BAEER FAIR 34 Presenters
January 21, 2012, 10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Marin Civic Center, San Rafael
Conference on Engaging Youth in the Environment
Education and Environment Initiative (EEI) Model Curriculum Teacher Orientation
10:30 AM Buckeye Room
Laura Powell, Laura Honda, Bay Area CREEC
Learn about the new state adopted Education and Environment Initiative (EEI) curriculum that addresses over 100 selected content standards. One unit will be demonstrated and each teacher will receive a DVD and an opportunity to order a sample unit.
Laura Powell has twenty years of experience in education, first as a secondary teacher in social studies, science, English as a Second Language, and later as an Environmental Education (EE) consultant. Laura has a Secondary Teaching Credential and a Masters in Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning with an emphasis in Environmental Education. Laura has seven years experience teaching secondary school and has served as the Bay Area CREEC Coordinator since its inception in 1997, developing a network to link educators to environmental education resources including the EEI Model Curriculum in seven counties in the Bay Area.
Laura Honda is an EEI Teacher Ambassador from Manor Elementary School in Ross Valley School District.
WSI: Wildlife Scene Investigation
10:30 AM Maple Room
Roberta Ayres and Anna Barr, CA Academy of Sciences
Investigate a series of animal tracks and other clues to solve four wildlife crime scenes. Make your own tracking guide and learn how to read nature's signs, including skulls, tracks and scat. This workshop will inspire you to explore the outdoors or create your own scenarios indoors.
Roberta Ayres has worked in the field of informal science education for over 10 years, developing curriculum and teaching natural history classes for the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, CA, and at Sciencenter, Ithaca, NY. Prior to her career as an informal science educator, Roberta worked as a biologist studying aquaculture and dolphin populations in Florida. She holds an M.S. in Science Education and B.S. in Biology.
Anna Barr has a B.A. in anthropology and English from UC Santa Barbara and spent several years as a newspaper editor before joining the California Academy of Sciences. She started as the Academy’s program coordinator for Youth & Adult Courses and has taken on a variety of roles over the last decade. She is now the educator for the museum’s Naturalist Center. Always hungry to learn more, she often attends science classes and field trips. Some highlights include studying primate behavior in Costa Rica and volunteering as a bird bander for the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.
OBIS (Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies) in the Schoolyard
10:30 AM, Laurel Room
Karen Mendelow Nelson and Kimi Hosoume, FOSS Program, Lawrence Hall of Science
Investigate your schoolyard or garden with activities from OBIS, developed at Lawrence Hall. Go outdoors to participate in a sampling of activities designed to engage students in the natural world, increase their environmental awareness, and extend their classroom science experiences. 97 OBIS activities are available online at outdoorbiology.com.
Karen Mendelow Nelson and Kimi Hosoume are science educators and curriculum development specialists with the FOSS and OBIS programs, Lawrence Hall of Science. Currently, Karen is working on Taking Science Outdoors, encouraging teachers and students to do science investigations in the open air. Karen has over 20 years experience as a museum educator and teacher trainer with the Lawrence Hall, Exploratorium and Franklin Institute.
Kimi currently works with teachers in the Bay Area to assist with the implementation of FOSS in the classroom while integrating language arts. She also is a contributor to the FOSS 3rd Edition curriculum to be launched this year to a national audience. Kimi continues her 35 year mission to promote an appreciation and care of living things through explorations of our environment.
Take Your Math Lessons Outside
10:30 AM Friends of Marin Room
Risa Wolfson, Bay Area Math Project, Lawrence Hall of Science
This interactive session supplements your classroom with mathematics lessons for the outdoors. Explore activities using estimation, measurement, similar triangles, and scale drawing. Math in the Garden lessons outside are highlighted to complement your in-class curriculum.
Risa is former high school mathematics teacher who has worked at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science since 2001. She supports Bay Area K-12 teachers coaching mathematics and providing professional development for the Bay Area Mathematics Project (BAMP). She also serves as a Project Consultant and has experience with GATE, International Baccalaureate, and Special Needs Education.
Hungry Owl Project
12:00 PM, Maple Room
Alex Godbe and Maggie Rufo, Hungry Owl Project
What is a beneficial predator? This workshop will introduce you to nature's non-toxic pest control: the Barn Owl. These prolific and common predators are extremely beneficial to human kind and can be enticed to help us protect landscapes from destructive rodents. Includes a live owl, owl pellets & a visit to the County's Civic Center owl boxes.
