Featured COSEE Great Lakes Events
Lake Erie Exploration Workshop- Mark the dates! July 18-24, 2009. This seven-day summer workshop will offer educators an excursion into Great Lakes and marine science education in the diverse environments of Lake Erie, from vantage points in Erie PA and Put-in-Bay OH. Fifteen teachers and informal educators of Grades 4-10 will be selected to attend. Watch this space for more information!
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. In 2009, we cruise Lake Superior [July 7-13] & Lake Huron [July 25-31].
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 2009.
On-line workshops through the College of Exploration: Great Lakes ALIVE- 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. In 2009 we study the biological aspects of the lakes, in Great Lakes ALIVE, February 16-27. The Great Lakes ROCK! and previous workshop materials remain on-line for continued use.
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.
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.
Lake Michigan Exploration Workshop
August 2-8
This intensive week-long workshop promoted Great Lakes and ocean sciences in formal and informal education and forged lasting relationships between scientists and educators. Participants were involved in classroom and field programs, worked with scientists, examined curricula and other resources including Websites with data sets, and explored classroom activities relating to the Great Lakes and ocean resources. Sixteen teachers and six scientists from throughout the Great Lakes and an exchange teacher from the Atlantic coast left Chicago feeling energized, well-informed, and ready to bring Lake Michigan and its watershed into their classrooms. A blog of the week’s events was created by teacher mentors, Anne-Marie Potter and Jennifer Fleck and can be viewed here.
Shipboard and Shoreline Science Course
July 13-19
This course involved 16 teachers, including at least one educator from each of the 5 Great Lakes, aboard the USEPA’s R/V Peter Wise Lake Guardian. The group boarded in Buffalo, NY, and went through the Welland Canal to Lake Ontario, where they spent the following week conducting research and learning from scientists from one end of the lake to the other. The research that the teachers collected is part of the USEPA’s Great Lakes data set and the Lake Ontario Lower Aquatic Foodweb Study (LOLA). The teachers interacted with 17 scientists during the week, including an enlightening presentation from the Tuscarora Nation of Indians that helped the teachers understand native beliefs and customs related to Lake Ontario. A web “blog” helped to track the course and a number of teachers had their students follow the course online. The teachers received a COSEE GL curriculum CD and were asked to demonstrate one of the lessons from the collection, thus becoming familiar with 16 of the classroom lessons from the CD. The evaluations indicated that all of the teachers will utilize what they learned with their students. One of the teachers sent up a follow-up message that read, “I just want to thank you again for the incredible job that you did providing experiences that I will not only never forget, but that continue to inspire me on a daily basis as to how I can learn more, incorporate more and inspire others. I know that my personal and professional life will never be quite the same.” Another teacher wrote, “Thanks for the greatest workshop in my 20 years as a teacher! It was outstanding experience and I am still trying to digest all that I learned.”
Marine Immersion in Roatan
2008
For 2008, 21 Marine Immersion scholarships were awarded to Great Lakes teachers. Ten scholarships went to educators enrolled in the Tropical Marine Ecology Program. In August, 14 teachers and one non-formal educator headed to Roatan, Honduras, to learn about tropical marine ecology. The group spent the week studying the biodiversity of coral reef ecosystems and related habitats such as mangroves and sea grass communities that support the complex structure of the reef. They had the opportunity to observe the dynamics of age-old survival relationships of unique animals on the reef and the pressures of an emerging tourist destination on these delicate relationships. The group had 2 lectures each day followed by snorkeling/diving experiences in the clear tropical waters of the Bay Islands where they observed life forms from small cleaner shrimp to large reef sharks. The course is designed to help educators transform life science and social studies lessons with materials and experiences that will allow their students to construct their own models of these complex but crucial ecosystems. The Roatan location was selected because it is home to the Roatan Institute of Marine Science, which provided classroom and laboratory space for the teachers. A web blog was created for the teachers to share with their students in the upcoming school year. http://tme08.blogspot.com/ As a follow-up to the course, the group met in September to receive underwater photos, a DVD of underwater video and a PowerPoint presentation that they can use in their classroom to help teach their students the essential principles and fundamental concepts of Ocean Literacy that they learned about and experienced first-hand during the course.
Ten additional Marine Immersion scholarships were awarded to teachers from the Great Lakes to attend other regional and marine programs.
GOGL Introduced to Classroom Educators
February 2008
In February, twelve educators from across Ohio participated in Dive into the Greatest of the Great Lakes, a five-hour short course featured at the Science Education Council of Ohio’s Annual Conference. Lyndsey Manzo, a classroom teacher and COSEE Advisory Board member, facilitated the workshop where teachers were exposed to lessons spanning grades 4-10 in each of the topic areas found in the curriculum (Great Lakes Overview, Life in the Water, Habitats, Climate & Weather, Hydrology, Coastal Processes, and Issues). Teachers used inquiry strategies and hands-on learning to construct a model of the Great Lakes and study the geography of the region, estimate population densities of various ichthyoplankton in simulated estuaries; classify Great Lakes fish; contrast changes in air temperature over water and land; draw conclusions after graphing Great Lakes and global temperature data; create wetland habitats and determine the impacts of the loss of wetland ecosystems; trace the pathways by which energy and toxins move through Great Lakes food chains; analyze adaptations of organisms living in and near lake shore sand dunes; and evaluate strategies to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. Teachers also saw presentations on additional professional development opportunities available through COSEE-GL and F.T Stone Laboratory. After participating in the workshop, they received the Greatest of the Great Lakes CD and numerous supporting references, as well as a one-year GLEAMS (Great Lakes Educators of Aquatic and Marine Science) membership.
