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Workshop Inspires Teachers
A recent teacher workshop may lead local elementary school students to some unusual activities this fall - practicing peanut butter and jelly geology, taking a fish market survey or walking around a vernal pool in their socks.
These are just some of the estuary education activities learned by the twenty-six Richmond school district teachers who attended the five-day Bay Wildlife Habitat Explorations workshop, held in July at the Richmond Marina and sponsored by U.S. Fish & Wildlife and the S.F. Estuary Project.
"We could have bought a couple of acres of wetlands with the money we used to fund the workshop," says Fish & Wildlife's Jim McKevitt. "But we felt this was a good chance to influence the future by reaching hundreds of kids."
According to workshop facilitator Steve Cochrane of the Estuary Project, an innovative combination of field trips, classroom sessions and hands-on activities prepared teachers to teach about the aquatic ecosystem.
"Kids today are quite concerned with the environment," says teacher and workshop participant Jean Mock. Yet many children haven't learned how their general concerns relate to where they live. And a few don't even know the basics. "Some students perceive the Bay as the ocean," says another teacher, Jaye Glesener.
But when educators looked for materials to help them teach about the Estuary, they were at a loss. "It's frustrating for teachers to pick up a textbook on pollution or wetlands and find out that the estuary discussed is in another area," says Cochrane.
Cochrane has found another barrier to Estuary education. "Many elementary teachers are afraid of science. In the workshop, we let them know that they can teach it without being experts," he says.
The Bay Wildlife teacher workshop is part of the overall education program developed by the Estuary Project to help give environmental issues a local slant and practical classroom application. The workshop revolves around Estuarine Encounters, a new curriculum that presents eight key habitats within the Bay and Delta. By studying an organism that lives within a habitat, kids learn about current Estuary issues. A unit on the Asian clam, for example, explains the problems created by introduced species.
Overall, the guide takes an interdisciplinary approach, blending natural science with social sciences, history, geography and literature. Beyond the guide, the Project's education program also features naturalist-led field trips and the Estuary Action Challenge, a ten-week classroom and field program that focuses on a specific local enhancement or restoration project.
Before the expanded five-day workshop, over 500 teachers participated in 24 one-day workshops organized by the Estuary Project. When these teachers bring their new knowledge back to the classroom, the kids love it, according to Linda Franke. Her Seaview Elementary kindergarten class is working on the "Growing Seeds/Growing Minds" activity. "Through this botany project, we're integrating science with math and language by writing and keeping records on plant growth. The kids are also watching birds and starting to be able to identify them, and they're developing a spiritual connection to critters in the area."
Cochrane believes it's vital to get kids out to the Estuary. "Once they get their hands in the seaweed and the mud, they come back, and they bring their parents."
Eventually, he hopes to broaden the teacher workshops to include participation from other community residents. For example, students could find a restoration project, then go out and get support for it from local businesses. "Once kids get exposure to the Estuary, it makes for a better quality of life and place to live," he says.
Contact: Steve Cochrane (510)881-6751
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