April, May
and June in the PFI office were filled with preparations for our summer
workshops. Two student interns were hired during the spring semester and both
stayed on to work as summer assistants. We were pleased with the efforts that
Chad Campbell and Kisha Fouch
made in planning for and in helping us offer our
workshops. Austin Brodfuhrer remained as an assistant
during the entire academic year as well as the summer season and has been a
valuable member of our staff. Doris Pressley came on board during the first two
workshops as bus driver extraordinaire and will return for the remaining three
summer workshops.
PFI has completed its first two workshops of the summer. Earth and
Environmental Science (EES) for Middle and High School Teachers was held June 15-20, and EES for Elementary Teachers was
June 22-27. These are our two longest-running workshops, with EES for Middle
and High-School Teachers offered every summer since 2000. Even though these
workshops have been held for eight and seven (EES Elementary) years in a row,
both were packed with participants. Depending on the ratio of men and women,
which affects our ability to assign dorm rooms, and the number of commuters,
who do not need dorm space at all, we usually fill with 24-25 participants, but
both workshops topped those numbers. EES for Middle and High-School Teachers
had 26 participants, and 28 participants took EES for Elementary Teachers.
Participant evaluations of the workshops were very positive. The only
complaints were that the PFI staff kept them so busy learning that they didn’t have
enough time for shopping in downtown Brevard!
Both
operations manager Kevin Fischer and executive director Jennifer Frick-Ruppert were very involved as instructors in the EES
workshops, but Chad and Austin gained experience when they each
led an activity. As always, PFI relied heavily upon expertise drawn from other
agencies. Diane Silver, from the NC Cooperative Extension Agency, was a big hit
with her excellent presentation on water quality. Lindsay Green, from the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education was a
fantastic follow-up with water quality assessments. Ted Duncan, Tim Fleming, and Chris Spender
from Holmes Educational State Forest and Keith Bamberger from the NC Department
of Environment and Natural Resource’s Air Quality Division provided lessons
from Project Learning Tree (PLT) for the EES Elementary Teachers Workshop, and
other, more advanced lessons for the EES-Middle and High-School Teachers
Workshop. Coupled with the introduction and conclusion at the Cradle of
Forestry with Cindy Carpenter, PFI was able to offer PLT credit to teachers in the
EES-Elementary Workshop. Participants in the EES-Elementary Workshop also
received a special treat in that geologist Amanda Roberts led activities and field trips
during our day devoted to Geology. Cindy’s concluding activities at the Cradle
of Forestry are a great way to finish each of these popular workshops as we
integrate the previous activities and lessons. Participation by all these
knowledgeable instructors enhanced the workshop experience for our
participants, and we thank them and their agencies for their participation.
During
July, PFI offers three more workshops. There
are a few slots remaining in each! Our two 3-day workshops will run back-to-back,
making it convenient, we hope, for educators to take both short workshops if
they wish. Recycling and Composting in the Classroom will run July 13-15, and
the brand-new Forest Invasives is from July 16-18.
Our final workshop will be Forest Ecology, from July 20-25. All workshops carry continuing
education (CEU) credits as well as credit toward certification as a North
Carolina Environmental Educator. Registration is open on our website (www.pisgahforestinstitute.org).
And remember, if you are from Rutherford County, NC or have a friend there,
encourage them to attend one of our summer workshops. We have a grant from an
anonymous donor to support teachers from Rutherford County.
. Keystone College Environmental Education Institute
KceeI has just finished its first two
courses of the summer. Watershed
Explorers and Astronomy were held concurrently during the week of June 22 –
27. The challenge of working out all the
small details of running concurrent courses was made easier by the help of Keystone College’s food service, physical
facilities, housekeeping and student life. KceeI would like to
extend a big thank you to the campus community.
The keynote speaker for the Watershed Explorers course was
Alex Fried. Alex is the Director of
Public Relations and the Energy Affairs Manager at Proctor and Gamble in Mehoopany, PA.
He gave a very interesting presentation on International Water Issues
and Diseases. Alex also showed the
teachers a P&G’s PUR Water Purification
System. This process takes the dirtiest
of water and transforms it into clean, drinkable water in minutes. By adding a packet of PUR to dirty water and
stirring for about 5 minutes allows the particles flocculate together and
settle to the bottom. The water is then
strained through a paper towel and is clean and ready to drink! This technology is now being used in third
world countries and places where natural disasters have occurs. The teachers really enjoyed his
presentation.
