2005
Linda S. Rayor
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Entomology
Cornell Naturalists Outreach Program
Linda S. Rayor grew up in Denver, Colorado. She got her undergraduate degree
at the University of Colorado-Boulder (1978). Dr. Rayor went to graduate school
at the University of Kansas-Lawrence in Systematics & Ecology (Ph.D. 1987)
specializing in behavioral ecology. She did two postdoctoral research projects:
one on social spiders in central Mexico and another on paper wasps in Arizona.
Dr. Rayor directed and taught a ‘Tropical Ecology and Conservation’ program in
Monteverde, Costa Rica for three summers. She was a professional educational
ecotour guide in Peru, Costa Rica, and the Galapagos. Dr. Rayor is an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University where she teaches
‘Spider Biology’ and ‘Insect Behavior’. She currently studies social dynamics
in the unusual Australian spiders that were the (spider) stars of the movie ‘Arachnophobia’.
For the last eight years, Dr. Rayor and her students have run the ‘Spider Outreach
Program: Eight-legged Ambassadors for Science Education’ program which acts as
a speakers bureau to send Cornell students into local classrooms and community
groups to talk about the biology of spiders and insects. To date, the program
has reached over 380 classes and 12,600 people, and involved 34 undergraduates
and 13 graduate students. Dr. Rayor’s lively ‘A romance with spiders’ is a free,
1-hour online video (http://cybertower.cornell.edu) available to the public.
In 1998, the ‘Spider Outreach Program: Eight-legged Ambassadors for Science
Education’ was developed as a Speakers Bureau that sends Cornell undergraduate
and graduate students into local K-12 classrooms where they present age-appropriate
presentations on either spider or insect biology and behavior. Participants have
spoken to over 12,600 people since the beginning of this outreach program. Through
these lively, enthusiastic, and well-grounded talks, we work to open the world
of science to young people, enrich local K-12 science instruction, and simultaneously
train Cornell students to communicate effectively about science. The goal is
to instill the Cornell students with the mission of becoming scientific mentors
who can attract future biologists with their sense of excitement and role as models.
In Fall 2005, the outreach program will greatly expand into a larger, interdisciplinary
program with a course in “Naturalist Outreach in Biology.’ The goals are (1)
to enhance the speaking, teaching and pedagogical skills of the Cornell presenters
through more formal collaboration with members of the Communications and Education
Departments and (2) to develop a broader range of inquiry-based natural history
programs on vertebrates and invertebrates in association with members of other
biology-oriented departments on campus. The course will seek to find a productive
balance between science, and educational and service learning pedagogy. The director
of the interdisciplinary ‘Cornell Naturalist Outreach Program’ programmatic responsibilities
will change to accommodate this greater teaching and extension responsibility.
In addition the Public Service Center has committed to support the outreach program
and course through its ‘Curriculum Integration Project’.