Alex Godbe is celebrating 10 years of her Hungry Owl Project this year. The program aims to reduce the need for pesticides and rodenticides by encouraging natural predators, in this case owls. She will be joined by Hungry Owl volunteer Maggie Rufo, and Wildlife Ambassador Wookie the Barn Owl.
Opening the World Through Nature Journaling
Classroom teachers and outdoor educators would most benefit from this interaction.
12:00 PM, Maple Room
John Muir Laws, California Native Plant Society
Integrating art, science, and language arts, Nature Journaling teaches children to become keen observers of the natural world by drawing and writing about plants and animals to gather information. In a set of nested exercises, students use games, put together a field guide, make treasure maps, and write short stories and poems. Bring a notebook, journal, or drawing paper and a pencil.
Naturalist, educator and artist John (Jack) Muir Laws delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with others. Laws has worked as an environmental educator for over 30 years in California, Wyoming, and Alaska. He teaches classes on natural history, conservation biology, scientific illustration, and field sketching. He is trained as a wildlife biologist and is an associate of the California Academy of Sciences. Laws has written and illustrated books about the natural history of California including Sierra Birds: a Hiker's Guide (2004), The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada (2007), and The Laws Pocket Guide Set to the San Francisco Bay Area (2009).
Guiding Scientific Observations with Early Elementary Students
12:00 PM, Friends of Marin Room Room
Sarah Pedemonte, Bay Area Science Project / BAMP and Marine Activities, Resources and Education - Lawrence Hall of Science
Build a model pond with live organisms. Discover teaching techniques for early elementary grades. to direct students to make careful observations of the habitat, individual organisms, and their interactions. Participants will practice strategies such as evidence-based talk, notebooking, and drawing.
Meet the BEETLES: Better Environmental Education Teaching, Learning, Expertise & Sharing
12:00 PM, Buckye Room
Kevin Beals, Lynn Barakos, and Craig Strang, Lawrence Hall of Science
Experience new professional development modules available from BEETLES, a program from Lawrence Hall of Science available to residential outdoor environmental education programs statewide. In this interactive workshop we'll explore What is Science. BEETLES provides model camp activities and other research-based resources.
Kevin Beals was a teacher naturalist and curriculum specialist in Bay Area residential outdoor science programs for 7 years, and a Berkeley middle school science teacher for 1 year. At Lawrence Hall of Science, for the last 23 years, working in teaching, curriculum design and professional development, he has authored/designed more than 90 published classroom curriculum guides, curriculum sequences, children’s books, science comics, afterschool units, professional development videos and science music albums. He has presented locally, nationally and internationally.
Wildscaping in the Schoolyard
Activities are designed for teachers of grades 4-8, however the activities can be adapted for use at any grade level.
1:30 PM, Laurel Room
Shauna Lavi, Oakland Zoo
Would you like to propagate habitat in your own schoolyard and backyard to increase biodiversity? In this wildscaping meets green building workshop, we’ll explore how to create wildlife habitat layers with native plants and recycled materials, from habitat surveys to ongoing citizen science.
Believing avidly that place-based science education is at the epicenter of wildlife conservation, Shauna has taught and coordinated educational programs in schools, wildlife refuges, and local parks in Northern CA. She is currently the Curriculum Development Manager at the Oakland Zoo. Her biological fieldwork has encompassed wildlife research, forest restoration, and permaculture.
Waves, Wetlands, and Watersheds
1:30 PM, Buckeye Room
Annie Kohut Frankel, California Coastal Commission
Turn a beach cleanup into a learning opportunity and explore issues of marine pollution with your students. Take part in Coastal Cleanup Day, the largest volunteer event in California, or do a cleanup on your own. Receive a copy of Waves, Wetlands, and Watersheds, from the California Coastal Commission.
Annie Kohut Frankel is Education Coordinator for the California Coastal Commission. She has been with the Commission since 2001, primarily working with teachers and students to encourage stewardship for our coast and ocean. She previously held positions with the City of San Leandro and Alameda County in the areas of watershed management and community forestry. She has a degree in Environmental Sciences from UC Berkeley.