KceeI brought back many of the same
presenters that we have in the past because they do such a wonderful job. The hands-on aspect of this course is one of
the most exciting for the teachers along with the field trips. This year the group went on an all-day
watershed tour. First stop was P&G
for a behind the scenes tour of the companies’ water treatment operations as
well as paper making processes. The next
stop was Lazy Brook Park. Located on a
flood plain, it was once an area occupied by many homes and now it is a public
park. Glenburn Pond was the next stop on
the watershed tour. Joe Iannuzzo, PA DEP, explained about the issues associated
with this area such as, flooding, safety, and chromium contamination. Up next was Ernie Keller of the Lackawanna
County Conservation District who brought the group a modern day conservation
farm, the highlight of which was a manure containment facility that reduces
non-point source pollution. Finally back
at Keystone, Mary Felley, executive director of the
Countryside Conservancy, gave a brief presentation on the land trusts,
conservation easements and recreational activities within the watershed.
Overall, the Watershed Explorers was a great success. This is evidenced through some of the
comments included in the evaluations:
“KceeI
has been the highlight of my summer for the last three years. I am always impressed at the level of
professionalism and love of the subject that is exhibited by the staff at KceeI.”
“The camaraderie among the
professors and the students made this week a terrific learning experience!”
“This week was exciting and
informative. The experience was
completely different than any other course I have taken.”
The
Astronomy course was held at the Thomas G. Cupillari
Observatory. Here teachers were able to
see the telescopes and many celestial bodies up close and personal. KceeI is very lucky
to have such a wonderful facility just 8 miles away.
The keynote
speaker for the Astronomy course was Dr. Doug O’Neal. Doug recently finished his first full year as
a faculty member at Keystone College.
The topic of his presentation was Extrasolar
Planets. Doug also received a grant from
the American Astronomical Society to attend a prestigious research conference
this summer featuring astronomers and astronomy professors from around the
world. He will attend and present
research at the 15th Cambridge Workshop on "Cool Stars, Stellar Systems
and the Sun" July 21-25 at St. Andrews, Scotland.
The teachers enjoyed being at the Observatory for the majority of the
course. It’s a great setting to learn about the many
topics that were covered such as: taking the temperature of a star; determining
the chemical composition of stars; our Sun as a star; types of telescopes and
which one is right for you; practicing astronomy with binoculars; and size and
scope of the solar system. In addition to theory, participants were given
“hands-on” experiences and suggestions for activities to enrich the classes
they teach. They especially enjoyed the
two evenings of observing stars and planets and the field trip to the
Tunkhannock High School Planetarium.
This course was truly out of this world!
The success of this course is best
appreciated through some of the comments received in the evaluations:
“The Astronomy course was a one-week
voyage to the solar system and beyond! I
totally recommend the trip.”
“Amazing! Great teachers! Lots of teaching
materials! I am hooked!”
“This was a great course that I
won’t soon forget.”
KceeI is
still busy preparing for the next round of courses: Forests and Society, July
13-18, and Climate Change and the Energy Challenge, July 20-25. The Climate Change course is our newest
offering and it is a very timely topic given the state of our environment
today. Currently in Northeast PA wind power and natural gas drilling are becoming huge
topics of interest. We hope to teach the
participants a lot.
In other news,
the third annual Director’s Conference is going to be held in Northeast Pennsylvania this year! KceeI is very
excited to host this conference which always proves to be extremely informative
and fun.
Just a
reminder…
- To view KceeI’s
2008 brochure:
http://kceei.keystone.edu/Documents/webBrochure.pdf
KceeI’s
website is located at www.KceeI.keystone.edu
PACIFIC FOREST
INSTITUTE
April
Because its
programs are for practicing teachers, students and faculty at William Jessup University are often not aware of PFI CA and its activities. To remedy that, and to build rapport with the
university, PFI CA held an environmental stewardship
week on campus that was the only Earth Day activities for the month. Staff distributed a campus recycling flier,
led a creek cleanup, and a nature walk and a cleanup in the Preserve. Staff also promoted an environmental
stewardship contest that resulted in several faculty
offering their services as judges.
Contracted
landscape design plans for the interpretive trail at the Preserve were reviewed
with the architect and interpretive planner and initial revisions made. Information gathering and initial design
of the contracted Preserve interpretive signs was begun.
