Pisgah Forest Institute
(PFI) has introduced two new courses in its 2005 Summer
workshop schedule in addition to the continuous modification of its
basic offerings - "Earth/Environmental Science for Middle and High School
Teachers" and "Earth/Environmental Sciences for Elementary
Teachers". The latter changes are made in response to feedback from past
participants, the 2004 end-of-course evaluations as well as the
curriculum modifications made by the North Carolina Department of Public
Instruction (NCDPI).
One of the new courses is "Air - Not: More
Recycling/Less Polluting" which will be held June 19th through
the 21st. Participants will be exposed to the concept of
viewing air pollutants as potentially useful raw materials rather than
chemicals that must be treated and discarded. The instructors will relate
that using pollutants as raw materials can result in reduced operational costs, create jobs and improve environmental
quality. Among the field trips will be a visit to an electricity
generating plant where the newly installed equipment to reduce sulfur emissions
is producing large quantities of gypsum. The gypsum is being used as the
primary component in the manufacture of wallboard, a material used in
the construction of the interior walls of most buildings. The gypsum also
will be used as a soil conditioner and fertilizer. As a result of more
efficient methods to reduce the levels of sulfur discharged into the air, which
was a major contributor to acid rain, some plants, such as peppers and tomatoes that
are important to North Carolina
agribusiness, are beginning to exhibit sulfur deficiencies. Gypsum also is
effective in keeping many fertilizer components from getting bound up on clay
particles and therefore unavailable to the crops that the fertilizers were
intended to help grow. The workshop also
will include an exercise in which the participants will collectively design an
industrial park and community based on sound recycling practices and
principles.
The other workshop to be offered is "Community Planning
With Forces of Nature". Note that the title of
this course, which will be taught from June 22nd through the 24th was previously titled "Community Planning
with Mother Nature". This workshop
will focus on water.
At its October meeting, the PFI Advisory Board presented the
staff with a Certification of Appreciation to Heather Cosby, Jayne Hall,
Jessica Sharp and Bob Sweeney for their "outstanding service during
the Summer Workshops 2004". The PFI staff members appreciated the
recognition.
The PFI staff wants to express its appreciation to PFI
Advisory Board member Shannon Buckley and his
employer, the Weyerhaeuser Company, for their recent generous donation of
paper. This will save the program considerable money as PFI generates a lot of
copies when producing participant notebooks and other materials.
During the recently held 14th Annual Conference of the
Environmental Educators of North Carolina, numerous teachers sought out Bob
Sweeney in order to relate how much they and their students benefited from
using the supplies, lesson plans and other materials that the
Institute had provide to their fellow instructors who have attended PFI
workshops. Post course surveys conducted by the Institute have shown that on
average each past participant shares the items that they received in the
PFI courses with 7.5 other educators.
PFI’s
website is located at www.brevard.edu/pfi
Howard Jennings, Tim Eichner,
and other environmental partners attended the 14th Annual Evening
for Northeast Pennsylvania’s Environment and the 10th
Annual Thomas P. Shelbourne Environmental Leadership
Award Program on October 20th.
The Environmental Partnership Awards are presented for achieving
excellence in environmental protection or conservation in Northeastern
Pennsylvania. The award
recipients must have demonstrated the quality of involving and working successfully
with others in pursuit of their accomplishments. The banquet consisted of dinner and keynote
addresses by the Honorable Edward G. Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania; the
Honorable Michael DiBerardinis, Secretary of the
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the
Environmental Partnership and Shelbourne Awards
Presentations. KceeI
had a table set up highlighting the upcoming workshops. The eight recipients of the Environmental
Partnership Awards were the Abington Little League, the City of Hazleton’s
Pine Street Neighborhood Development, Greater Hazleton Area Civic Partnership,
Hicks Creek Watershed Association, Sally J. Corrigan, Andrea Nerozzi, Pocono Heritage Land Trust, and the Twin/Walker
Creeks Watershed Conservancy.
