What better way to teach natural science and the need to care for the environment to kids than to get them outdoors, engaged and having fun? That’s the goal of the 22nd annual Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) conference set for Friday?Sunday, October 8?10, 2010, at the University of Michigan Biological Station, 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge.
This years focus, "Engaging Students in Science & Stewardship" will offer tips and techniques for connecting students and whole communities to their environment from environmental and outdoor educators, classroom teachers, natural resource professionals, university and others. Topics will range from schoolyard?enhanced learning, stream monitoring, amphibian surveys, and ethnobotany, to Great Lakes stewardship programs, and much more will be presented.
A wide variety of educator workshops will be held Friday, October 8. The thirteen workshops offered include new early learner (pre?K) curricula by Project WILD and Project Learning Tree, Schoolyard Enhanced Learning, Michigan Forests, Fungus Amongus, Limnology & Fish Ecology, Flying Wild, Beaver Island Exploration, Farm?to?Table, Nature, Art, and Writing, Your Great Lakes National Forest, Team?Building Games, and Great Lakes Stewardship & Adopt?a?Beach Program.
Choose from over 50 presentations (indoors and outdoors) and field trips on Friday and Saturday afternoons, and Sunday morning. Saturday will also feature the 2nd annual Share-A-Thon with ready-to-go outdoor and classroom activities. Kayaking, star-gazing, nature walks, and an opportunity to meet new friends from all over Michigan will round out the weekend.
Here’s a way to get your children, students and community active and enthusiastic about science and stewardship. At the conference you can:
? Explore a variety of monitoring programs that your students can participate in such as invasive species mapping, birdfeeder watch, lake and stream water quality monitoring, biodiversity and much more!
? Gather great ideas for involving students in Great Lakes stewardship activities such as energy audits, composting, gardening, greening your school, and lots more!
? Discover opportunities to create school?community partnerships to address local stewardship needs and how to integrate environmental education into all disciplines, plus gain new outdoor teaching skills!
For more information and registration materials visit the MAEOE website: https://www.michiganenvironmentaled.org/.