More Than Sorting Bottles & Cans: The 4Rs Student Action Project
1:30 PM, Friends of Marin Room
Angelina Vergara, Maricelle Cardenas, David Griswold, Grace Lee and Jeannie Pham, Stopwaste.org
4Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot) Student Action Project serves 5th grade teachers and their classrooms. Learn how to integrate the 4Rs in their Watershed, Foodshed, and Wasteshed themes into your curriculum. Sorting waste conserves natural resources, our oceans, and reduces climate change, and in the 4R program students experience fun hands-on activities to guide them on how to take action in their own community.
Angelina is a credentialed teacher, Master Composter, sheetmulching enthusiast
and artist who came to StopWaste.Org after pursuing her Masters in Education
at the University of San Francisco. She has been an instructional
leader in environmental and experiential education with an emphasis on service-
learning for over fifteen years.
The Truth About Climate Change - An Inconvenient Truth
1:30 PM, Maple Room
Diane Demee-Benoit, Climate Reality Project
Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth spurred an outpouring of interest in global climate change. The climate crisis is real and we know how to solve it. This presentation will provide an overview of climate change science and fact, the meaningful steps needed to bring about change, and ideas for teaching students about the most important environmental challenge of our time.
In 2007, Diane Demée-Benoit was trained by Al Gore to bring the facts about the climate crisis into the mainstream and engage the public in how to solve it. Diane has been involved in environmental conservation and education projects for over 25 years as a consultant and education program director and worked on field data collection for the California Department of Fish & Game. She was an associate partner for the California State Education & Environment Initiative (A.B. 1548).
Population Activities for a Crowded Planet
3:00 PM, Buckeye Room
Elaine Gorman, Population Connection
World population has surpassed 7 billion people. Our increasing population impacts all other inhabitants and the natural systems of Earth. Engage in hands-on activities that address population issues. Participants leave with a CD that contains over 50 activities that can be used in the classroom or with any group of students.
Elaine Gorman taught Life Science to 7th graders in Modesto for 23 years, and was the English Learner coordinator at Roosevelt Jr. High for several years. She recently retired and enjoys hiking, backpacking, and skiing in the wilderness year-round. Volunteering as a Population Education Trainer for Population Connection for the past 20 years she shares hands-on resources with other educators. She is active with the Motherlode Chapter Sierra Club, particularly as an outings leader and member of the Committee for Sustainable World Population.
Solar Schoolhouse - Sustainable Energy starts with the Sun
3:00 PM, Maple Room
Tor Allen, The Rahus Institute - Solar Schoolhouse
Experience hands-on classroom activities to ignite your students’ interest & imagination in exploring solar energy. Discover the many ways we can capture and utilize this clean, powerful, and reliable source of energy. Your Solar Home Educational Supplement will be provided.
Using Environmental Issues to Teach Ecology
3:00 PM, Friends of Marin Room
Maia Willcox, SEPUP/Bay Area Science Project- Lawrence Hall of Science
Learn about current environmental issues, such as fisheries management and pesticide use, to teach about ecosystem and population dynamics - through hands-on activities and data analysis.
Maia K. Willcox is a curriculum and professional developer for the Science Education for Public Understanding Program (SEPUP) at the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. SEPUP develops hands-on, inquiry-based, issue-oriented curriculum for grades 6-12. Ms. Willcox, a former high school science teacher and science content specialist for middle and high school, specializes in life and environmental science. Most recently Ms. Willcox co-authored the Sustainability, Ecology, and Genetics units for SEPUP’s Science in Global Issues: Biology curriculum, a high school biology course focused on sustainability issues.
Garden Speak: K - 5 Language and Lessons in the Garden
3:00 PM, Laurel Room
Linda Myers, Sherman Elementary
Open a window into the world of garden education, its ever-increasing role in the fabric of experiential education and its challenge to the world's urban kids to care for, learn from, and respect their natural environment. Using innovative crossing of CA curriculum standards inside the garden gate, we will engage in role-play activities, nature poetry writing and observation.
Linda Myers is the Garden Educator at Sherman Elementary School in San Francisco a K-5 public school with a rich diversity of students that operates with full inclusion. Working with bond funds for schoolyard greening, I have project-led the building of a granite boulder waterfall/pond and a solar educational pond as well as an organic food garden. I have developed Sherman's garden curriculum supporting California science and language arts standards by incorporating my background in community gardening/landscaping, farming, public relations, writing, photography and poetry.