Preparation
for the summer workshops continued with the schedule, logistics and speakers
being firmed up.
May
As a direct
result of teacher workshops led by PFI CA last year, three school groups
visited the Preserve in early May and became the first official groups to come
to Preserve. Three teachers and 68
students participated and teachers should be able to lead their own groups the
next time they come. One teacher will
return next Fall with her class to set up Bluebird
boxes made this Spring as a part of a service learning grant provided by
Project Learning Tree (PLT) and a result of PFI CA PLT training last year.
We
continued weekend teacher workshops with a Project Wild and Wild Aquatic
workshop. We used PFI CA spotting scopes, dissecting scopes
and microscopes to explore the rich life associated with our Preserve’s eight
acre pond and associated grassland and reviewed curriculum that the teachers
will be able to use in their classrooms.
We are
quite excited that our summer teacher workshops will be at Hidden Lakes, at 6400 ft. and surrounded by
Tahoe National Forest (TNF). TNF staff are scheduled to meet both summer teacher workshops at
the Yuba Gap Fire site and explain how the fire was managed and the differences
between the post-fire rehabilitation efforts on this checkerboard forest
managed by the TNF and private owners.
June
Much of our
work in June was geared toward creating our flagship summer teacher workshops
in the summer. One example of the work
required is the wood sample kits that each teacher receives free of
charge. We buy “tree cookies” (one inch
or less cross sections of trees) that show various types of growth, fire scars,
etc., from a retired forester who charges little for what is actually a work of
love. Also included in these bags are
small blocks of wood products and natural wood samples of Sierra Nevada trees. We print and place an explanatory label on
each of the 20 plus samples and cookies in each of the 40 teacher’s bags. These wood sample kits are great learning
tools and well worth the work we put into them.
A first
major review of text and design for the interpretive signs for the Preserve was
conducted and revisions sent to the interpretive planner. We are excited about these signs and the
Preserve trail and expect to see construction begin this Fall.
Dennis, our
volunteer, is still with us and spends time in the field gathering plant
samples and bird sightings useful for management of the Preserve, PFI CA workshops and WJU biology
classes. A highlight is discovery of
Burrowing Owls, a species of special concern in California.
Draft of
Interpretive Panel for PFI CA’s Preserve
Pacific
Forest Institute's website is located at: http://www.jessup.edu/academics/pacificforestinstitute.
4/2/08: In pursuit of a greater
understanding of healthcare data flow, Hunter Goosmann participated in a NCSU Lean
Healthcare conference held in Concord, NC. This was a great opportunity for Hunter to exercise his enterprise
application knowledge and learn more about the issues facing healthcare
organizations as they grow.
4/15-4/16: In addition to
expanding healthcare expertise, Hunter Goosmann participated in e-NC’s SE ICT
Symposium that addressed broadband issues facing the state. It was a great
opportunity to hear specific information addressing wireless technologies, the
state education network, and more.
4/17: Deborah Roberts, Business Development Manager,
attended a Duke University “Steps to Sucessful
Grantseeking” class in Waynesville, NC.
4/17: Theo Lavis participated in a Joint Meeting of
Technology Commission at UNCA.
4/18: General Manager, Hunter Goosmann, was in Raleigh for the NCTA-Knowledge Workforce
meeting. This is further support for the growth of education across the state
via technology.
4/25: Lou Vasquez, Network Architect, was a presenter
at the AITP conference held at the Grove Park Inn. The AITP is considering
expansion into western North Carolina and ERC Broadband may play a role in
supporting this expansion.
4/28: Hunter attended the SEATOA conference held
at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. SEATOA addresses rural fiber optic
expansion and municipal networking. ERCB’s participation is important to not
only learn the latest in rural broadband news but also in the latest PEG issues (“PEG” = Public, Education, Government
specifically as they apply to community media centers and public access
television).
4/29-4/30: Theo Lavis, Network Administrator traveled to
Appalachian State University for Building New Foundations for Data-Driven
Regional Economic Strategy: A Leadership Development and Strategy Formation
Workshop.
ERC Broadband implemented a new website
in April! Our staff has worked hard to create a more dynamic place for our
customers, vendors, patrons, and friends to visit and learn about our services.
Please, take a look around the site and tell us what you think www.ercbroadband.org .
