Environmental Science Institute for Indiana Teachers

Academic Workshop
April 30/May 1, 1999

The first meeting of institute teachers took place at Purdue University on Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1, 1999.  Participants were introduced to one another and given an orientation to watersheds.  This orientation included an onsite visit to the Celery Bog Nature Area and the Cuppy McClure watershed in West Lafayette and Burnett's Creek in Battle Ground, IN.  The goals for the Spring Academic Workshop were:

• Introduce and orient teachers to watersheds, wetlands, and streams,
• Initiate the integration of watershed topics into each teacher's curriculum,
• Expose teachers to World Wide Web sites for learning about their local watershed, and
• Stimulate teachers' think about environmental projects for the summer institute.

Celery Bog was formed 10,000 years ago from an ice chunk left over from the last glaciation to affect north central Indiana.  The teachers were given an orientation of Celery Bog that included sampling techniques for soils and macroinvertebrates. Dan Shepardson, professor of science education, has been conducting a macroinvertebrate survey of Celery Bog.  He discussed macroinvertebrate sampling techniques with institute participants. Teachers walking near the edge of Celery Bog

At Celery Bog, Dan Shepardson talks with participants about macroinvertebrate sampling techniques and the use of macroinverterbrates as indicators of water quality. Teachers looking at macroinvertebrates collected at Celery Bog

Jon Harbor, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, discusses the constructed wetlands along the Purdue University Kampen Golf Course that borders the Celery Bog Nature Area.  Dr. Harbor's environmental geology students conduct projects in the local watershed.  Along the way, Dr. Harbor suggested projects that teachers could conduct during the summer and with their students.  Institute teachers get a close up view of the constructed wetlands along the Purdue Kampen Golf Course. Jon Harbor talking with participants about the water management system at the Purdue Kampen Golf Course

Constructed wetland at Kampen Golf Course The Purdue Kampen Golf Course, designed by Pete Dye, planted native Indiana wetlands plants along the constructed wetlands.  Institute teachers learned about water quality sampling techniques and were introduced to possible research projects that they could conduct during the two week summer institute.  The purpose of the research projects was to provide teachers with hands-on experience designing and conducting environemtnal research or monitoring projects that mirrored the  projects they would implement with their students in their local watershed.

The second stop on the field trip was Burnett's Creek in Battle Ground.  Tippecanoe County Naturalist Mary Cutler, a member of the institute instructional team, led teachers through an orientation of the macroinvertebrates and plants located within Burnett's Creek and the surrounding watershed.  Teachers tried various sampling techniques including kick nets and D-nets.  Identification of the macroinvertebrates followed to determine the biodiversity of the creek. Comparisions were made to the macroinvertebrates found at Celery Bog. Mary Cutler looking for caddis fly larva

Teachers using a kick net to sample macroinvertebrates Saturday activities introduced teachers to strategies for integrating environmental science topics and issues into their curriculum, as well as community resources.  Teachers were required to draft a curricular integration and community resourceplan to be shared at the summer institute.  Teachers were also exposed to three web sites that contain information and images about their local watersheds.  Each participant was encourage to use these web sites with their students.  Teachers were also required to explore their own watershed before the summer institute and report on their findings at the summer institute.

At the conclusion of the two day spring workshop, teachers were asked to evaluate their experience.  Teachers enjoyed the orientation to Celery Bog and Burnett's Creek, found the web sites to be a valuable resource for their students, and become familiar with research opportunities that they could conduct during the two-week summer institute.  To view the teacher evaluations from this meeting, activate this link: #Academic Workshop Evaluations.

Please rate the workshop activities on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high) and provide a brief rationale for your rating: 1 not too helpful, informative, or interesting; 5 very helpful, informative, or interesting.  Reported below are the participants' rating of agenda items.
 

1.  Cuppy-McClure watershed orientation field trip.

Average rating:  4.90 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 0 2 15

Reason for rating: (two representative comments) I love the area!  I enjoyed finding out about the whole watershed, especially the direction of the waterflow (53%) Most learning for me occurred here. (29%) No comment (12%)

2. Celery Bog orientation field trip.

Average rating = 4.60 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 1 2 13

Reason for rating: (two representative comments) Enjoyed the hike and soil sampling and search for macroinvertebrates. (47%) I had never visited a bog. (35%) No comment (6%)

3. Burnett’s Creek orientation field trip.

Average rating=4.60 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 1 5 11

Reason for rating: (two representative comments) I was totally amazed at all of the larva we found. (53%) Really enjoyed the GIS maps and the tour of the sewage treatment plant. 35%) No comment (12%)

4. Field trip debriefing and community resources.

Average rating=4.60 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 2 2 13

Reason for rating: (two representative comments) Not aware of most resources.  (12%) This helped me see the reasoning behind what we are seeing. (41%) No comment (23%)

5. Computer technology (WWW sites).

Average rating=4.70 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 1 3 13

Reason for rating: (two representative comments) Wonderful introduction to WWW sources that we and the kids can use! (71%) Great maps and statistical info (18%) No comment (12%)

6. Curricular integration.

Average rating=3.59 1 2 3 4 5 0 4 4 4 5

Reason for rating: (three representative comments) Will have better grasp on this after discussing with teachers on my staff. (29%) Difficult to do at this time. (23%) Maybe more effective in June or Fall but essential and beneficial. (29%) No comment (12%)

7. Curricular review.

Average rating=3.60 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 9 3 4

Reason for rating: (two representative comments) Inadequate materials available.  (29%) Might be more effective in summer or fall meeting when we know what we are doing in class.(41%) No comment (18%)

8. Introduction to watersheds.

Average rating=4.76 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 0 4 13

Reason for rating: (two representative comments) Learned new info about the rating of river systems. (12%) I did not know what a watershed was.  (65%)

9. Overall I would rate the quality of the pre-institute orientation workshop.

Average rating=4.59 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 0 7 10

Reason for rating: (two representative comments) Enjoyable people and well organized. (18%) I feel very good about my decision about attending this workshop. (41%) No comment (29%)

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