NJAS Summer
Institute for Ecosystems Education!
New
Jersey
Forest
Fire
Service |
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FIELD STUDIES
IN THE
BARNEGAT BAY WATERSHED
August
19 to 24, 2007
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| Click here
to find out more
about our funding sources. |
Twelve teachers,
representing eight school districts registered for this week of
immersion in the ecosystems of the Barnegat Bay Watershed.
There were two “teams” of teachers from Pinelands Regional and
Toms River. When asked in a preliminary survey what the
teacher’s expectations were for the week, responses ranged from,
“I would like to gain general information about bay ecosystems
and other marine topics as well as specific lessons that I can
use in my curriculum” to “I am going to use this course to
educate myself and learn more about the bay in my backyard!” to
“I am looking forward to learning more about the Barnegat Bay
Watershed, and steps we can all take to protect it.”
Project Objectives
1. Provide teachers with New Jersey-specific content information
that focuses on the natural systems that unite urban, suburban
and rural communities. Teachers received
NJ WATERS: Watershed Approach to Teaching the Ecology of
Regional Systems and Wild Journeys: Migration in New Jersey.
All teachers received copies of the aforementioned resources as
well as a copy of the NJAS’s Bridges to
the Natural World. Each of these guides includes New
Jersey-specific information and lessons/activities are
inquiry-based. In addition, the teachers received a resource
notebook with information about inquiry learning, the scientific
method, GIS landuse/land cover maps of the Barnegat Bay
watershed and internet resource sites.
2. Provide teachers with practice using the same skills and
tools that they will use with their students so that content
information can be effectively integrated into existing
curricula and model lessons and field trip techniques used in
outdoor experiential learning situations. Particular attention
was paid to the structure of the week’s agenda to ensure that
teachers not only learned content, but also learned how to apply
the experiences they were having with their students. Current
thought from the New Jersey Department of Education is that
teachers should be using more student-driven inquiry techniques,
yet many teachers do not know how to apply this in a concrete
way. NJAS staff employed a “learning loop” which stressed
experience, reflection, conceptualization and application. We
provided multiple and varied experiences for the teachers,
enabled them to reflect on the experiences in a personal
journal, discussed how the experience related to concepts and
skills that students needed to learn, and then challenged the
teachers to apply what they had learned to their own curriculum.
One of the teachers responded to the evaluation form by saying,
“Activities were extremely useful and gave me great insight into
what my students will experience. These modeling activities gave
me a new perspective not just on teaching, but on learning.”
When asked what was most helpful about the workshop, another
teacher wrote, “Experiencing the environment and being allowed
to observe and reflect without ever feeling you had to know the
answer was great.”
3. Introduce teachers to printed, technological, and
organizational resources to enhance classroom investigations and
field trips. NJAS worked with the NJ Department of Environmental
Protection (Sedge Island Nature Resource Center), Ocean County
Parks (Cooper Environmental Education Center), New Jersey Air
National Guard (Warren Grove Gunnery Range), Drexel University
and the New Jersey Forest Fire Service to develop a
comprehensive program to look at the Barnegat Bay watershed’s
environments. Experiences included a 3-day stay at the Sedge
Island education center for estuary study, visits to county and
state parks in the region and a visit to the Warren Grove
Gunnery Range for discussion of fire ecology, Pine Barrens
ecology and threatened and endangered species. These partners
provided teachers with exposure to their organizations and
agencies which provide additional programming, field trips and
guest speakers.
Funding for the Summer
Institute was provided in part by the following entities and/or
programs
For additional information, call, write or email
NJAS Department
of Education
Center for Research and Education
600 Route 47 North
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
(609) 861-0700
New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) is a statewide, not-for-profit, membership
organization committed to preserving New Jersey’s habitats and species
biodiversity. We invite your support through
membership and participation
in our programs.
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