Peter C. Pinchot was the recipient
of the Thomas P. Shelbourne Award. This award is presented annually to an
individual who stands out in the community for his/her commitment to
environmental quality, and who, over the long term, has proven to be an inspiring
leader and champion of partnering. Peter C. Pinchot
is the grandson of conservation leader Gifford Pinchot. Gifford Pinchot was
instrumental in the formation of the USDA Forest Service and served as the
first Chief Forester. Peter works with
the U.S. Forest Service and the Pinchot Institute for
Conservation in Milford, Pennsylvania
(www.pinchot.org). Some of his projects include re-establishing
the American Chestnut in PA; saving our once abundant hemlocks from the Woolly Adelgid infestation; working to rescue Pennsylvania’s
forest ecosystem from the pressure of white-tailed deer overpopulation;
campaigning for growth management and open space conservation; and promoting
stewardship ethics and sustainable forestry practices at home in PA; as well as
abroad. Governor Rendell spoke on
Growing Greener II initiatives, and environmental issues in Pennsylvania.
Howard Jennings met with the NEIU-19 Geography for Life
Council on October 22nd. Dr. Forlenza reviewed the grant parameters and partnership
opportunities available. The Council
members also met with the Geography for Life fellows. The fellows are composed of approximately 30 teachers
from each of the 20 different school districts that will serve as communication
liaisons between the district and the intermediate unit.
Keystone
College hosted a well-received
workshop titled “Biology of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
and Conifer Alternatives” on Saturday, October 23rd. Approximately 30 people composed of students,
faculty, and community professionals attended.
Howard Jennings opened the presentation with introductions. Rich Evans, National Park Service Delaware
Water Gap National Recreation Area, and Tom McLane
were guest speakers at the event. Rich
presented a PowerPoint that included information on the biology of Hemlock
Woolly Adelgid, history and consequences of the HWA
in the park, and control methods being used and researched. Tom McLane created
a PowerPoint detailing all of the conifer trees that were part of the planting and
then led the attendees on an interpretive hike of the site, which is located on
Keystone’s main campus. Detailed
information and an electronic brochure may be found at: www.kceei.keystone.edu/upcoming_events.htm.
KceeI’s
website is located at www.kceei.keystone.edu
Bioinformatics at Furman University
Furman University
has been conducting an Endemic Plant Genomics Study. The purpose of the study was to set up a
working bioinformatics research laboratory, develop the infrastructure to
support a teaching program, and conduct pilot studies on the phylogenetic relationships within rare and/or endangered
plant groups.
Two research projects were conducted during the grant
period, supported by Forest Service funds through the ERC. One was an ongoing study of Sagittaria fasciculata,
bunched arrowhead. This wetland plant
species is Federally listed as Endangered, and exists
only in a few populations in Greenville County,
SC, and Henderson
County, NC, although its
historical range is known to have been much broader. The South Carolina
department of National Resources is collaborating in this study.
In addition, a new research project was initiated to study Packera plattensis
from the Buck Creek
olivine deposit in Clay County, NC. The
site is in the Wayah ranger district of the Nantahala National Forest,
and is a recognized botanical research area.
The geology of the area includes ultramafic
rocks, which weather to produce soils that are unusually high in magnesium,
nickel, cobalt, and chromium. Many of
the plants found at the site are known from nowhere else in the Carolinas. One of the most distinctive species at the
site is Packera plattensis
(also known as Senecio plattensis),
prairie groundsel. It is common at Buck
Creek, but known from no other
localities in the region. Packera plattensis is generally a species of the central
prairies of North America, with no known affinity for ultramafic soils. It
is thus possible that the plants from Buck
Creek are in fact a unique species
not previously recognized by science.
Molecular markers were sought using random amplification of polymorphic
DNA (RAPD) techniques. Future research
will use molecular phylogenetic approaches to study
the relationships of the Buck Creek
plants to other species within the genus.
As a result of the project, a greater emphasis on genomic
methodology has been introduced into Furman’s general genetics class (required
for all students majoring in biology).
But most significantly, a new course entitled Genomics and
Bioinformatics will be offered for the first time beginning in January 2005.
Furman University’s
website is located at www.furman.edu.
Brevard College
On September 28th, Brevard AAM
conducted an “Introduction to the Library of Congress” video conference with
Elizabeth Ridgway from the Library of Congress. The participants enjoyed experiencing a
professional development opportunity in this manner. Thanks to Elizabeth
for doing an outstanding job!
A few of the video conference participants were joined by
other colleagues on October 5, 8, and 11 for a workshop on digital
storytelling. Brevard partnered with
Mars Hill AAM to deliver this workshop.
