*The Outdoor Classroom Workshop*
Join the increasing number of educators who are using the outdoors to teach the state standards, teamwork, and joy of learning.
WHO: teachers, teacher trainees, Environmental educators, parents
WHEN: Saturday, July 12th from 10 to 3. Or please contact me to set up a workshop in your area.
WHERE: Please email/call me to get Santa Fe location. (See below.)
INSTRUCTOR: Priscilla Logan, retired Public School Reading Specialist, Permaculture and Biointensive Gardening instructor, and teacher trainer
BRING: lunch, water, hat, sturdy shoes
COST: $50 for Saturday which also includes as many interning days as you would like with Priscilla as she goes to her outdoor classes in different schools. Please make checks or POs payable to Priscilla Logan.
WHAT WILL WE BE DOING:
Hands on experience with a variety of outdoor classroom tools:
binoculars, jeweler’s loupes, etc. Discussion of how to create a safe, enjoyable outdoor experience (service learning, gardening, birding, permaculture, etc.) Research on the use of nature to teach academics, teamwork, and it’s success with ADHD children. Explanation of how to align outdoor activities to the state standards. Suggestions for outdoor classroom management. Teachers will receive a packet with outdoor classroom suggestions.
QUESTIONS? plogan@outdoorclassroom.org 505-424-1413 www.outdoorclassroom.org www.labyrinthmidwife.org
Museum Teaching Fellowship, June-July 2008 at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and the Albuquerque BioPark
Are you an elementary school teacher who would like to learn more about programs, materials, and other resources at either the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (NMMNHS) or the Albuquerque BioPark to enhance learning and teaching in your classroom? Would you like to work on your own self-directed natural history or conservation science learning project? Then don’t miss this great opportunity to become deeply immersed in the NMMNHS, or the Albuquerque BioPark, as part of this summer’s Museum Teaching Fellowship, co-sponsored by the Science Education Institute of the Southwest (SEIS) and the Albert I. Pierce Foundation.
Up to seven elementary teachers will be chosen to participate in this 80-hour program that offers valuable learning and resource opportunities, as well as a $1,000 stipend. Those teachers who choose the Albuquerque BioPark session (includes Rio Grande Zoo, Albuquerque Aquarium, Rio Grande Botanic Garden and Tingley Beach) will meet from June 16 – June 19. Teachers choosing the NMMNHS session will meet from June 23 – June 26. An additional 48 hours of self-directed study is required for all teachers participating in the program, to be completed by July 11. You will be asked to give a final presentation at the conclusion of the Museum Teaching Fellowship.
For more information, please contact Bonnie Schmader at (505) 999-9679 or at lunamor2@hotmail.com.
To download an application, go to: http://www.cabq.gov/biopark/common/teacherresources.html
Applications are due April 18, 2008
Literacy-Science-Math
Professional Development Opportunity
WHAT: Advanced Project WILD-Natural History Workshop
Lizards, Snakes, Frogs, Toads and Turtles-Wind River Ranch
A free weekend of experiential learning at the spectacular, 4,200 acre Wind River Ranch along the Mora River in northeast New Mexico. Stunning scenery with elk, bison, pronghorn, turkey, mountain lion, and golden eagle!
STAFF: Famed Dept. herpetologist Charlie Painter, co-author of Amphibians and Reptiles of New Mexico and other wildlife researchers with decades of field experience will lead you through inquiry-based learning adventures centered on amphibians and reptiles and their habitat.
COST: FREE! Bring your own food and camping equipment. Kitchen, bathrooms and meeting room are available. Some rooms in rustic bunkhouses. Pre-registration required. Space is limited.
- Gain a better understanding of the inquiry process and how to meet State Standards with classroom reptile & amphibian activities
- Learn what our scaly, warty reptilian and amphibian neighbors do between monsoon storms in NM.
- Participate in hands-on, field studies you can use with your students
SKILL SETS:
- Ecology of Southwest reptiles and amphibians, identification, use of them in the classroom
- Field journal techniques, developing monitoring plans for your area
- How to safely noose lizards
- Finding breeding choruses of plains amphibians
- Searching canyons and roads for these creatures
- Small mammal trapping
- Mist-netting for birds
WHOM: Educators of all stripes (or scales) and interested adults. No pets please.
WHEN: August 15-17, 2008 (Friday 6:00 pm through Sunday noon).
WHERE: Wind River Ranch, northeast of Watrous, NM check out www.windriverranch.org
QUESTIONS? REGISTRATION? Call Kevin Holladay, Conservation Education, Dept. Game and Fish, (505) 476-8095, Kevin.holladay@state.nm.us
Upcoming Bosque Education Guide Workshops
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Location: The Rio Grande Nature Center State Park 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You must pre-register at: (505) 344-7240, or email: Karen.Herzenberg@state.nm.us
The Bosque Education Guide is a major revision of the popular curriculum to teach about the Middle Rio Grande Valley ecosystem. The new edition is 621 pages and has activities for elementary through high school. The main activity has students set up a paper and cloth model of the river valley, placing plants and animals in the appropriate environments to show the bosque ecosystem as it was before major human alteration, then changing the pieces around to show how humans have changed things in the last century. Finally, students conduct restoration projects on the model to see how land managers can maintain as much of the biodiversity and natural processes of the ecosystem with out compromising the safety of our communities. The Guide has many activities to be done with students on field trips as well as in the classroom or schoolyard. Topics include, the geology of the valley, surface and groundwater, the demands on the river's water budget, natural history information and human influence, several mapping activities and two web quests. The final chapter helps teachers plan service-learning projects with their students. A substantial background section and appendices including correlations to the New Mexico education standards round out the book.
