Over the past eitght years AWSM has inspired thousands of students and dozens of educators from across West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania with our unique hands-on, citizen-science, watershed education project aligned to help teachers meet numerous WV Content Standards and Objectives. As a participant in the 2013 program you will gain 21st century, context-focused stream monitoring skills to integrate into your classroom’s ongoing curriculum. Opportunities are provided to learn about effective classroom resources and curriculum potentials from veteran teachers of the program and watershed professionals. Each participant may become a certified WV Save Our Streams Monitor if they choose, and can also participate for continuing education credit..
· Meet science and social studies standards with exciting activities that link classroom and field activities while engaging students in STEM and Project Based Learning studies.
· Utilize authentic data collected from a local stream by your students with the support of The Mountain Institute’s (TMI) professional outdoor educators.
· Teach students to navigate new and existing data to make their own maps and charts while developing spatial understanding and analytical thinking.
· Learn to apply Geographic Information Systems (GIS) through practical use.
To register for the AWSM professional development workshop or student field training sessions click here. If you have any questions, please contact The Mountain Institute's Waterhsed Educaiton Coordinator, Kevin Stitzinger: kstitzinger@mountain.org
AWSM multi-tier follow-up options for participants of the February or June 2013 professional development workshop (or previous PDWs).
Field skills training at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center. Available fall 2013.
Student stream monitoring training at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center:
The ability to envision a better future is key to effective environmental leadership. What better location to acquaint your students with a desirable picture of Appalachian headwater landscapes and streams than with a trip to the pristine and picturesque summit of West Virginia?
To help you set your students up for success, a member of TMI’s Watershed Education Program will team travel to your school to orient the selected students and adults that will chaperone field trip activities, location, and what to expect in terms of weather, food, and lodging. Expectations will also be reviewed, as school policies are applicable during field trips.
During their two-day training at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center , your 25 students will gain a clear picture of how a high quality mountain ecosystem functions.
With the help of TMI’s professional outdoor educators students learn the science behind biological, physical, and chemical assessments of water quality and become stewards through hands-on investigation using the WV DEP Save Our Streams protocols. Students also visit the summit of Spruce Knob, the highest point in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, for a geology and geography lesson explaining how the Appalachians were built and how the contemporary stream patterns that drain them were formed. While on top of the mountain, students get a bird's-eye view of the surrounding landscape and various land uses that are impacting waterways downstream. As the program wraps up students reflect on their experience and begin to consider what they might find while investigating their home watersheds.
Stream monitoring training at your school with TMI staff support
Following your student field training at TMI's Spruce Knob Mountain Center a team of TMI staff travel to a pre-selected stream near each school to meet with students and help them perform water quality monitoring activities. Teachers arrainge for sampling sites on public land or the private land of a local land owner who agrees to let teachers and students return frequently for continued monitoring work. The idea is to create an outdoor classroom where teachers can return to repeat skills lessons and stewardship activities. During the inital visit students split up and have a chance to work at three stations related to water quality and habitat assessment. After the field outing is completed the students reflect on the information they have learned and their communities relationship to the stream ecosystem.
For more information please contact Kevin Stitzinger kstitzinger@mountain.org
Registration for the following program extension is not yet open.
1: GIS Fun and Easy
February 16, 2013 at the West Virginia GIS Technical Center in Morgantown.
Through this technology focused workshop, participants will be introduced to ArcGIS Online watershed exploration tools and related classroom activities.
* Stipend: $100 per teacher.
2: Local Stream Investigation
In March or May 2013 TMI will send its professional watershed education staff to help your group of 25 students assess the quality of a local stream using the WV DEP’s protocols for volunteers. This is an exciting way to collect authentic data that links science and geographic studies. Data will be uploaded for use with the GIS tools and activities introduced during the winter workshop. * This $2,500 service is free for participants
3: Reconnect with participating teachers and organizers during a round table discussion at Concord University’s 16th Biennial Conference on Appalachian Geography and Geography Education
March 16th (full day) and 17th (half day), 2013 at Pipestem State Park. Meet with organizers and colleagues to discuss your next steps, lessons learned and share ideas for program growth. *Registration, lodging, and meals at the conference will be covered, as well as your mileage and substitute costs.
4: Develop a Teacher Team for Program Sustainability
Choose from two sets of Professional Development Workshop dates: June 16th – 19th OR 19th – 22nd 2013.
Each teacher participating in the program is asked to idnetify and partner with one or two additional teachers from their school and attend our 4-day workshop together. Each workshop will delve more deeply into science and social studies investigation of watersheds to strengthen interdisciplinary connections, though the program is not limited to science and social studies teachers. Both workshops will be held at TMI’s Spruce Knob Mountain Center located just off the ridge of Spruce Knob, WV. TMI’s 400 acre high elevation nature preserve and education center is bordered on three sides by the Monongahela National Forest. Explore the area during the workshop while meeting past “Team AWSM ” teachers from around the state. The facility features a full kitchen, dining, and meeting space, as well as a library, bathhouse, and dorm style lodging. You are also welcome to pitch a tent or park a camper.
* $150 stipend per participant following workshop participation and submission of a developed lesson plan. Summer professional development participation also makes each teacher eligible for a 2-day AWSM watershed investigation & field studies training for up to 25 of your students at TMI’s Spruce Knob Mountain Center in the fall of 2013. Dependent on available funding.
