Photo by Vital Signs CC BY Yesterday, Vital Signs kicked off
their new site with more than 300 supporters, including Maine’s
former Governor Angus King, who spearheaded the initiative that
resulted in a laptop for every 7th and 8th grader in the state.
Vital Signs, a field-based science education program at the Gulf
of Maine Research Institute, started 10 years ago just before
the turn of the century. Since then it has evolved to
“[leverage] Maine’s laptop program to enable students to
participate in a statewide effort to find invasive species, and
to document the native species and habitats most vulnerable to
future invasions.” The new site “provides a digital platform,
including social networking tools, to facilitate a fluid
exchange of knowledge between students and experts. It changes
each student’s relationship with science from distant spectator
to thoughtful participant.” You might remember our Back to
School feature on them, or even my Inside OER interview with
Sarah Kirn, the Manager of the project,