Participants will receive the curriculum and additional teaching kit materials. These workshops are offered to educators through funding from the PNM Resources Foundation. Co-sponsored by the NM Museum of Natural History & Science and the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park with long-term support from the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Bosque Initiative Group.
Plan to be both inside and outside for the workshop, so dress in comfortable clothes for the weather that day. Bring sack lunch, hat, water and sunscreen.
Cost is $3 for parking at the Rio Grande Nature Center.
New Energy Future Workshop
Wednesday and Thursday, July 30-31
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days, at NMMNHS
“How can we create a sustainable energy future?” This two-day workshop will prepare teachers to implement a thematic unit incorporating the study of Earth and its atmosphere, ecosystems and the threat of global warming, the history and economics of human energy use, and energy choices for the future. Designed for New Mexico students and addresses middle school science, social studies and language arts standards. Teachers completing the workshop will receive a $150 stipend and a copy of the curriculum.
Trainer: Eva Thaddeus is an educational consultant who has taught grades 1, 2, 4 and 6 and been a bilingual resource teacher and dual language program coordinator. She is the Rio Grande Sierra Club’s Issue Chair for Global Warming, and served on the NM Climate Change Advisory Group, convened by the Governor in 2007.
Funding provided by the McCune Foundation.
Level: Teachers of grades 5 to 8, $150 stipend plus curriculum and lunches included
On line Earth Systems Science Class
The Natural Science Program at the University of New Mexico in collaboration with UNM Extended University and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and the has recently been awarded an NSF grant to offer two on-line graduate level Earth Systems Science classes - one for high school science teachers in fall 2007 and in spring 2008 for middle school science teachers. This cycle will continue for at least 2 years. Each class will be taught using curriculum developed by the Earth Systems Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) that uses a problem based learning strategy to investigate relevant issues related to the earth system. Since these classes are multi-disciplinary they are appropriate for all science disciplines. You can view the high school curriculum at http://www2.cet.edu/ete/hil912/main.html and the middle school curriculum at http://www2.cet.edu/ete/5-8/main.html.
The fall class will start in September and last for 13 weeks. One weekend field trip will be required. We are especially interested in attracting cohorts of teachers from northern New Mexico and the central Rio Grande valley. At the present time, 1/2 tuition waivers and funds for field trip related expenses are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. This class is not yet listed on the UNM extended university webpage (http://eu.unm.edu/) but will be within the next 2 weeks.
Please contact Julia Mummert or Matt Nyman, 505-277-4355 (office), if you are interested in the fall course or have additional questions.
Water Resource Education:
A Field Trip in Your Own Classroom!
The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) has launched a major effort beginning in 2007 to teach citizens about changes coming soon regarding the source of our drinking water supply. As you may know, 100% of Albuquerque’s drinking water comes from an aquifer deep beneath us. By the summer of 2008 -- for the first time in history -- this will change to a combination of surface (river) water and aquifer water.
We hope you will invite one of our water resource educators into area K-12 classrooms to engage students in a 45 minute, hands-on presentation. Our mission is to help them understand where their drinking water comes both now and in the near future, and teach them what they can do to help conserve and protect their drinking water supply. Our program includes presentations that appeal to all grades. Much of what we teach fits into one or more state standards, not only in science, but in math, social studies and language arts. This means that our presentations are suited to each of these core curriculum areas.
To schedule a classroom presentation, contact: Katie Babuska 975-0036.
Mobile Molecular Biology Lab
What is the Mobile Molecular Biology Lab?
The Mobile Molecular Biology Lab brings contemporary biology research techniques to high school classrooms across the state. Students participate in a hands-on molecular biology lab activity. The laboratory techniques and discussion guide students through the determination of their phenotype and genotype for a gene that controls the ability to taste a bitter chemical. Students predict their genotype from their phenotype and use techniques such as DNA extraction, PCR amplification, restriction enzyme screening, and gel electrophoresis to determine their actual genotype.
Objectives of the Mobile Lab:
· Give students the opportunity to use state-of-the-art scientific equipment and techniques.
· Reinforce the principles of biology topics such as the scientific method, genetics, and evolution.
· Provide teachers and students with a biology experience that would otherwise be cost prohibitive.
· Increase high school student awareness of contemporary biology research and opportunities.
Benefits of the Mobile Lab:
· All equipment and supplies are provided.
· The Mobile Lab Facilitator does the set-up and leads the activities.
· Lab activities and discussion are designed to help reach the New Mexico State Performance Standards and Benchmarks in the life sciences.
For more information please contact the Mobile Lab Facilitator:
Kayce Bell
Email: kcbell@nmsu.edu
Phone: (505) 646-2175