Participants created still-image digital stories by using primary source
images from American Memory. Teachers
created stories on World War II and Pearl Harbor; Asheville,
NC:
Past and Present; and political debates, to name a few. Thanks go to Ed Shearin and AnneMarie Walter of Mars Hill AAM for participating in and
co-teaching with Brevard AAM on this
workshop. The next Brevard digital
storytelling workshop is scheduled for November 9, 11, and 12 on campus.
On October 11th, a presentation was made to Brevard
Academy faculty. Other presentations are scheduled for the
coming weeks at other schools throughout the service area. Additionally, meetings with Polk County
Public Schools Superintendent Bill Miller have been ongoing in preparation to
install a video conferencing unit in one of the Polk
County schools.
Brevard’s AAM program website
is located at: http://www.brevard.edu/aam/
Mars Hill College
Digital storytelling workshops continue to be a sought-after
professional development activity in the school districts served by the Mars
Hill College AAM partner. One evening class ended on October 16th
with a remarkable group of stories and another evening class is well
underway. Dr. Ed Shearin and AnneMarie Walter were impressed with the teachers’ work.
Elizabeth Barbee of Enka High School
developed a story she calls, “An Odyssey Along the
Blue Ridge Parkway.” Elizabeth
used visual images of the Parkway from the LOC and her own photographs to show
how travel along the Parkway can offer respite for today’s fast-paced
lifestyle. She plans to use this project
after a unit on Homer’s Odyssey. The word “odyssey” is now used to explain a
challenging journey, or an intellectual or spiritual wandering. She compares travel along the Blue
Ridge Parkway to that spiritual wandering to refresh
the spirit. The project relates classroom study to our lives today.
Ed and AnneMarie worked with
Brevard AAM staff as Mars Hill and Brevard
teamed up to present digital storytelling on the Brevard College Campus to
teachers in Transylvania, Henderson
and Polk Counties. Again, the teachers did excellent work.
Teachers from Polk
Middle School, Janice Brumley and Joan Koone (with help
from AAM’s own Bob Pettis) created a digital story about Pearl
Harbor. “Air Raid: This is
Not A Drill!” was written as an introduction to the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
It is told from the point of view of a veteran, reminiscing about where
he was and the impact of Pearl Harbor on himself and the
nation 62 years later. For the 8th
grade, this could be used in conjunction with a WWII study. Sixth grade students will view this story as
an introduction to A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Harry Mazer.
Beginning this week, Burnsville Elementary teachers will
spend their Wednesday afternoons learning about the American Memory collections
and how to integrate the resources found there into digital stories. They will also have the opportunity to bring
digital cameras into the classroom to strengthen their students’ writing and vocabulary
skills.
Samantha
Cofield, digital
preservationist from the University South Carolina Upstate AAM
program, visited an MHC digital storytelling class to review techniques and
processes Mars Hill uses to facilitate digital storytelling to K-12
teachers. USC Upstate will teach digital
storytelling in the near future.
Ed and AnneMarie are also
preparing to present digital storytelling at the Appalachian College
Association (ACA) Summit in early
November. This is a follow-up to the
workshop that ACA and AAM co-sponsored to
bring digital storytelling into the college classroom.
AnneMarie will present “Digital Storytelling Everyday: Practical Applications for Using Digital
Cameras in the Classroom” at the North Carolina Educational Technology
Conference in Greensboro in
December. Additionally, two AAM
teachers will demonstrate what they are doing to implement these techniques in
their classrooms.
Mars Hill’s AAM program website
is located at: http://www.aam.mhc.edu/
Montreat College
The Montreat partner continues to stay busy with a full
calendar conducting workshops with Sunshine Elementary, Emma Elementary,
and Cliffside Elementary. Sunshine has completed 21 hours, and another
full-day workshop is scheduled for November 12. Emma and Cliffside
began an 18-hour workshop series the week of October 4. Erwin
High School started an 18-hour
workshop series on October 14. These workshop series will
conclude by December.
With the recent changes to the American Memory website, plans
are underway to update the Internet CD. The goal is to release version
3.0 by the April partner meeting.
The Montreat partner will be a little short-handed for the
next two weeks as Brian Bartlett is on leave to help take care of his wife and
brand new son, Evan, who was born October 14.
