PFI’s distance learning version of the Earth and Environmental Science for Middle and High School Educators is approximately half-way through the 8-week course. The 31 participants have completed the first two sections on Geology and Hydrology, with the remaining two on Atmosphere and Ecology to be completed. With the exception of a few technological difficulties in submitting quizzes and lessons, the workshop has run smoothly, and the technical problems have now been solved. We are already receiving valuable feedback on the quality of material presented and usefulness of lessons provided.
Even as we provide the distance learning workshop, we are gearing up for the summer workshops. Forest Ecology has already filled, but a few spaces are remaining in Earth and Environmental Science (EES) for Elementary Teachers, EES for Middle and High-School Teachers, and Good in the Woods, our only 3-day workshop. Earth Systems Science has been cancelled. Not only was its enrollment low, but its costs became prohibitive. We still expect to serve 100 participants this summer and another 50 during the academic year.
Goods in the Woods is one of our two new workshops. During the 3-day period, we will study Tree Products, Medicinal and Edible Plants, Mushroom Harvest, and Other Products. Renown expert in the Cherokee traditional uses of medicinal plants, Ms. Ila Hatter, will be one of our featured instructors as will Mr. William Sterret, an expert in mushroom identification. Participants will tour the nearby Holmes Educational State Forest where they will learn to identify different species of trees and estimate the value of lumber in individual trees from the various tree species. We are finalizing the “other products” section, but are focusing on the harvest of ramps, ginseng, and black bear from local forests, exploring population trends and regulations involved in sustainable harvest methods.
PFI and the Transylvania County Library will co-sponsor a speaker series this summer that is available to the general public. During each workshop we offer this summer, PFI will feature one of our workshop instructors as a major speaker. Their presentation will be given at the Library, and the public will be invited to attend. Our workshop participants will be seated in a reserved section at the front of the auditorium, with the remaining seats open to the public. We hope that this new partnership will promote PFI in our local community. While we are well known among educators in the state of North Carolina and beyond, our local community of Brevard knows little about us, and we hope this joint venture between PFI and the Transylvania County Library will both benefit our community and provide its members with a better understanding of PFI’s mission.
PFI's website is located at www.brevard.edu/pfi.
Pacific Forest Institute
Pacific Forest Institute is pleased with the responses that we are receiving for our two Summer Sierra Forest and Society Environmental Education Workshops. Both of our sessions are half-full, which is exceptionally good for this early in the year.
The first (Sunday, June 24 to Friday,June 29 will be headquartered at William Jessup University campus. Some of the introductory classes will be held on campus and there will be several day-long bus trips to various parts of the Tahoe National Forest, where teachers will have the opportunity to hear and question the various presentations by state, federal and private landowner professionals. One of the nights will probably be spent at Lake Tahoe.
The second session will begin introductory classes at William Jessup University, but continue most of the educational opportunities at Hidden Lakes, a rustic camp in a beautiful high-elevation camp near Lake Tahoe.
Mark McReynolds has done an outstanding job in developing additional PFI activities and he held the second of two Project WILD and Aquatic WILD workshops on March 24.
This was the last of series of six Spring Workshops. The attendance was only 5 individuals during the last session, but it was encouraging that three were employees of the California Waterfowl Association, because they will use the material to reach many people.
Following the participant introductions and review of the activity guide in the morning indoors, the group spent the afternoon outside viewing the watershed and aquatic habitat on William Jessup University Campus.
Despite good publicity, the workshop attendance in general was sparse this year. Discussions with Project WILD and Project Learning Tree indicates that this appears to be common. We are told that this is because teachers have a multitude of workshop opportunities. They receive pay for some of them and some of the classes are required under the new "No Child Left Behind" regulations.
We received a high attendance of 15 at the Flying WILD workshop and we believe that was probably because it was a new program with a brand new activity guide. All of our attendees have been pleased with the program presentations and it has provided opportunity for us to inform them of our summer workshops.
As a result of attendance at the first national bird education conference, and hosting the Flying WILD workshop, PFI will probably become a City Partner for Flying WILD. As a City Planner, we would function as the State Coordinators for PLT and Project WILD, but on a more local basis.
