firefly monitoring can be identifying the fireflies you observe. Considering Georgia has upwards of 40 different species, you may be surprised to see different flash patterns of species you’ve never even heard of. The workshops also provided many materials to identify different fireflies among other resources.
“I think workshops like this that are in person and really show the mechanisms behind collecting data really help bridge some of that gap that is made between academia and the community, and so Ecoreach is really focused on making science more accessible and on educating the public,” Julie explains. One of the many goals the Atlanta Firefly Project and especially EcoReach have in common is promoting the conservation of the environment and education about the natural world around us. Through this partnership, Atlanta Firefly Project and EcoReach aim to provide more than just an opportunity to gather data but to foster a greater understanding of the natural world and how to conserve it amidst rising environmental issues. These workshops gave an opportunity to find out how to improve the educational materials EcoReach provides and finetune the whole process.
“I think one of the challenges that we faced is that not everybody working with EcoReach is a firefly expert so it was a little bit of a steep learning curve for learning the background in firefly biology that we were presenting…we wanted to make sure we had accurate and up to date scientific information,” Julie says. In planning outreach opportunities like these, there is of the utmost importance in making sure that the information you present is factual and relevant. It’s a particular challenge if you’re volunteering in community science but are not deeply knowledgeable about the subject matter. Providing correct and detailed materials is crucial.
When talking about further difficulties, Julie says it was also necessary to make sure that “[The workshop materials] are really accessible and easy to understand for a wide audience. At the workshop, we had everyone from people in their late 60s to kids that were 8 years old, so it was trying to bridge that age span.” Community science initiatives often involve people of all ages and backgrounds with varying levels of knowledge about the topic they are working with so it is important that the information you are presenting is accessible to all.
Furthermore, there are many other logistics to handle outside of the direct event such as marketing, coordinating with multiple people of varying skills and experiences, and everything that comes with organizing a new project. Two firefly researchers who have helped EcoReach immensely are Kelly Ridenhour and Margot Popecki. Both of them have worked at the Stanger-Hall Lab at the University of Georgia, a lab that researches fireflies. We sat down to talk to both of these amazing researchers in this and this blog post. The Sandy Creek Nature Center has also been crucial in advertising for these workshops and reaching a larger audience.
When asked what they hope folks take away from these workshops, Julie says she hopes folks gained a better understanding “about how close they are to nature in their own backyards or in their own neighborhood. Because the way we interact with nature…people imagine that it has to be…out to the woods, a really remote location, and do a hike there but it ignores the fact that our neighborhoods and communities are built in a natural landscape…there’re lots of ways to enjoy and appreciate nature even in your own backyard.” The image of scientists driving far out into the mountains or the Arctic and remote locations may be what some people think when they imagine studying the environment. However, that is often not the case. Our homes are built on top of and are surrounded by nature, and you can study and enjoy it anywhere, even in an urban landscape. What Julie hopes the workshop promotes is interacting with the environment wherever you live or play and work.
“Another thing that I hope people take away from this is that there are lots of ways to get involved with science and you don't necessarily need a scientific background or be a scientific expert in the field of fireflies to be able to contribute to firefly research,” Julie says. Anyone can get started!
Right now, EcoReach is working on a standardized guide for anyone to be able to lead a firefly workshop of their own in the near future. In the meantime, you can check out some of the resources the workshop provided on the EcoReach website here: https://ecoreach.ecology.uga.edu/activities/atlanta-firefly-project/
If you’d like to attend another event to learn all about fireflies, EcoReach will be setting up a booth at the Insectival at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia on September 17! You can learn more here: https://botgarden.uga.edu/event/insect-ival/
And of course, our blog is another amazing resource to find out other ways to get involved!
