The Stroud Water Research Center and other partners will host a free, online seven-part series of workshops for K-12 educators in Pennsylvania on Expanding Meaningful Environmental and Watershed Literacy With Geospatial Tools.

The workshops will be held from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. on September 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26 and November 2.  The final meeting will be November 16 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Have you been searching for the missing link that helps bridge the gap between delivering environmental content and developing environmental literacy?

Do you want to help your students understand their connections to their local environment but are limited by established curriculum sequences?

Using geographic information systems (GIS) and geospatial technologies to explore complex interdisciplinary phenomena, such as environmental issues, has been demonstrated as a highly effective method for teachers and students to better understand connections within the natural world at all grade levels.

Connecting spatial representation and explorations to local field-based inquiry further improves understanding in a tangible way while creating a sense of place and connection to the issue.

Yet, knowing which GIS tools to use and how to use them to enhance a new existing curriculum can initially be quite daunting to educators.

In this workshop experience, you will learn to:

-- Identify which GIS tools to use in an environmental or watershed literacy instructional unit that will be appropriate for your instructional grade level.

-- Integrate and adapt these tools into your classroom instruction.

-- Share how GIS tools can be used to identify environmental or environmental justice issues within your district’s watershed boundaries.

-- Investigate environmental or environmental justice issues within and outside your watershed boundaries.

-- Identify which classroom practices and GIS tools can be used for both place-based learning and expansion into the regional watershed and environmental literacy inquiries.

Click Here to register and for more information.  Questions should be directed to Tamara Peffer, tpeffer@pa.gov,  717-772-0842.

Stroud partners include NOAA, DEP, PA Sea Grant and the PA Department of Education.

For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Stroud Water Research Center website, Click Here to subscribe to UpStream.  Click Here to subscribe to Stroud’s Educator newsletter.  Click Here to become a Friend Of Stroud Research,  Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter and visit their YouTube Channel.

The Chester County-based Stroud Center seeks to advance knowledge and stewardship of freshwater systems through global research, education, and watershed restoration.

[Posted: July 29, 2023]

7/31/2023