National Geographic Education Foundation
Live From the Field was conceived in the mid-1990s as an extension of Earthwatch’s traditional fellowship program. The original Earthwatch Educator Fellowship places educators on expeditions during the summer, and asks them to design and share lessons and community projects inspired by their field experiences. The ultimate goal was to impact students in classrooms across the country. The Live From the Field fellowship was designed to give educators the opportunity to share their experiences with students, live from their research sites, using web and communications technologies.
Initially Live From the Field fellowships were available to only a handful of educators in select geographic areas. But in 2005 Earthwatch partnered with the National Geographic Education Foundation with the aim of enhancing and expanding the program, and now this experience is offered to educators across the country. As a result, the number of Live From the Field fellows joining expeditions each year has almost tripled from the original pilot programs.
The partnership between Earthwatch and National Geographic also enabled the Live From the Field program to be supported by more sophisticated technology. Whereas educators previously communicated through plain text emails and chat room discussions, they are now able to engage their students in live video and phone conferences from their research sites.
Our partnership with National Geographic also ushered in support of Host Classrooms for our Live From the Field educators, allowing a single Live From the Field fellow to engage hundreds more students than was previously possible. From their schools back in the US, Host Classrooms are able to tap into the lessons and discussion prompts that Live From the Field fellows broadcast from their research sites.
Live From the Field fellows have engaged countless students and educators across the country. Earthwatch would like to thank the National Geographic Education Foundation and other organizations that helped to create and evolve Live From the Field from a simple and innovative idea, to a dynamic and unique fellowship opportunity available to educators throughout the United States.
The Live From the Field program now attracts support from some of Earthwatch’s leading corporate sponsors. Each new supporter of Earthwatch’s Live From the Field program will engage students and educators across the country, foster scientific learning, create a new generation of environmental stewards and ultimately inspire the action and understanding necessary for a sustainable future.