The Baltimore
Ecosystem Study, in Partnership with Towson University, just wrapped up another
year of its Math Science Partnership (MSP) Teacher
Institute. The Institute consisted of a
7-day workshop held during the summer of 2012 plus five Saturday workshop
sessions during the 2012-2013 school year.
Middle and high school science teachers participated in activities
designed to bolster their confidence in teaching carbon, water and biodiversity
topics to their students, understanding how their students think and learn
about topics in the Environmental Sciences, and using their urban, rural and
suburban neighborhoods as ecosystems that students can study. Saturday workshop topics included
Biodiversity, Groundwater, Sustainability, Climate Change and Energy
Production. The project was grateful to
have the assistance of many BES scientists, graduate students and collaborators
in running these workshops. A special
thanks to Dr. Chris Swan (UMBC), Aditi Bhaskar (UMBC), Abbey Cocke (Baltimore
City Office of Sustainability), Marcus Griswold (University of Maryland, Center
for Environmental Science), and Theodore Atwood (Baltimore City Energy Office)
for delivering exciting and educational presentations to our teachers during
these workshop.
In total, 22 teachers
participated in the Institute. These
teachers taught a variety of modules to their students designed by project
staff to increase student understanding of key topics in environmental science. In total, 25 modules developed by project
staff were delivered to students.
Teachers received teaching support from project staff including Molly
VanAppledorn, Natalie Mollett and Molly Charnes. Molly VanAppledorn, a graduate student at
UMBC, was a first time participant in the project. In addition to assisting teachers with
implementation of modules she contributed to the professional development
research group by curating, coding and analyzing databases on national
educational activities, assisted in the water research working group, and helped
coordinate professional development workshops for Baltimore city and county
teachers throughout the school year.
Natalie Mollett, a graduate student at Towson University, was
participating in the program for a second year.
Natalie contributed tremendously to the carbon research working group,
analyzing student assessment responses and assisting teachers in integrating
the modules into their existing curriculum.
Molly Charnes, a high school science teacher from Oregon, came to the
MSP project in summer 2012 as a Teacher-in-Residence. She spent a full year working with the
project, assisting teachers in their classrooms and working with the
biodiversity team to develop teacher materials for assessing and understanding
student thinking. She has recently
returned to the classroom back in Oregon.
Submitted by Bess Caplan, BES Ecology Education Program Leader
Submitted by Bess Caplan, BES Ecology Education Program Leader
