The Institute workshops provided a wide spectrum of useful information and effective teaching approaches. Participants were truly impressed and grateful for the exceptional energy, creativity, and expertise of presenters and facilitators.
Click on the following links to view descriptions of the workshops:
Tuesday, July 25, 2000
Focus on Risk
Secondary Module, Project Learning
Presenters:
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Dan Dziubek, Slippery Rock University
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Fred Wilson, Huntingdon Area School District
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The activities in this module were designed to help students learn the rationale for and the mechanics of risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication. The module activities introduced a framework through which students can apply scientific processes and higher order thinking skills to environmental issues. Once they learn the basics of risk, students should be able to apply their knowledge and skills to environmental issues, public policy issues, and personal decisions.
Food, Land and People (K-12)
Directed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Office of Environment and Ecology
Presenters:
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Norm Miller, Milton Hershey School
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Vicky Miller, Derry Township School District
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Food, Land and People is a comprehensive agriculture program that incorporates important environmental hands-on lessons into all areas of the curriculum. It can be infused into other areas besides environment and ecology. The program uses a variety of skills to teach students how to apply the knowledge base they have learned about food and fiber into their everyday lives.
Full Option Science System (FOSS)
Module on Organisms (Primary/Intermediate)
Presenter:
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Kathleen Blough, Capital Area Math/Science Alliance
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The Organisms module provides hands-on experiences that help students develop an understanding of and sensitivity to living things. In this workshop, teachers created and maintained a woodland habitat containing pine seedlings, moss, pill bugs, and beetles or millipedes. They also set up and observed a freshwater habitat. With both plants and animals in each habitat, participants observed how these organisms coexist.
Full Option Science System (FOSS)
Module on Ecosystems (Intermediate/Middle)
Presenter:
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Kathleen Blough, Capital Area Math/Science Alliance
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The Ecosystems module centers around a terrarium and an aquarium. In the terrarium, grass, mustard, and alfalfa plants are grown. Crickets and isopods are then added. In the aquarium, snails, guppies, elodea, algae, and duckweed are introduced. By connecting the terrarium and aquarium, learners can observe the relationship between the two environments and the organisms living within them.
Integrated Pest Management (K-12)
Presenters:
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Lynn Garing and Edwin Rajotte, College of Agriculture, Penn State University
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Lee Bentz, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
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Penn State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture have developed a hands-on approach to integrated pest management (IPM) curriculum to help teachers address the state standard category on IPM. They introduced the concepts behind IPM and options in using IPM in the classroom and in the school. They presented integrated lesson plans that can be incorporated into a multitude of curriculum areas.
Integrated pest management:
A variety of pest control methods that include repairs, traps, bait, poison, etc., to eliminate pests.
Pennsylvania Fish Commission Programs (K-12)
Full range of programs for teachers
Presenters:
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Carl Richardson, Education Director, and Staff
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The Keystone Aquatic Resource Education (KARE) program was introduced. The KARE program is a combination of materials that emphasize aquatic wildlife and aquatic ecosystems. The materials are K-12, use a hands-on approach, have a guide specific to Pennsylvania aquatic life, and are interdisciplinary. The new Amphibians and Reptiles curriculum presently being developed was introduced along with other curricula used by the Fish Commission.
Pennsylvania Songbirds (K-12)
A cooperative program between the Audubon Council of PA, National Audubon Society Population and Habitat Campaign, Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of State Parks
| Presenter: Marci Mowery, Audubon Society |
Pennsylvania Songbirds offers a comprehensive look at songbirds and their role in the natural world. The program covers seven major areas: bird biology, habitat, observing and identifying songbirds, migration, songbird research techniques, birds and people and action. The program uses a hands-on approach and can be integrated across the curriculum.
Science Teams in Rural Environments for Aquatic Management Studies (STREAMS)
Presenters:
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Fred Wilson, Social Studies Teacher
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Timothy Julian, Huntingdon Area Middle School
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This interdisciplinary environment and ecology water study program for middle grades focuses attention on the resource of water. The program comprises curricular and instructional materials for developing students’ awareness about and concern for water resources, and for taking action to protect them. The curricular materials can be used in social studies, science, mathematics, and language arts classes.
Groundwater:
Water that infiltrates the soil and is located in underground reservoirs called aquifers.
Susquehanna Watershed Integrated Middle School Module (SWIMM)
Presenters: Chesapeake Bay Staff
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The activities in SWIMM are meant to heighten student awareness of local environmental issues, specifically those that have an impact on water quality. By developing a sense of ownership of, and subsequent responsibility for, their local land and waterways, students take a big step in helping to improve the quality of the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed.