As presented in an earlier newsletter, PFI is working closely with William Jessup University to develop the pond that is located on campus, so that it can be utilized for a variety of education opportunities. An interpretive consultant has been hired to begin the planning process and we are we are looking forward with anticipation to see the wonderful projects that will develop from our pond area.
For updated information on the Pacific Forest Institute, please visit our website at:
http://www.jessup.edu/academics/pacificforestinstitute.
Keystone College Environmental Education Institute
A lot has been happening at KceeI since the last newsletter. Tim Eichner, Assistant Director of KceeI, has been working hard with this year’s maple sugaring season. The season wrapped up last week with a total of 20 gallons of syrup produced. This is a decent amount considering the most ever produced was 25 gallons. KceeI would like to thank Tom Harris, a local volunteer, whose hard work was a tremendous help this maple sugaring season.
Shane Kleiner, DEP Conservation District Field Representative, recently finished teaching a one-credit field biology course at Keystone on maple sugaring. This course had 21 students enrolled. The New Age Examiner recently published an article on this ‘sweet’ course: http://www.kceei.keystone.edu/press_releases.htm.
The Alternative Forest Products course took place on Saturday, March 10th. KceeI was very happy to have Tanya Bruce, Grants Manager for ERC, visit that weekend. The course was a success with 15 teachers participating from 10 different schools. Of the 15 teachers that participated, 6 were past participants of KceeI. The success of the course is probably best appreciated through some of the comments included in their evaluations:
“A great hands-on experience in nature. I would definitely recommend it to all educators”
“What a wonderful opportunity to learn about PA’s natural environment. Loved it!”
“I am invigorated by your course and I have a renewed interest in pursuing my environmental science degree.”
“Quality and fun all rolled into one!”
The teachers received a great set of free educational resources for their classrooms which included their own maple sugaring setup consisting of a bucket, a lid, and a spile (spout). Other resources they received were: Backyard Sugarin’: A Complete How-To Guide, Rink Mann; The Maple Sugaring Story, DVD and guidebook, Betty Ann Lockhart; Growing Shitake Mushrooms in a Continental Climate, Kozak and Krawczyk; The Pocket Naturalist Guide to Mushrooms; PA Fungi Poster; Maple Sugaring on Keystone’s Woodland Campus, video; One pint of Keystone College pure maple syrup; The Natural Inquirer, USDA Forest Service, vol 4, no 1; plus other KceeI giveaways.
The day began bright and early at 7:30 am with registration and breakfast at the Water Resource Center. Howard Jennings, Director of KceeI, gave a brief introduction to the Institute and an overview of the day’s activities. Howard also had a great discussion with teachers on what their individual districts would pay for continuing education courses. This was very helpful in terms of what KceeI could charge in the future for its courses to sustain itself. Then it was off into the woods to begin the day.
The group set out for the Maple Sugar Shack on Keystone’s back campus. Once there, Tim Eichner, Director of the Water Resource Center and Assistant Director of KceeI, took half of the group into the surrounding woods to explain about the tree-tapping and collecting process, instruments used, and identification of sugar maples as well as other types of local trees. Shane Kleiner, DEP Conservation District Field Representative, stayed at the sugar shack with the other half of the group to discuss the process of boiling the sap into maple syrup. After 45 minutes at each session, the groups switched.
After the two concurrent sessions were completed, the group headed to lunch in the main dining hall at the college. The afternoon sessions were facilitated by Jim Ochterski, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County. This is the second year that Jim has facilitated this course and we were very happy to welcome him back.
Currently, Jim is a Senior Extension Educator and is also the Agriculture Economic Development Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County. He previously served as the Natural Resources Extension Specialist in South Central New York State. Jim earned an MS in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan and a BS in Cell Biology from the University of Rochester. His 10 years of Extension include 6 years as an agriculture and natural resources agent in his current position, and 4 years as a 4-H Youth Development Program. His areas of expertise include small farm and rural enterprise development, niche product marketing, natural resource management, and horticulture.
