Featured COSEE Great Lakes Events
Lake Michigan Exploration Workshop in Chicago- Mark the dates! August 2-8, 2008. This seven-day summer workshop will offer educators an excursion into Great Lakes and marine science education in the diverse environments around the city and its lake. Fifteen teachers and informal educators of Grades 4-10 will be selected to attend. More
Shipboard and Shoreline Science Workshops on the R/V Lake Guardian- Educators participate in Great Lakes research first-hand as they cruise on one of the lakes for a week, working side by side with scientists and stopping in ports for additional science learning. These events are in partnership with USEPA's Great Lakes National Program Office.
Marine Immersion Scholarships for Great Lakes Teachers- Scholarships are available to Great Lakes informal educators and teachers of grades 4-10. Watch this space for programs supported in 2008.
Teachable Moments for Great Lakes and Ocean Science- For each Great Lake, twice a year, we conduct short workshops designed to provide information on emerging issues or update public information on lake sciences.
Educator House Calls- Designed as opportunities for small groups of teachers and scientists to interact, “Educator House Calls” offer a chance to learn from one another and develop innovative approaches to enhancing educational outreach to promote science literacy.
On-line workshops through the College of Exploration- Each winter we offer an on-line program with streaming video of guest speakers on Great Lakes science topics, and downloadable educational resources for teaching about the topics. The free program fosters interactive discussions between scientists and educators, with graduate credit available. The Great Lakes ROCK! and previous workshop materials remain on-line for continued use.
Program Highlights of 2008
The Great Lakes ROCK!
January 27 – February 8, 2008
Online Workshop
During the two weeks of the workshop, over 250 educators, scientists, and resource managers visited the interactive site to learn about the solid Earth system as manifested in the Great Lakes.
Exemplary Teachable Moment: Connecting to Coral Reefs
March 2008
What does sand from Lake Erie and sand from Curaçao have in common? Both can be used as the basis for an effective science activity when students compare/contrast their characteristics and composition, according to Pricilla Marsh, a teacher at Chautauqua Lake Middle School. The sand activity was just one of many shared by teachers who attended COSEE GL Tropical Marine Immersion course in Curaçao last summer.
Biodiversity and coral reef ecology were the themes for the latest Teachable Moment Workshop that was sponsored by COSEE GL for 14 teachers from Western New York. Coordinated by Helen Domske, NY Sea Grant Extension, and Garry Dole, Erie 2 BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services), the workshop focused on coral reef ecology and the threats facing the reefs of the world. Both Domske and Dole provided lessons on biodiversity and coral reef ecology for the teachers.
Read more about the workshop in the COSEE Great Lakes News section of Sweetwater Seascape for Spring 2008.
Program Highlights of 2007
Lake Huron Exploration Workshop
August 11 – 17, 2007
Lake Huron
Twenty regional teachers and 13 scientists joined COSEE Great Lakes staff at the Maritime Heritage Center of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Alpena, MI. Daily science experiences included presentations and discussions, field excursions and curriculum applications.
workshop overview | workshop weblog
Tropical Marine Ecology at Curaçao
August 4 – 11, 2007
Ten of our Marine Immersion scholarships went to participants in this exciting workshop led cooperatively with New York BOCES 2 and the Aquarium of Niagara.
workshop overview | workshop weblog
NY-PA Educators House Call
August 30, 2007
Formal and non-formal educators from Pennsylvania and Western New York Area visited science facilities of New York DEC's Dunkirk Fisheries Station and the Tom Ridge Environmental Center in Erie to learn about research there. Educators and scientists discussed how to best incorporate current science data into their teaching, and how the scientists could reach out to classrooms.