In April 2008, the Department
of Commerce's General Counsel approved an updated Memorandum of Agreement
("MoA") between the National Climatic Data
Center ("NCDC"), the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Services
("NESDIS"), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
("NOAA") and the Education and Research Consortium of the Western
Carolinas ("ERC"). This agreement formalizes the partnership between
NOAA/NCDC and the ERC for continuing their joint efforts to advance education,
infrastructure, and advanced computing operations, in particular with regards
to Asheville's expanding role as a leader in
applied climate sciences. The ERC is very pleased to complete this updated agreement
and enjoys its role supporting NCDC and the region.
April 2008 marked 5 years
of operation for ERC Broadband. We are very excited to achieve this milestone
and owe thanks to the community that helped create and develop our network. Our
vision is to expand technology in the region, and with your help we will
continue to celebrate successes. We recognize that our role will never end as
technologies will change, new opportunities will arise, and we will evolve to
meet the region's needs. We celebrated our anniversary with an Open House on May
7, 2008.
On Thursday,
15 May 2008,
Leadership North Carolina's Class XV graduated in a ceremony held at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro. Among the graduates was Hunter Goosmann, General Manager of ERC Broadband. Mr. Goosmann had been
attending multiple two day sessions at locations across North Carolina for the past eight months.
5/19-5/21: Mark Haney, Senior Systems Administrator,
attended a three day CyberInfrastructure Conference
hosted by Clemson University. The forum focused on future grid
computing and Internet technologies.
6/24: Theo Lavis and Deborah Roberts attended the BREC meeting at the
Renaissance Hotel in Asheville. An initiative of the AdvantageWest Economic Development Group, the Blue Ridge
Entrepreneurial Council is a nurturing organization for entrepreneurs in Western North Carolina, creating homegrown jobs and
growing the region's economy (http://www.brecnc.com/)
AAM Central Office
AAM staff are
engaged in a new initiative this year in cooperation with Mars Hill College,
Buncombe County Schools, and WeatherBug®. Entitled “World Wide Weather: Making the Most
of Online Resources to Understand Weather and its Effect on our Daily Lives,”
the project is now underway with seven area elementary schools involving 22
teachers. Teachers will complete 14
hours of workshop time, then prepare a class project for students to complete. Students will work in teams to complete their
assignments and project goals, then create an exhibit
for a competitive Share Fair to be held in April.
Designed as
a multi-disciplinary literacy project, WWW focuses on the study of weather by
combining several learning elements: 1)
the science of weather; 2) using online newspapers and tools to study how
weather impacts community preparedness and response; 3) comparing and
contrasting weather and community events in two or more locales; and 4)
studying historic weather events and comparing these with present-day
events. The schools will each use WeatherBug as the primary online curriculum for studying
present-day weather, but will also use resources from NOAA, the National
Weather Service, and others.
But this
project is unique in AAM in targeting the science curriculum
in particular. Even though AAM had worked with WeatherBug
before, the idea for WWW was born when the Library launched its “Chronicling
America” collection in early 2007. It
turns out that weather was as popular a front-page topic a century ago as it is
today! Now with access to a searchable
database of thousands of 100-year-old newspapers, students will be able to read
about historic weather events, weather forecasting, emergency response, and
community preparation. For example, one Florida newspaper reports the impacts of a
serious drought in Georgia in 1909. Because Western North Carolina is now in a severe drought, these
two events can form the basis of a student project study using current online
data and resources together with newspapers, personal accounts, photos,
recordings, and films from the Library of Congress. But the newspapers alone will provide a rich
perspective on how our understanding of weather has changed and our access to
credible weather information has improved our ability to prepare for it.
On January
16, teachers will complete their final workshop, then continue planning and
implementing their projects. AAM staff have
been making site visits to each school and will be monitoring progress
throughout the spring.
AAM recently received an inquiry from a
McDowell County junior high school that is also
interested in a WWW-type project for their grade 7-9 science teachers that will
also use both WeatherBug and the Chronicling America
collection. Planning is underway and the
first workshop is planned for February 1.
The WWW workshop series is being taught by Bob Pettis and Karin Hedberg from AAM, AnneMarie
Walter from Mars Hill College, Jane Milner and Conni Mulligan from Buncombe County Schools, and
Diana Dell from WeatherBug.
More
information about AAM in WNC is available at www.aamprogram.org, www.aamlearning.org, and at the
individual partner websites at http://www.brevard.edu/aam/,
http://www.faytechcc.edu/scholars/,
http://www.mhc.edu/aamind/,
http://aam.montreat.edu/, and http://aam.wcu.edu.