Jim’s afternoon presentations included: the marketing aspects of maple syrup; mushroom identification, cultivation, and collection - Jim brought along the proper materials for growing mushrooms and demonstrated the process by inoculating a log 3 different ways. Ginseng was the next topic covered. Again, he spoke about the identification and collection of ginseng and the marketing aspects of the product. Jim finished up the afternoon with a discussion on other special forest products. After evaluations and a brief wrap-up the group was finished around 4:00pm. Participants earned 9 Act 48 hours for this course at no charge.
In other news, Howard Jennings has been meeting with two vice presidents of the college to discuss ways that KceeI could sustain itself in the future given its wonderful past history.
Last Wednesday, March 28th, Howard Jennings went before the CPE committee at the NEIU-19 to present KceeI’s Astronomy course for CPE credit approval. We are happy to report that the Astronomy course now carries Act 48 Hours, CPE credits, and Wilkes University Graduate Education Credits.
KceeI continues to distribute its 2007 brochure. Last Friday, Nora Dillon, Operations Coordinator for KceeI, drove around to local schools to distribute our brochure. Over 650 brochures were distributed on this trip.
On another note KceeI’s Amphibians and Reptiles of the Wooded Landscape course will take place on Wednesday, April 11th. We are looking forward to a successful course.
Just a reminder…
- To view the continuous water quality monitoring sites , click on the following link: http://www.waterontheweb.org/data/index.html
- If you would like to view the Northeast, check out the live “Streaming Camera” at www.atlas.keystone.edu/video.htm
KceeI’s website is located at www.KceeI.keystone.edu.
During the month of March, Hunter Goosmann attended InnoVenture which is an annual conference of innovators and entrepreneurs building personal relationships to enhance products sold to existing customers, improve the productivity of existing processes, create new markets, and expand/develop the Southeastern Innovation Corridor (the area of NC, SC, Georgia, and Tennessee that includes two national laboratories, 16 research universities, 23 million residents, and a vibrant industrial base.
Hunter Goosmann, ERCB General Manager is very active in the HUB, a collaborative and sustainable economic development strategy for Asheville and Buncombe County. He currently participates in the following task forces:
(1) Broadband - Chair
(2) High Performance Computing / Storage - Chair
(3) Development of Information Technology
(4) Diversity in the Region's Technology
(5) Red Hat Proposal
(6) Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence
Lou Vasquez, ERCB Network Architect, attended the Furman Forum on March 22nd. The forum focused primarily on three projects underway at Furman University: (1) new science building and its environmentally friendly aspects; (2) lake revitalization project; and (3) biofuel project.
The event was a great opportunity to meet and network with peers and executives in the Upstate in several fields including:
(a) Solar power for primary co-location power in place of generator or city power
(b) Nanotechnology triangle (SC)
(c) Up-and-coming collocation/DR provider in Greenville area
(d) Large-scale construction (military/building parks)
(e) Food packaging plant
ERC Broadband’s website is located at www.ercbroadband.org
For more information on ERC Broadband, please visit the website at: www.ercbroadband.org.
Western North Carolina
PROPEL Workshop Series
Western North Carolina AAM partners completed nine full-day PROPEL workshops during March. Two of these were the Launch workshops, which is a celebration of work completed and a learning opportunity for participants (school librarians and media specialists) and their principals. In Launch, participants display and showcase their PROPEL projects which were developed in collaboration with a classroom teacher in their school (http://aam.montreat.edu/montreat_aam/exhibit/index.htm).
One of the cohorts in which all media specialists in the county participated in PROPEL have already had a profound change in their roles as media specialists as a direct result of this series. The superintendent of schools for the county announced during Launch in March that media specialists in that county will now be spending most of their time working collaboratively with classroom teachers to design curricula.
Wendy Fusco, Montreat College AAM Director, has developed an online showcase for all participant displays created during the PROPEL series and presented during the final workshop. Currently, Montreat's fall participant exhibits are online; the other partners are assembling their pages and all of the exhibits from the fall series should be available soon.
Pathfinders
Jodi Huggins, Brevard College AAM Director, and Symantha Pettit, Brevard College AAM Associate Director, continue work on the primary source pathfinders database. This database was designed as a resource for educators to assist them in locating groups of relevant primary source items that focus on a curricular topic. The pathfinders have the additional advantage of including suggested instructional ideas for using the primary source items in the classroom. In addition, media specialists in the PROPEL workshop series (with the assistance of their collaborating teachers) are creating pathfinders to contribute to this database. To date, PROPEL participants have created nearly 100 pathfinders that relate directly to primary sources and their use in teaching and learning activities.