Montreat’s AAM
program website is located at: http://aam.montreat.edu/
Western Carolina University
WCU is sponsoring four LOC video conferences in
November and December on the WCU campus:
Make It and Take It; Treasure Hunting; The Spy
Map and General Washington; and Gathering Your Community's Stories.
WCU AAM is offering a series of six AAM
workshops in three locations during the next four months. Workshops will
be conducted in local high schools in three of our eight service
areas (counties). Teachers attending all 18 hours of workshops will be
allowed to keep the digital cameras they use during the workshops. The
series will include the following workshops:
Ÿ
Introduction to LOC American Memory Projects and
Online Primary Sources
Ÿ
Using Local Primary Sources to Bring Local
Meaning to the LOC American Memory Sources
Ÿ
Using American Memory and Local Life Stories in
Teaching and Learning Activities
Ÿ
Digital Storytelling - Using American
Memory and Local Sources: Process and Camera
Ÿ
Digital Storytelling - Using American Memory and
Local Sources: Visuals and Storyboarding
Ÿ
Digital Storytelling - Using American Memory and
Local Sources: The Complete Package - Audio and Images
There are now 63 lesson plans available on the National
Lesson Plan Database. Approximately five new plans will be added every
week.
WCU’s AAM
program website is located at: http://aam.wcu.edu/newaam/
California
University of Pennsylvania
The AAM
director and digital preservationist attended the semi-annual partner meeting
in Washington, DC. Both attended workshops at the LOC as well as
meetings with the entire AAM
group. It was an excellent opportunity
for the digital preservationist to establish relationships with peers from
across the country and to gain deeper understanding of the project’s scope as
well as to better learn about the many resources available from the LOC. Elizabeth Ridgway, LOC’s Educational Outreach Team Leader, and AAM
staff discussed video conferencing possibilities and having Elizabeth
visit California U’s participant schools to better explain the Library’s
available resources.
On October 7th, six Washington
High School teachers attended the
third of a six-workshop series being presented at the high school. The workshop, “Integrating Primary Resources
into the Classroom,” was presented by Byron Holdiman,
digital preservationist, in the school’s computer lab at the end of the school
day.
The
California area school district
has scheduled the “Introduction to the Library of Congress American Memory
Project and Online Primary Resources” workshop for October 27th. The same workshop is scheduled for the Canon-McMillan
school district on the 28th.
Teachers from all grade levels have been invited to attend.
On September 29, October 7, and October 13, three schools
were visited by the AAM
director and digital preservationist to introduce the AAM
program. The schools were Bentworth Area High School, California
Area Middle School, and California Area
High School. In attendance were teachers, principals, and
librarians.
California and
Waynesburg AAM
staff, along with the National AAM Program
Director Dr. Christopher Dennen, visited with AAM
sponsor Congressman John P. Murtha and congressional staff member Gabrielle Carruth on September 30 in Washington,
DC.
The discussion focused on the progress of AAM
at both institutions and how AAM
and the LOC have complemented and strengthened the educational system in the 12th
Congressional District.
CUP’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://www.cup.edu/education/aam
Waynesburg
College
October
was a busy month for the Waynesburg College AAM
staff, highlighted by the AAM Directors meeting
in Washington, DC. Amy Martin, Digital Preservationist,
participated in the LOC Orientation Session for new staff members, and then
joined Chris Dennen, Barbara Kirby, Ann
Canning, and the California University AAM
staff when they visited Congressman Murtha’s Congressional office (see picture above). The group
spent nearly an hour discussing the AAM
program with the Congressman’s representative, Gabrielle Carruth.
Congressman Murtha then joined the discussion. The Waynesburg AAM
staff printed two maps to share with the Congressman, including a map of Mount
Pleasant, PA, his boyhood home.
Congressman Murtha was very enthusiastic about the program and the LOC.
The
Waynesburg staff was pleased to present their “Mapping Memories” workshop at
the AAM Directors meeting. The staff has
developed a unique approach to using LOC’s online
panoramic map collection. Each partner
received a copy of the R.J. Lee Group Software that the Waynesburg AAM
program uses with its participating teachers. The software allows for a more
in-depth look at the available primary source documents.
