Nature Up North Project Manager Jake Malcomb teaching tree ID at the 2014 Teacher Workshop. Photo: Jason Hunter, Watertown Daily Times.
Registration Open for the Nature Up North Teacher Workshop, August 3-4
Are you a St. Lawrence County teacher interested in incorporating more nature-based learning into your lessons? Do you want to increase opportunities for integrating outdoor learning with STEM content? Nature Up North is offering a workshop for local teachers on August 3rd and 4th during which we will discuss ways to improve STEM learning through hands-on and place-based teaching strategies that also encourage students to connect with the local environment.
Nature Up North is an environmental education project based at St. Lawrence University that works to promote exploration of, and appreciation for, the Northern New York environment. One of our goals is to work with local educators to engage students with hands-on outdoor lessons that improve science and math learning, while at the same time collecting data on regionally important environmental issues. As an example, in the past two years we have helped engage 500+ students from five local school districts in our Monitor My Maple citizen science project, in which students collect and record data on seasonal changes in maple trees on their schools' grounds. This gives students the opportunity to connect with the environment, and develop observation and data collection skills, while contributing to our knowledge of how climate influences local maple trees.
This workshop is an excellent professional development opportunity for teachers from multiple subject areas who wish to integrate more environmental thinking into their curricula. This is our third year hosting the workshop; all teachers who attended received a $200 stipend and professional development credit for their participation.
Teacher Testimonials
“[This workshop was] very engaging, interactive and hands-on. This opportunity provided a way to share ideas, receive insight, and develop a working plan to easily integrate environmental science into the classroom. Thank you!”
-Carol Wright, Agriculture Teacher, Canton Central Schools. 2014 Summer Workshop.
"Great combination of hands-on with time to get work done."
-Matthew Whalen, 5th Grade Teacher, Madrid Waddington. 2015 Summer Workshop.
"Thanks to your workshop, I really worked to improve on my instruction and take up the bioregional literacy charge. It was totally wonderful today to overhear my students using words like herbivory and debating what kind of tree they were looking at (and then correctly identify). And we managed to head to the woods and find awesome stuff like raccoon scat, a bald eagle soaring overhead, and crazy looking invertebrate eggs...plus we learned lots of trailblazing etiquette, amazingly no one lost an eye and many have become much more polite about holding branches - got to love the small life lessons too!”
Nature Up North Summer Teacher Workshop
When: Wednesday and Thursday, August 3rd and 4th, 2016. 8:30am-4:30pm
Where: St. Lawrence University
Who: 3rd - 12th Grade Teachers in the North Country. Teachers in all subject areas who are interested in incorporating more place and environmentally-based STEM learning into their curricula are encouraged to attend.
What: Topics covered will include: using the outdoors as a classroom; STEM learning through citizen science; using natureupnorth.org to collect and store environmental data; integrating citizen science and outdoor learning with the Common Core; strategies and resources for integrating place and nature-based learning into lesson plans.
Stipend: Teachers will receive $200 ($100 per day) for participating. Lunch and light refreshments will be provided both days.
Registration: We have space for up to 20 workshop participants.Register online at: http://natureupnorth.org/form/summer-workshop-registration. Registration closes Friday, July 22nd. This workshop is also listed in the St. Lawrence/Lewis My Learning Plan Catalogue. Please register with us and through My Learning Plan. We apologize for requiring cross-registration.
This workshop is made possible by grant funding from the ALCOA Foundation.
If you have any questions, please contact Jake Malcomb, Nature Up North Project Manager, via email (jmalcomb@stlawu.edu) or phone (315-262-7325). We look forward to working with you!
Jacob Malcomb, Project Manager of Nature Up North 2013-2016, is an avid runner and mountain biker. He also enjoys playing guitar, attempting to stay upright on skis, and getting out on North Country waterways. He hopes to see you out on the trail.