Presentations
Dr. Beth Rodgers Coulter, Western Carolina University AAM Director, and Dr. Pam Johnson, AAM Online Education Director, presented “Developing Online Primary Source Specialists” an overview of the PROPEL Program at the University of North Carolina Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference in Raleigh on March 22nd. Attendees received an overview of the PROPEL program as well as a listing of Web links and resources for them to share at their institutions.
AnneMarie Walter, Mars Hill College AAM Associate Director, presented at the East Carolina University Research Week in March. The presentation is an online copyright project that she completed this year in collaboration with Elizabeth Lang, AAM Technical Support Specialist.
Other News
Dr. Johnson and Dr. Coulter are developing an online survey for WNC AAM Phase I, Phase II, Phase III, and PROPEL participants. This online survey will be sent to participants during April. All WNC directors are contributing participant information to facilitate the gathering of data. In addition, Dr. Johnson and Dr. Coulter recently met with three LearnNC administrators who are very interested in discussing the possibility of offering PROPEL in a blended format to media specialists state-wide.
Brian Bartlett, Montreat College AAM Technology Support Specialist, has accepted a new position at Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina. We all wish him well with his new position.
More information about PROPEL is available at www.aamprogram.org and at www.aamlearning.org.
California University of Pennsylvania
Workshops
Seven teachers from Ave Maria Catholic School attended their fifth workshop in a series of six scheduled AAM Basic Skills workshops. The workshop, Digital Storytelling, was delivered on-site at the school by Byron Holdiman.
AAM in California University Classrooms
AAM staff visited Dr. Kelton Edmonds Craft if History Class and addressed 25 sophomore level students. The Historical Research and Writing Workshop was designed to inform students about the Library of Congress online resources so they could use the resources along with others to prepare a term paper they will be writing in a subsequent upper level required course.
AAM staff also met with Dr. Holly Diehl, faculty member responsible for student teachers, to discuss a collaborative learning experience for student teachers where student teachers will be introduced to Library of Congress online resources and assigned the task of working in teams of two to link primary sources to PA academic standards.
Veterans Oral Histories Project
Michael Brna gave a presentation about the Library and the Veterans Oral History Project at a Women’s History Day event at the Center on the Hill community center. He was joined by Dr. Sally Stephenson, a World War II U.S. Navy veteran, who participated in the Veterans Oral History Project at Cal U. A brief clip of Dr. Stephenson’s interview was shown followed by her 30-minute presentation about World War II from a woman’s perspective. Approximately 75 people attended the event.
Other News
Michael Brna served as a judge for the Regional National History Day competition held at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center. He was one of six judges responsible for judging the Junior Individual Exhibits category. The Pittsburgh regional competition is the largest regional competition in the nation with 500 participants. Winners progress to the state competition, which is held in State College, PA.
AAM staff met with Dr. Brad Ferko, superintendent of Charleroi Area school district, to plan for engaging K-12 teachers at month’s end. Charleroi schools are part of Cal U’s Professional Development Schools project and future work will include collaborative learning exercises in conjunction with Charleroi’s Classrooms of the Future project where each student will have access to computers.
CUP’s AAM program Web site is located at:
http://www.cup.edu/education/aam
DePaul University
DePaul continues to branch out to include west suburban counties in the greater Chicago area. DePaul currently is in discussion concerning available dates/times with Glenbard School District 87. This district includes Glenbard South High School, Glenbard North High School, and Glenbard East and West High Schools. This is the third DuPage School District added to DePaul’s program. .
DePaul and Loyola will be team teaching at King College Prep High School with the first session April 13. Over 60 teachers will participate in the simultaneous sessions. DePaul distributed surveys to participants in advance of the session to assess needs and topics of interest. As reported by the state, 52 percent of King College Prep High School students are from low-income students families. This includes students from families receiving public aid, living in institutions for neglected or delinquent children, being supported in foster homes with public funds, or eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches. The percentage is one indication of the student economic level (or family income level) at a school.
