Splash into Summer 2021 💦☀️ with Stroud Water Research Center Education Events and Resources
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“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.”
– John Lubbock
As the school year speeds to a close, the days stretch longer, and streams teem with mayfly hatches, our education team is gearing up for a new season of hands-on, minds-on environmental education! In belated celebration of Outdoor Classroom Day (a 365-day holiday!), we’re engaging the last K-12 school groups of the spring season in boots-in-the-water education in person and stream-to-screen virtual education on Zoom.
With swimming holes and cicada-song at last around the corner, we hope summer brings new adventures as well as rest to education audiences like you.
Read on for new opportunities to explore and protect your home watershed!
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A Special Notice from Our Director of Education
30-Day Public Comment Period Open on Proposed Updates to PA K-12 Science, Technology, and Environment & Ecology Academic Standards
Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of being selected and serving on the content committee to update some of the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. This is critically important work that a diverse group of K-12 school representatives, non-formal education organizations, state agencies, and others have contributed to. The teaching and learning of our children is driven by these standards. I’m writing to first inform you that the 30-day public comment period on the proposed standards opened on June 5, 2021, and to provide you with information created by statewide partners on how to submit a public comment in support of opening a time to edit the proposed standards to include environmental education concepts and skills that are missing.
Pennsylvania state law (Environmental Education Act of 1993) requires environmental education (EE) standards. During the initial standards update process last year, there was not enough time to adequately include EE in the proposed combined Science, Environment and Ecology Standards before the start of the legislative process. A particular example of work that is not complete is that the proposed 6-12 grades standards do NOT include an EE domain (i.e. set of EE standards). The elementary standards committee was able to include an EE domain. Additionally, there is a significant number of environment, ecology, and agriculture education topics and skills missing. These missing topics and skills were in the old 2002 PA EE standards (which would be updated) and are recommended by the North American Association for Environmental Education’s 2019 Guidelines for Excellence.
Before the public comment period closes on July 4, 2021, please consider submitting a public comment.
How do you comment to voice concern about the lack of EE in the proposed standards? (Remember to mention specific missing EE content and skills!)
- Send an Action Alert: Use sample text created by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at this link: https://bit.ly/3ijtSXN (TIP! The Action Alert's sample text can be modified if there are more specific pieces of information you would like to add, OR it can be sent as it is, from you!)
- Send an email: Karen Molchanow, State Board of Education Board, ra-stateboardofed@pa.gov (TIP! You can copy and paste the talking points from the Action Alert sample text in the prior bullet and/or write your own.)
- Send a formal letter via USPS: Karen Molchanow, State Board of Education, 333 Market Street, 1st Floor, Harrisburg, PA 17126.
- Make your voice heard — please share this widely!
Thank you for your continued support of environmental education,
Steve Kerlin, Ph.D., Stroud Center Director of Education
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We Miss You. We Are Here for You.
Published once per season, our quarterly Education E-Newsletter supports your efforts to explore your home watershed online and in nearby nature.
Request an environmental education program! While following the best data available on COVID-19 safety, the Stroud Center’s education department is safely and meaningfully engaging “K through gray” audiences in pandemic programming models, including:
💧 Virtual/online stream and watershed study experiences.
💧 Outdoor-only education programs at the Stroud Center.
💧 Outdoor-only education programs at your site (e.g., school or local park).
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Virtually Network with Partners Empowering Girls in STEAM Across Southeastern Pennsylvania
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Calling all youth centers, environmental education providers, and community-based organizations who engage women and girls in southeastern Pennsylvania! Join us on Monday, June 28, 1 - 2 p.m. EDT for a FREE virtual networking hour to connect and collaborate with local partners on educational opportunities to empower today’s girls to become tomorrow’s leaders in environmental science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM).
During this informal midday power hour, you can learn what regional organizations are doing to engage K-12 girls in STEAM, forge new partnerships to strengthen your own intersectional and interdisciplinary outreach, discover funding opportunities for your STEAM education efforts, and MORE! Learn more and register.
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Become a Certified Ambassador of Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs)
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Are you a classroom teacher or non-formal educator looking for new ways to engage Pennsylvania students in watershed education? Are you interested in a FREE certification in a framework that connects K-12 youth to local water resources and real-world environmental action? Join us this summer for a hybrid (virtual and in-person) PA Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) Ambassador Training and Water Education Skill-Building!
Register for one of two no-cost, multi-day MWEE Ambassador Trainings (first day required, additional days optional):
💧 June 23-24, 2021: Online (June 23) and in person in Erie County, PA (June 24). Up to 10 Act 48 hours available for PA teachers.
💧 August 17-19, 2021: Online (August 17) and in person in Monroe County, PA (August 18-19). Up to 16 Act 48 hours available for PA teachers.
Participants will become Certified MWEE Ambassadors after completing a 2-hour virtual prerequisite (MWEE 101) and attending the 2-hour virtual MWEE Ambassador Training. They are strongly encouraged to attend an optional in-person day(s) of Water Education Skill-Building.
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Brighten Today with the Freshwater Funnies!
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Q: After eating some very tasty water beetles, what did the baby dragonfly eat for dessert in the wetland?
A: Marsh-mellows!
DID YOU KNOW? May was American Wetlands Month, but all year round, wetlands help improve water quality, reduce flooding, and provide important habitat for plants, fish, and wildlife. Shrek had the right idea! Celebrate these incredible ecosystems this summer by exploring bogs, fens, marshes, and wetlands galore.
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Save the Date!
Don’t miss out on these opportunities for family-friendly learning, adult professional development, Act 48, and more this summer 2021.
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