From Roots to Canopy: An Evolving Framework for Critical Zone Education and Outreach

Critical Zone (CZ) science provides an integrative framework for understanding the Earth as an interconnected system spanning from the vegetation canopy through soils and weathered rock to groundwater. While the CZ concept has become foundational within earth and environmental sciences, it remains unfamiliar to many educators, students, and community audiences. This paper presents the evolution of over a decade of education and outreach (E&O) efforts developed through two sequentially NSF-funded research initiatives, IML-CZO and CINet, focused on intensively managed agricultural landscapes in the midwestern United States. We present an evolving E&O framework, metaphorically represented as a “CZ tree,” in which scientific research forms the roots that support the growth of integrated E&O branches. This framework was guided by five core goals: advancing CZ understanding, strengthening technical skills, promoting interdisciplinary learning, engaging diverse audiences, and fostering career development. Goal-directed activities included K–12 curriculum development, undergraduate and graduate research-based coursework, professional development workshops, public-oriented data visualizations, stakeholder engagement events, participatory watershed decision-support tools, and the creation of a student-led dialogue forum. Formal evaluation of select activities demonstrated measurable gains in teacher, student, and public understanding of CZ concepts and decision-making capacity among watershed stakeholders, whereas sustained participation across other initiatives facilitated long-term capacity building and professional growth. Collectively, the IML-CZO and CINet projects demonstrate how integrating E&O into active research networks can strengthen environmental literacy and stewardship through the development of durable actions that extend CZ science into classrooms, communities, and decision-making spaces.