DePaul’s AAM program Web site is located at:
Illinois State University
Illinois State University’s AAM program continues to grow. Staff are working with the University’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology to host a faculty workshop in May. In addition, preparations for summer institutes are underway. One of these will be held at one of several of the University’s professional development schools in Pekin, Illinois.
AAM staff continue to spread the word about the Library of Congress’ resources. Judy Bee and Rick Satchwell presented a half-day workshop in March at the Illinois Technology Conference for Teachers entitled “Teaching with Primary Sources.” Rick Satchwell presented a session at the International TechEd Conference in Ontario, California on March 26 entitled “Teaching with Digital Primary Sources.” Both events were well attended and participants voiced their excitement about the resources they found at the Library.
ISU’s AAM program Web site is located at:
Loyola University
The Loyola University Chicago AAM/TPS (Teaching with Primary Sources) partner has planned and begun execution of various educator recruitment activities for in-service and pre-service educators in the Chicago area. Training will range from a summer TPS graduate course to in-house training workshops.
The Loyola University Chicago TPS partner has also developed a Chicago Teacher Resource packet as well as redesigned and updated its Web site.
Chicago principals from public and private schools have been invited to an April event so that they can 1) nominate a teacher from their school to be a participant in the TPS graduate-level summer course at Loyola University Chicago; and 2) obtain further information about Loyola’s program and its professional development training available with TPS. From the nomination pool, teachers selections will be based on grades (4-12) and subjects taught (as many as possible). AAM/TPS staff will endeavor to include a wide array of teachers representing various grade levels and subjects taught. The maximum number of teacher participants is 25.
Subsequent to their selection, teacher participants will attend an introductory dinner in May. The summer course will take place on campus every Saturday, from July 7 through August 11. Teacher participants will each receive three graduate credits for completing the course.
The Loyola University Chicago partner has also held workshops with CHAPTER scholars who are teachers-in-training at the university. These participants represent a wide range of disciplines and grade levels of interest. Scholars were quite interested in the navigational aspects of the LOC as well as primary source-based activities and lesson ideas shared. Plans are being made for future workshops that will build on the first training sessions.
Loyola’s AAM Web site is located at:
http://www.luc.edu/schools/education/aam/index.shtml
Metropolitan State College of Denver
Librarian Days 2007
In an effort to reach an ever-widening audience, Metro State AAM staff have teamed with promising community partners to participate in The Council for 21st Century Learning. The collaborative goal is to recreate the paradigm for teaching and learning in the digital age. On February 23 and 24, AAM-Colorado, the Auraria Library, and the Denver Newspaper Agency sponsored the third annual Librarian Days event at Metro State’s downtown Auraria Campus. “Educating the Digital Learner: 21st Century Learning, Literacy & Thinking” was a hugely successful event that brought together more than 160 educators from across Colorado to learn about the LOC’s American Memory Web site and instructional applications for using digital resources in the classroom.
A full day of presentations and guest speakers on Friday and a full day of half-day workshop sessions by special guests on a variety of topics on Saturday provided attendees with ideas and inspiration for future learners. The overwhelming response has been excitement, enthusiasm and interest in more workshop availability. For more on Librarian Days, please visit our website at http://aamcolorado.mscd.edu.
Partnership with Jefferson County School District
AAM-Colorado and Jefferson County School District, the largest district in the state, have implemented a program “to improve teachers’ appreciation for and knowledge of traditional American history through intensive, ongoing professional development” after the district received a three-year, $950,198 Teaching American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Four AAM/Jeffco workshops are scheduled for April and all are nearly filled to capacity. Read more at http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/artman/publish/aamco_twv3062106.shtml.
AAM-Colorado Fellows
AAM-Colorado Fellows continue their activities on behalf of this program. Michelle Pearson hosted a special on-location AAM-Colorado workshop for Adams District 12 in November and is now conducting a complete online AAM series for the second session of the spring semester. Since returning from an assignment in Washington D.C. as the Library of Congress Teacher-in-Residence, Sherrie Galloway will host four AAM-Colorado workshops during April and May in Grand Junction.