In-service
workshops were held October 7 at the Albert
Gallatin School District,
and October 14 and 15 at Central Greene
School District and Jefferson
Morgan School District. Thirteen teachers from Albert Gallatin
participated in six hours of professional development, completing workshops
entitled “Introduction to the Library of Congress,” “Mining Memories,” (search
strategies), and “Digging Deeper” (analyzing primary documents). Forty teachers
from Central Greene and 30 teachers from Jefferson Morgan completed the same
three workshops. Twenty-one of the
Jefferson Morgan teachers returned for a second day of “Mapping Memories” (panoramic
maps Interpretation) as well as individual project development using primary
documents and a PowerPoint template. Dr. Gerome
Bartley, Superintendent of Schools for Central Greene, received many positive
comments from teachers following the workshops, and complimented the Waynesburg
AAM staff for its work.
An
on-campus workshop open to all Waynesburg
College districts began October 27
and will run Wednesday evenings through November 17. Outreach to district superintendents
continues as the staff strives to schedule training for each district in the
college’s territory. Eight teachers are
registered for the evening workshop, representing three different school
districts.
Upcoming
plans include a November 9 workshop for the 13 Albert Gallatin teachers who
participated in the October 9 session.
They will return for “Mapping Memories” and individual project
development. On November 24, staff will introduce 90 Trinity
School District teachers to the
LOC. On November 30, staff will work
with 50 of those same teachers in two “Mining Memories” and “Digging Deeper”
workshops.
Waynesburg’s AAM program website
is located at: http://aam.waynesburg.edu
University
of South Carolina Upstate
The AAM team at USC Upstate
has been working hard since the Directors meeting in Washington. Three fall workshops on “Instructional Use of
Digital Images” are underway. With about
half of the classes in each workshop series complete, there is still much
teaching and learning left to do in the next several weeks. Teachers are thrilled to learn about American
Memory content and have been energetically putting lessons together.
The participation of Bob Pettis and Samantha
Cofield in
digital storytelling workshops, hosted by the Mars Hill and Brevard partners,
has been valuable as the workshops have been very informative, exciting, and
encouraging. A second attempt will be
made to begin a district-wide workshop series on using digital video and Movie
Maker 2 beginning in November.
Bob and Samantha gave a successful presentation in September
for the South Carolina Council for Social Studies in Greenville,
S.C.
In response, one conference participant extended an invitation through
his district for the USC Upstate team to give an introductory workshop for
middle school social studies teachers on an in-service day in Anderson,
S.C.
Teachers were very complimentary about the session. Bob and Samantha are currently preparing to
present in January at a national educational technology conference in Orlando,
FL.
They will also be attending a state-wide educational technology
conference that month in Myrtle Beach, SC.
USCS’s AAM
program website is located at:
http://www.uscupstate.edu/academics/education/adventure_mind.asp
Northern Virginia Schools Partnership
This fall, the Northern Virginia Partnership held a program
for families to assist them in helping students use the LOC website in every
school in Arlington Public Schools. Participating teachers of AAM NVA led the
evening sessions. Response to the LOC website
has been very positive from parents. Art
and music teachers from Alexandria and Falls Church City public schools have
enjoyed special day-long programs to learn more about using primary source
materials in teaching the fine arts and to develop skills in navigating the LOC
website.
This spring, these teachers will enjoy a visit to the
Performing Arts Division at the LOC. A highlight this month was Fairfax
County secondary teachers
participating in a special Brown vs. the
Board of Education Institute led by LOC staff.
As lesson plans or WebQuests are
being implemented by AAM teachers in their
summer programs, these are also being posted on the AAMNVA
Web site.
Northern Virginia’s AAM
program website is located at: http://www.aamnva.org/
Home School Program
The AAM
Home School
staff has received several comments from current students about their
experiences with the online lessons. One student’s comment was:
… I just thought you would like to
know that I am having a lot of fun while learning this. I loved the lesson. I
learned things I did not know.
Three of the United States
lessons have new activities added. These activities include a virtual visit to
Thomas Edison’s lab in Menlo Park, NJ,
searching for details in the photographs, and reading “A Child’s Paper from the
1800s.” Links to these activities are
below.
Inventing
Entertainment with Thomas Edison
Portraits
of Presidents and First Ladies
Shaping
the Values of Youths in the Nineteenth Century
The Home School’s
AAM program website is located at: http://www.aamhomeschool.org/