Fayetteville Technical Community College & Wingate University
During this
first quarter, AAM staff have
been engaged in ordering materials and laptops, recruiting students, and
getting the classes ready. The first class began January 7. More about FTCC’s
progress will be reported in April.
Mars Hill College
As the new
semester starts up, AnneMarie Walter and Dr. Tom Destino will repeat their successful primary source
activities with the pre-service teachers as they create their capstone
projects. ED470 Diversity in American
Schools serves to ensure that graduating seniors and licensure-only candidates
demonstrate understanding of ways to reach every student, including the use of
hands-on primary source-based learning objects.
Walter, Destino, and AAM alumnae Polly Johnson will discuss
and demonstrate a number of ways to use primary sources, and Walter will lead a
guided lab as the pre-service teachers develop their own classroom
activities.
After
co-facilitating a professional development workshop in the fall, Walter is now
updating the North Buncombe High School Literacy in Secondary Schools
website. Many of the teachers have
submitted their suggestions for additional content suitable for their
students.
In
addition, Walter will be teaching two sections of CS200, Computer Applications
for Educators to pre-service teachers at Mars Hill.
Montreat College
During the
fall semester, the Montreat AAM partner spent most of the term
planning for the spring. The PROPEL curriculum created by the Western North
Carolina AAM partners has been restructured and
will be used as a spring workshop series for Montreat undergraduate teacher
education majors. The original plan called for 3rd-5th grade in-service
teachers to work with the pre-service teachers; however, due to low interest
from the in-service teachers, the plan has been modified and the spring series
will consist of pre-service teachers only. The low interest is not a surprise
since state-mandated testing occurs in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, a process
which increases teachers’ already busy workloads. Therefore, the workshop
series will target pre-service teachers preparing for their junior student
teaching. A goal for the AAM partner at Montreat is to also host
a workshop series for the entire Teacher Education Department. The AAM director is currently working with
the Education Department chair to make the necessary arrangements for this
series to occur.
In addition to restructuring the PROPEL curriculum and preparing materials for
the pre-service teachers, the AAM computer lab was upgraded to a
mobile laptop lab. Since the classes at Montreat are relatively small, the
mobile lab will allow for multiple classes to be using the computers at the
same time. Both AAM and the Teacher Education
Department are excited about the learning opportunities this new lab design
will bring.
Western Carolina University
The Western
Carolina University AAM project participants (WCU faculty)
have completed formal workshops and are preparing to teach Library of Congress
American Memory primary sources utilization beginning in February. All AAM faculty members are preparing for a
final group meeting on January 26th where they will show-and-tell their
lessons. At the request of several WCU AAM faculty members, AAM personnel will model teaching their
classes how to use the Library of Congress during February and March.
Activities created by students of the AAM faculty will be collected,
evaluated, and posted to a pathfinder database which will demonstrate various
ways to use Library primary sources in a wide variety of fields. These
resources will be available to other faculty and to the K-12 community. At the
completion of the semester, AAM faculty classes will be asked to
complete reflections of the AAM component of their course.
Work with the Mountain Heritage Center to take over web housing and
continued maintenance of WCU AAM materials has begun. The design and
work flow process is being developed. Using materials created during PROPEL,
WCU has completed standardization of 27 “help sheets” that will be the first
items placed on the AAM section of Mountain Heritage Center web site. The help sheets topics
include: Activity Instructions, Analysis Forms, Primary Sources, Images, Using
the Library of Congress, Maps, Posters, Sound, Video, and Primary Sources in
Newsletters. Additional help sheets will be completed during spring semester.
Additionally, all AAM Online Education materials and
lessons have been given to the Mountain Heritage Center to house on their server.
Pathfinders from PROPEL have been completed and posted online. WCU teacher-made
unit plans and lesson plans from Phase I are being reviewed and prepared for
future posting on the Mountain Heritage web site. Lesson plans, pathfinders,
and additional materials used for lessons created by WCU-AAM faculty are being developed using
standardized templates and forms and will web-ready and loaded to the website.
Faculty will have the opportunity to revise and update their lessons after
teaching them in the spring.
Local primary sources used in conjunction with American Memory primary sources
are being sorted and placed in separate database along with pertinent
information about the images. These images will be housed at the Mountain Heritage Center as a part of the unit plans and
lesson plans as well as being searchable through the image database.