by editor | Oct 4, 2011 | K-12 Classroom Resources
Reviewed by Christina Bekhazi, Mallory Flesher, Caitlin Gonsalves, Janaina Kitzke and Laura Mathis as part of Dr. Pauline Sameshima’s T&L 536 class at Washington State University.
Place-Based Science Teaching and Learning: 40 Activities for K-8 Classrooms is an incredible book that teachers should have to help teach place-based science for K-8 students. This book includes 40 different science activities that can be used for all these age groups. Within this book, the authors also provide the reader with many different assessment strategies to help grade students’ work. I would highly recommend this book to many incoming and experienced teachers who need to understand the importance of place-based learning and how to implement it into their curriculum. (more…)
by editor | Sep 27, 2011 | Interviews with Educators & Leaders
Interview by Chris Gertschen
Jason Wilmot is executive director of the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative.
Jason was raised in Montana and South Dakota. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of Montana and a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Jason spent over 10 years living in the Glacier National Park area, where he worked in various capacities for the National Park Service. (more…)
by editor | Sep 26, 2011 | Outdoor education and Outdoor School
Woodland Park Zoo’s “Ready, Set, Discover” gets kids outside
By Katie Remine, School and Community Engagement Supervisor
Woodland Park Zoo
“With an opportunity to wonder, explore, and to question, students can discover fresh reasons to excel at other subjects and sense new confidence because they pursued and acted upon their inquiry. “
—Bruce Kelly, Kent School District, K-12 Curriculum Coordinator – Science/Health Fitness
The reflection above captures the spirit of Woodland Park Zoo’s Ready, Set, Discover (RSD) program for 4th and 5th grade students in south King County, including many schools in the Kent School District. RSD, supported by The Boeing Company, integrates programs on and off Woodland Park Zoo grounds to engage students in outdoor, inquiry-based science learning to improve science skills and to foster stewardship of the environment.
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by editor | Sep 7, 2011 | Interviews with Educators & Leaders
CLEARING interview by Jackie Wilson
Mike Town earned two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree from Huxley College of the Environment, Western Washington University and the University of Washington.
From 1985 to 2010, Mike taught numerous science courses at Redmond High School including a very successful Advanced Placement Environmental Science program, which over the course of more than 10 years has been taken by nearly half of the student body. He has also developed numerous elective courses including a Career and Technical Educational course in Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Design. In 2006, Mike developed the Cool School Challenge (CSC), a program in which has students audit and then reduce the carbon footprints of their schools. CSC now reaches internationally. (more…)
by editor | Aug 31, 2011 | Forest Education, Interviews with Educators & Leaders
Interview by Chris Gertschen
Lance Craighead is the Executive Director of the Craighead Institute, an applied science and research organization that builds conservation solutions for people and wildlife in changing landscapes. Its mission is to maintain healthy populations of native plants, wildlife, and people as part of sustainable, functioning ecosystems.
Since its founding by renowned grizzly bear researcher Dr. Frank C. Craighead in 1964, the Craighead Institute has pioneered the fields of conservation and wildlife research. Over the past four decades the Institute has conducted ecological research on grizzly bears in Yellowstone Park, genetic research on grizzly bears in Alaska, conventional and satellite radio-telemetry of wildlife, and the use of remote sensing to map vegetation and wildlife habitat. (more…)
